Dean: "Manned Flights to Mars"

[tsipple]

Link to Full Story (Washington Post)

Question from Dallas, Tex.: If elected President, what are your plans for NASA and the Space Program? Do you think it's time to retire the Shuttle and move on to bigger and better things, such as a human mission to Mars, or returning to the moon?

Howard Dean: I am a strong supporter of NASA and every government program that furthers scientific research. I don’t think we should close the shuttle program but I do believe that we should aggressively begin a program to have manned flights to Mars. This of course assumes that we can change presidents so we can have a balanced budget again.

[CO Liberal]

1. This Reminds Me....

...of Vaughan Meader's "First Family" comedy album from the early '60s. One of the cuts is a spoof on a JFK press conference:

Reporter: "When will we send a man to the moon?"

Meader (as JFK): "Whenever Senator Goldwater wants to go."

:-)

[XNASA]

2. Yessssssss!!!

I'm sure that this will make my old pals in in Houston and The Cape take serious notice of Dr. Dean.

[KittyWampus]

8. Wouldn't Your Friends Rather Have The Money

For better computers, robots and communications rather than wasting it on providing for humans?

[XNASA]

11. None of those things would be possible.............

..without the research that NASA provides.

[KittyWampus]

15. Exactly

But again, why waste the money on MANNED spaceflight?

[Teaser]

20. Cause "Damn Cool" is worth it.

And that's reason enough.

[XNASA]

28. It's not a waste. A little perspective.

Right now, the research can not be performed without human interaction.

Not all of the experiments work as predicted in zero gravity. If they could be predicted exactly (which is what it would take for robots) then there would be no reason to actually do it, to practice and hone it in. Humans are needed to conduct the experiments, if only to adjust and/or repair the robots.

Additionally, much of the science that is performed is medical in nature, and requires......surprise......humans. As in "human guinea pigs".

This still doesn't mean that we need humans to land on Mars. But guess what, we've already landed robots on Mars. Sending humans is the next step. Anyway, it's more important that we concentrate on manned missions to the Moon. That's the next step. We need to set up a colony on the Moon, before we go to Mars.

As far a funding is concerned the NASA budget is $14B, or about 0.75% of the National Budget. Which is over the same period:

About the same as Microsoft's earnings.

American spend:

30 times as much as Social Security.
19 times as much in restaurants, or roughly the same amount that we spend on pizza since $1 in every 20 is for 'za.
3 times as much on jewelry.
6 times as much on new automoblies.
9 times as much on gasoline.

[iam]

41. Why?

Why waste the money on a MANNED damn foolish voyage to the new world?

[XNASA]

42. See post #28.

[MUAD_DIB]

24. The possibility of failure for a robotic mission

to Mars would be humbling whereas the possibility of failure for a manned mission to would be terrible.

If you lose a few robots you look foolish, but if you loose a few humans you look like a murderer.

We would be best served by sending out a smaller and leaner fleet of robotic missions before aggressivley throwing humans towards the red planet.


BTW: Wouldn't it be smarter to have a power race instead of a space race? As Kennedy called for the technology and drive to send us to the moon our president would be better served by calling for technology and vision that would help develop a fusion system.

[KittyWampus]

32. A Power Race! Great Term!

Thanks, and 3 quick points:

1. Science often posits the notion that the Material World is all there is. There is no such thing as "Spirit" so to talk about how manned spaceflight is good for mankind's spirit seems.... ironic.

2. If one wants to lift Humanity's Spirit or find a Psychologically Unifying Goal, how about MUAD_DIB's Power Race as an Alternantive.

Retooling society for Green Technology... Doing so would benefit MANY more people economically and help our Ecology and Lift our Spirits giving us something to work towards together.

3. Perhaps Mankind can start exploring INNER SPACE now. Consciousness. How about doing Scientific Research into Mystical States
that Humans experience. Why the constant push outwards?


Humanity has a very small window of opportunity to start retooling for Green Technology. There's only so much cheap and easy Oil left.

We can only focus on so many things at once. Let's get our act together here on Earth.

