Aldrin implores world to step up Mars efforts

[UM-Bot]

Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin believes that more should be done to enable the colonization of Mars.

Speaking at an online question-and-answer session with social media site Reddit, the second man to ever step foot on the moon put forward his belief that mankind's next step in the exploration of space should be to colonize the Red Planet.

Read More: http://www.unexplain...up-mars-efforts

[Use your brain]

I'm sorry is there some island of victoria's secret models out there or something that I'm missing. Last time I checked it is a freaking desert, just go out to the sahara and pitch a tent for christ sakes... and that wouldn't cost $5 billion.

[Ashyne]

And I expect that within two decades of the 50th anniversary of the first landing on the moon … America will lead an international presence on Planet Mars."

The world waited half a century for America and it has not even returned to the moon with a manned mission, let alone going to Mars. It is much more likely independent space agencies or other nations will colonize Mars first, and lead international efforts.

Edited July 9, 2014 by Ashyne

[paperdyer]

The world waited half a century for America and it has not even returned to the moon with a manned mission, let alone going to Mars. It is much more likely independent space agencies or other nations will colonize Mars first, and lead international efforts.

I think this is a "Been there, done that. Nothing to see. Got the T-shirt." Mars, on the other hand, hasn't been marred by a human presence, at least as far as we can tell,yet! Robots don't count.

[Rafterman]

I'm sorry is there some island of victoria's secret models out there or something that I'm missing. Last time I checked it is a freaking desert, just go out to the sahara and pitch a tent for christ sakes... and that wouldn't cost $5 billion.

It also wouldn't yield the many advances to society that a mission like this to Mars would - you know, like that thing you're looking at right now as you craft your pithy dismissive response to my comment.

[Danglangdale]

Joker told me to tell you Hey, Rafterman.

[shrooma]

I'm sorry is there some island of victoria's secret models out there or something

.

if there IS, where do i book my ticket?!

.

[calaf]

Are there going to be democrats on Mars? I'd hate to show up and have them give away my stuff.

[+OverSword]

Wow. A lot of stupid statements here so far. To put into perspective what even a serious attempt at colonizing Mars could gain us, every dollar spent on getting humanity to the moon has had a return of $100, not to mention the technological advances such as cell phone tech and velcro (imagine a world without velcro or cell phones). Personally I don't see a Mars colony being sustainable but to attempt at least a temporary colony there could really advance humanities science and technology immensely.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Personally I don't see a Mars colony being sustainable

Personally I don't see a Mars colony being sustainable YET.

Everything is there that we need for a sustainable colony I just don't think our technology is quite ready.

[CrimsonKing]

Personally I don't see a Mars colony being sustainable YET.

Everything is there that we need for a sustainable colony I just don't think our technology is quite ready.

This

In order to advance our technology we must have goals beyond our current abilities....

[Whisperer]

Yup, the sooner they get onto it the better...

It would be one of the biggest incentive to promote deep space exploration, allow for many space related experiments to happen and encourage medical advances I think.

[+OverSword]

Personally I don't see a Mars colony being sustainable YET.

Everything is there that we need for a sustainable colony I just don't think our technology is quite ready.

So perhaps a techno generation after a first attempt? Or are you thinking we will wait until it is a near guarantee of success?

[spartan max2]

Wow. A lot of stupid statements here so far. To put into perspective what even a serious attempt at colonizing Mars could gain us, every dollar spent on getting humanity to the moon has had a return of $100, not to mention the technological advances such as cell phone tech and velcro (imagine a world without velcro or cell phones). Personally I don't see a Mars colony being sustainable but to attempt at least a temporary colony there could really advance humanities science and technology immensely.

Im confused? how did we get a return on sending someone to the moon?

Like did the moon pay us back? lol

and arguably if we sent all that money on tech then we would of got those same advances and maybe more.

[CrimsonKing]

Im confused? how did we get a return on sending someone to the moon?

Like did the moon pay us back? lol

and arguably if we sent all that money on tech then we would of got those same advances and maybe more.

That is possible but also debatable....Many of mankinds greatest achievments have come as byproducts or accidents of/from our original goals.

[Use your brain]

It also wouldn't yield the many advances to society that a mission like this to Mars would - you know, like that thing you're looking at right now as you craft your pithy dismissive response to my comment.

We have 3.5 million homeless people in the Usa, with 18.5 million vacant houses. 16000 kids die everyday of starvation. No I'm sorry I do not think we are ready for space exporation yet, especially to somewhere that has nothing we need. You talk about advances to society, and I agree that is exactly what we should be focused on, not going out and trying to colonize another planet when we can't even take care of our own, and the people that live on it.

Edit: This wasn't a personal attack against you, I'm glad you are sharing the information.

Edited July 10, 2014 by Use your brain

[toast]

The world waited half a century for America and it has not even returned to the moon with a manned mission,

let alone going to Mars.

Yeah that`s an often used argument but it is an asymmetric one as it does not reflect the full picture. Of course,

if NASA had been focused just and only on a manned moon base after the APOLLO program, it is likely that there

would be a manned moon base today. But such concentration on one project would had limited, and/or delayed,

all other projects in relation to space exploration as even the space industry is dependent from financial and

intellectual resources, and time as well, so todays knowledge would be not at the level it is now. Just to give you

an idea, after the APOLLO program had been finished NASA performed approx 40 unmanned missions exporing

our solar system, including asteroids and comets, and deep space as well. And not to forget the approx 60 earth

observation satellites from those we generated and still generate data to understand and to manage our planet

more better. If all capital and intellectual resources had been concentrated on a manned moon base, we might

not have had today the ISS, the Shuttle program, HUBBLE, VOYAGER 1+2, the PIONEER probes, CLEMENTINE,

Cassini-Huygens (and so the damn pretty pictures of Saturn+Jupiter), the Mars rovers and a lot of others.

