In 5 years, we're going to send two people to Mars.

[bananas]

I watched the press conference - it's going to happen.

They won't land or go into orbit, it's just a free-return fly-by.

Apollo 8 gave us "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken."

I think this Mars mission will have a similar effect.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthrise

Earthrise is the name given to a photograph of the Earth that was taken by astronaut William Anders in 1968 during the Apollo 8 mission. Nature photographer Galen Rowell declared it "the most influential environmental photograph ever taken."[1]

[pinboy3niner]

1. Or will the man end up on Mars...and the woman on Venus?

[LongTomH]

2. I've seen a lot of these private space ventures come and go

Sorry for the skeptical response; but, I've been a member and an observer of the pro-space community for nearly 4 decades and I've seen a lot of these start-up ventures fail. I was even offered a chance to invest in a start-up private rocket company in the 80s. I declined; the company isn't in business any more.

Don't get me wrong, Bananas. I like your posts. It's just that I have some issues with this meme: "It's time for the private sector to take over space exploration from the government." The most successful private space company is Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX); their biggest customer is NASA and Department of Defense.

The relationship between the private sector and government was worked out decades ago for the airline industry; we've just started with space.

[bananas]

9. This isn't a start-up venture, it's a philanthropic venture

The purpose of a start-up venture is to start up a profitable business that will last a long time.

But this project will not turn a profit and it will end in 6 years.

They aren't looking for investors, they're looking for donors and volunteers

Tito says he'll fund the first two years, mostly R&D, the big costs will come after that - actually building the thing.

Even if the project is canceled after two years, it will still have paid for a lot of necessary R&D for deep space living.

Paradoxically, one of the effects of Earthrise on human consciousness was to turn us away from space exploration and back towards housekeeping, the contrast of the desolate moon with our fragile ecosystem made us realize the importance of the environment.

I think the images we get from this Mars mission will encourage both space exploration and environmentalism - we will have two worlds to care for.

[Still Sensible]

3. Well, I nominate Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.... n/t

[SummerSnow]

4. In nominate Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh

[LadyHawkAZ]

14. It would be a huge savings in rocket fuel

The amount of hot air present could not only lift the rocket but propel it out of the atmosphere.

[Neurotica]

5. This is real and doable

though not without its challenges.

It's a risk worth taking.

[Posteritatis]

6. Agreed on the risk. I'm skeptical about this but I really don't want to be. (nt)

[KittyWampus]

7. What a complete and total waste. Robots take so much less resources/weight & benefit

is far greater in return when considering technological breakthroughs.

[dairydog91]

8. If somebody is willing and able to pay for it, chances are somebody will be willing to do it.

Sure, it's more practical to send robots, but private space exploration needs to find private investors willing to fork over billions, and that means that private exploration is probably going to start with either robotic probing for natural resources or with tourism joyrides for billionaires.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. Are Carnival Cruises far behind?

[Shankapotomus]

11. The money would be much better spent

on constructing large biospheres in space. The chances of terraforming Mars for human habitation are almost zero compared with the much more feasible and productive enterprise of constructing a fleet of livable biospheres in space. It's the safest and fastest way for us to branch out into space and increase our odds of surviving a cataclysmic meteor impact.

Sorry for my skeptical response, as well. Not against advancing science or anything. However, with climate change we are running out of time.

[bananas]

12. Biospheres on Mars have a lot of advantages

Terraforming is a long way off.
For the near future, biospheres on Mars have a lot of advantages over biospheres in space.
The Mars atmosphere provides a lot of protection from radiation and micrometeorites.
There's lots of water, oxygen, and other materials there.
Mars 25-hour day is close to Earth's 24-hour day to which we and our food is adapted.
Zero gravity causes a lot of health problems,
and might cause severe birth defects: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/spacebabies/

[Shankapotomus]

13. I have to agree

You make a good case for permanent planet based biospheres. I think we should do both. And actually, focusing on Mars will force us to think about self-sustaining life structures so it may lead to biosphere development.