[liberalmuse]

3. I vote for the Bush administration...

to be the crew on the first mission.

[Octafish]

7. Respectfully disagree, liberalmuse.

Would rather see the Bush badministration be the occupants of America's first penal colony in space. Perhaps that could be located on Mercury or on some satellite in a stable orbit somewhere near the sun.



No A/C, either. What do they expect? Luxury?

[TexasPatriot]

22. I say we send Dan Quayle

That way we can save space on the manned mission that we'd otherwise use on things like Oxygen.

Mars is essentially in the same orbit... Mars is somewhat the same distance from the Sun, which is very important. We have seen pictures where there are canals, we believe, and water. If there is water, that means there is oxygen. If oxygen, that means we can breathe.
-- Vice President Dan Quayle - Chairman of the National Space Council, 8/11/89

[yellowcanine]

4. I wish he hadn't said that.

Do we know that manned flights to Mars make sense scientifically? We also have a lot of domestic needs I would like to see addressed first. Save it for the second term after he cleans up the Bush mess.

[dave29]

5. Damned Straight

Can you imagine having a President that actually understands Science?

This is yet another reason why we need Dean/Clark. :)

[KittyWampus]

6. WASTE Of Money

My University Professor, who worked in research, told us that manned space flight is an inexusable waste of money and resources.

That the money and design that goes into enabling humans to go into space is better redirected to robots and communications.

Robots do a better job and the communications systems are constantly improving & also have applications for everyday use.

[quispquake]

9. I agree that it can be seen as a waste of money, but...

I think it helps humans move forward...I do think if we do the Mars thang though, we should not do it alone (a'la the moon landing), but should bring other countries into the project...

pp23

[Octafish]

10. Your prof is right and wrong.

The prof's right in thinking we get a heck of a lot more bang for the buck from unmanned, robotic missions. For example, Voyager 1 is 12.4 billion miles away and still sending data after 25 or so years in space.

The prof's wrong in thinking manned space flight is a waste of money. When Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, we ALL walked on the moon.

So, we need both. With unmanned missions our minds grow. Through manned missions our spirits grow.

[KittyWampus]

17. We Can ALL Look At The Hubble Transmissions

And we could ALL look at the transmissions from Mars.

Sorry but this is Materialism gone amok.

Our spirits are in desperate need of dealing with EACH OTHER HERE ON EARTH.

Just out of curiosity, does it bother you that China is supposedly going to be mining the Moon?

[Octafish]

29. Yes it does. The craters are where all the strategic minerals are.

On earth, the largest deposits of nickel are in Sudbury, Ontario. A photo taken on a Gemini mission revealed the place to be ground zero of a huge meteorite impact hundreds of millions of years ago. Thus, the moon is chock full of important stuff we can use to make life better on earth. The metals deposited in the impact craters (probably) include titanium, molybdenum, nickel, etc etc.

I don't disagree with you about the need to address our problems on earth, including all matters spiritual. However, manned space exploration represents an excellent avenue for releasing our pent-up energies humanity has channeled into warfare since time immemorial. What could be better than to explore the cosmos, together? Any way, the Chinese are going to go it alone.

[Muddleoftheroad]

13. The future of man is in space

The only way to figure out how we interact in space, how we meet new challenges, is by continuing manned space flight.

[commander bunnypants]

34. Damn Right

It is also gonna be are next step in our evolution

DDQM

[liberalmuse]

19. I disgree

The price per payload is extremely high now, but it will drop as we are able to more efficient vehicles to space and the number of vehicles we send increases. Companies will pay alot to be able to test and develop new products in space. Space IS the future.

A note: My ex-boss is a billionaire who probably voted for Bush. Since he has his own aerospace company and has been trying to push space tourism, Dean would likely get his vote. I've no doubt the Bush administration is hampering his interests in lieu of pandering to larger companies--not for space development, but for war products. He will probably encourage his entire staff and scientific board to vote for Dean as well.

[librechik]

23. Terribly dangerous to astronauts

Radiation exposure is a problem they haven't solved on these deep space excursions. With current technology, humans will get sick and die because of extended periods in extra-atmosperic space.