[Separation]

15. Maybe not a good idea just yet.

http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/02/28/mars_impact_the_red_planet_may_get_hit_by_a_comet_in_october_2014.html



In case you just can’t get enough impact news, it looks like Mars may actually get hit by a comet in 2014! As it stands right now, the chance of a direct impact are small, but it’s likely Mars will get pelted by the debris associated with the comet.

I know. This is pretty amazing. Still, let me preface this with a caveat: Trying to get precise predictions of comet orbits can be difficult, and for this one we’re talking about a prediction for 20 months from now! Things may very well change, but here’s what we know so far.

Comet What May

The comet is called C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring), discovered on Jan. 3, 2013 by the Australian veteran comet hunter Robert McNaught. As soon as it was announced, astronomers at the Catalina Sky Survey looked at their own data and found it in observations from Dec. 8, 2012, which helped nail down the orbit (I explain how that works in a previous article about asteroid near-misses). Extrapolating its orbit, they found it will make a very near pass of Mars around Oct. 19, 2014, missing the planet by the nominal distance of about 100,000 kilometers (60,000 miles).

more at the link

[bananas]

20. Even if it doesn't impact, it could still take out the orbiters

http://spaceobs.org/en/2013/02/27/new-data-concerning-the-close-approach-of-comet-c2013-a1-to-mars/

New data concerning the close approach of comet C/2013 A1 to Mars
February 27th, 2013 | Author: Leonid Elenin

As I wrote previously, the recently discovered comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) will make a extremal close approach to Mars on 19 October 2014. A collision scenario isn’t ruled out either. Today, at the ISON-NM observatory, new astrometric measurements were received for this comet. Based on the existing measurements, more accurate orbital elements were calculated. The results of the second calculation for the close approach show that the comet might pass just 41,000 km (0.000276 a.u.) from the planet’s centre, that is less than 37,000 km from its surface!

Considering the size of the coma, which should exceed 100,000 km near the perihelion of its orbit, it can be said with 100% certainty that the planet will pass through the gaseous envelope of the comet C/2013 A1. Having a very tenuous atmosphere, the surface of the red planet will be subject to intensive bombardments by microparticles which, among other things, might cause malfunction of the space probes currently there.

Observations continue, and will be stopped only in late spring due to small elongation of the comet. In the second half of summer observations will be resumed and we will continue to specify the parametres of the close approach of the comet C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) and Mars.

Special thanks to Maksim Kakitsev for translation.

[Spirochete]

16. I want to pick which two

they won't be coming back, right?

[meow2u3]

17. I nominate the Kochroach Bros.

On a ONE WAY trip to Mars -- without their fortunes!

[struggle4progress]

18. I rather doubt it. The round trip is 70+ weeks, and life support

requires flawless delivery of air, food, and water, flawless temperature control, and flawless waste handling for that entire period. This adds enormous mass and hence increases the technical problems. Available cabin space would be minimal, and communications would be very slow. Moreover, no one has ever spent that much time continually in space, and very long-term zero-gravity effects on the body could be quite substantial

There are many possibilities for potentially fatal problems: List of spaceflight-related accidents and incidents


Mars mission poses greater risk to human life than Nasa would allow
Crew on Dennis Tito's Mars mission will face unprecedented dangers – and time is too tight for the usual test flights
Ian Sample, science correspondent
guardian.co.uk, Friday 1 March 2013 09.36 EST

... Tito has assembled an experienced group to plan and advise on the adventure, they must still develop life-support systems and radiation protection, and heat shields to withstand a re-entry that will be twice as fast as any other return to Earth. Then they must buy and modify a rocket and capsule for the mission, with no time for test flights ... "On survival rations you can do it, but there's not much margin for error," said Ojha. Fuel, liquid oxygen and water tanks would be held in a service module attached behind the crew capsule ... On a typical voyage to and from Mars – which would be longer than Tito's planned trip – estimates suggest the crew has a 10% chance of experiencing at least one fatal SEP event, and more than a 30% chance of exposure to a blast that would kill 35% of people in 50 days. Fortunately, the proposed launch date of 5 January 2018 is when solar activity is near its lowest, and when SEPs are correspondingly less intense and less frequent ...

[cherokeeprogressive]

19. "President Kennedy, when will we put a man on the moon?"

"As soon as Senator Goldwater wants to go."