It is so unnecessary, since robotic explorers are available. As much as I want to know what's there on Mars (and I find the satellite photos more than intriguing!) Manned long distance space travel should be postponed until the exposure problem is addressed. ("Spam in a Can" I believe is the phrase the astronauts use.

[Atlant]

26. That's merely an engineering problem.

The problem of exposure to radiation during a long space voyage
is merely an engineering problem. We already understand various
means to avoid the problem,; it's just a question of choosing one
and implementing it. Maybe it'll require a railgun hurling shielding
material into low earth orbit, but that's still just a question of
appropriate engineering. No new "basic science" is needed, although
it might prove helpful.

Atlant

[tsipple]

12. Mars Mission Story Up Now at Pilots for Dean

Gotta love the Internet! (Thank you, Al Gore!) Instant news spread. Click on the link below to see the story and placement.

[dave29]

14. I'm so glad

someone finally asked a question about Space. Amazing how we tend to ignore the 99.999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999999% (and then some) of the Universe that doesn't directly involve us.

[tsipple]

16. Anybody Know How to Reach Space.com?

This is big news, and they need to hear about it.

[tsipple]

25. Never Mind

I sent it in.

[WindRavenX]

18. Sweet!

I think everyone would benifit if humanity would work towards colonizing mars and the moon. We'd be putting our time and money and effort into something for the common good instead of wasting everyone on making new weapons to slaughter one another.
It may be extremely expensive, but I'd take it over paying to see new nuclear weapons developed.

[w13rd0]

21. Yeaahhhhh!!!!!

Hey, anyone who has known me for any length of time can tell you one of my hotbutton issues is getting us to become a spacefaring species. Dean already had my vote, and my enthusiasm, now he's got more of it.

[Atlant]

27. Having a "Backup Planet" would be useful.

Given our propensity for destroying this planet (in any number
of creative ways), and given the fact that an Earth strike by an
asteroid isn't really all that improbable, I think it would be
a comforting thought to know that there was a "backup planet"
with an on-going human civilization (of some sort) on it.

"Memory Alpha" or even "Silent Running", if you will.

Atlant

[Octafish]

31. The GOP plans to hijack the starship (Jefferson Airplane)

Once the means to exist off-planet is a reality, you know the elite turds of the BFEE will try and steal the show.

It's up to us to keep them on earth below, where they belong, in jail.



"Look after Mr. Bond.
Please see that some harm
comes to him."

[Frangible]

30. You mean someday we might toss something other than a robotic frisbee?

The current state of NASA underfunding makes me sad. The only real hope for space exploration anymore is the Chinese. We sure as hell aren't doing anything.

[tsipple]

33. Is the United States Going to Be Portugal?

It's a concern. And I'm hopeful that one day all the nations will cooperate, but competition does have a certain motivation, doesn't it?

[tom_paine]

38. Eventually, Imperial Amerika will fall farther than that

The minute we set down the path of Empire, the outcome was already predetermined.

We have (or are rapdily heading towards):

Third World "Voting" systems
Third World economy
Third World civil rights
Third World environmental policies

What does that add up to, to you?

[Noordam]

35. Excuse me Gov Dean,,,,, maybe we did not make it

to the moon in the first place.

:evilgrin:

[Beaker]

36. We should be more concerned with finding the next source of energy

The one that will replace oil as our primary source. There's still a lot of research to be done here, in our oceans for example, before throwing a lot of money at further manned space exploration.

Dean is just fishing for a comparison to JFK.

[Ripley]

39. You seem to have mistaken Dean for Kerrry (JFK).

When did Dean say he wanted a mission to Mars INSTEAD OF OR BEFORE implementing measures for alternative fuel sources?

[nocreativename]

37. this is good

I was not even born when we first landed on the moon, but my mom and dad seemed to think this was one of the highlights of US history. We need to start doing things to make us proud to be who we are again, cause right now I would prefer not to be american.

[Ripley]

40. Your parents are right.

And with the way things are going, China will probably colonize the Moon first.

How about that for waving the "We're Number One" flag Amurikans?