It is much more likely independent space agencies or other nations will colonize Mars first, and lead international

efforts.

I don`t think so. Current NASA estimates for a manned Mars base are at approx 100B USD for a time period of

30-40 years and it is likely that even NASA will not manage this investment alone but collaborate with other

space agencies for this project also under consideration that an estimate is just what it is, an estimate and the

chance that this value must be multiplied with X is more than probable. One the other hand it is unlikely that

independent space agencies can run the project as such amount of capital can not be generated by them.

And I exclude carnaval clubs like MARS-1 here by principle. The amount of needed capital might be generated

by the blue chips like APPLE, MS, IBM and others but they will not do that as it is not their core business and as

there is no projectable return of invest. In addition, if one of the blue chips would invest, lets say, 30% of its capital

into a Mars mission project, the share value of this company would get sunk dramatically within minutes after the

announcement to do so. Recapitulatory, a manned Mars mission/base can only be performed by a collaboration

of some of the established, and partial tax funded, space agencies like ESA, NASA, JAXA and ROSKOSMOS.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

So perhaps a techno generation after a first attempt? Or are you thinking we will wait until it is a near guarantee of success?

Of course we wait until it is a near guarantee of success. Only a psychopath would send colonists to Mars when there is a low probability of their survival.

Space exploration must not be risk averse otherwise there will be no progress but that is not the same as taking unnecessary risks.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

It is much more likely independent space agencies or other nations will colonize Mars first, and lead international

efforts.

I agree with what toast has said at private industry (there are currently NO independent space agencies in existence).

To further expand on his answer:

If a manned Mars mission is attempted by a single agency it will be NASA. Only two other space agencies currently have manned spaceflight capability; Russia's Roscosmos and China's CNSA.

Roscosmos have their eyes firmly fixed on the Moon. They have unfinished business there having failed to land a cosmonaut there despite having an active Moon programme in the '60s and '70s. It is there intention to build a Saturn V class rocket and return humans to the Moon... this time to stay. Only after they have constructed a Moon base will they consider sending cosmonauts to Mars, by which time NASA will probably be a long way ahead.

China is ties up in a space station project for at least the next 8 years. They have no heavy lift rocket capable of either Lunar or Martian landing missions. They are talking about future moon missions but these are still not approved and more of the "wish list" variety then firm plans.

ESA has no independent manned capability. However as the provider of the service module for NASA's Orion spacecraft they are likely to be involved in some capacity with any NASA Mars project. However ESA are also cooperating with Roscosmos and so could potentially be involved with the Russian Moon base too. It's possible that the first astronaut to walk on both the Moon and Mars will be an ESA astronaut.

The problem with all this is the vagaries of the US democratic system. US presidents run NASA as an ego project rather than sticking to a coherent long term plan. NASA is kicked around like a football. Every 4 or 8 years previous plans are scrapped, new Administrators appointed, new plans made. This eats up vast amounts of NASAs budget and NASA moves backwards as much as it moves forwards. Only when NASA is allowed to follow a long term plan will it return to being the great agency it was in the time of Apollo.

[The Puzzler]

Who the hell wants to go to Mars? I've seen Total Recall, you won't get me going to Mars in my lifetime I know that. Don't they have better things to spend money on, like fixing the mess on Earth first.....?

[Waspie_Dwarf]

Who the hell wants to go to Mars?

Lots of people. People with vision. Brave people with a spirit of adventure. Pioneering people with a desire to better mankind. The sort of people that spread mankind throughout the planet Earth instead of sitting in their cave saying "who wants to see what is in the next valley?"

Don't they have better things to spend money on, like fixing the mess on Earth first.....?

Have you ever heard of the concept of multi-tasking? It is actually possible to do more than one thing at a time.

[The Puzzler]

Lots of people. People with vision. Brave people with a spirit of adventure. Pioneering people with a desire to better mankind. The sort of people that spread mankind throughout the planet Earth instead of sitting in their cave saying "who wants to see what is in the next valley?"

My idea of a "better mankind" is quite different to yours then.

[toast]

My idea of a "better mankind" is quite different to yours then.

Space exploration is not just about to drill holes in celestial bodies and to spin around the earth for some spectacular views.

As cosmic radiation is a major thread to humans in space a lot of research is performed in the section on cancer research

and maybe one day this research will lead to the elemination of one of the key threads to individuals.

Some examples here:

http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/background/facts/MEPS.html

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/268137main_AARP_IPP_FACTSHEET.pdf

[Ashyne]

Who the hell wants to go to Mars? I've seen Total Recall, you won't get me going to Mars in my lifetime I know that. Don't they have better things to spend money on, like fixing the mess on Earth first.....?

The point of going to Mars is not simply about "going to Mars".

It is one of the first few steps, the starting foundations, to spreading Humanity across the solar system, then outwards across the galaxy.

It is a checkpoint, a milestone to test our spaceflight and colonization capabilities and our ability to work together not as a single nation or entity, but as a species across boundaries and borders.

Going to Mars and colonizing it is not an end in itself- it is the baby step towards our eventual seeding of multiple planets in the future with our descendants, to create a home away from home.

To ensure our survival for millennia to come, we cannot exist solely on a fragile world that has a dying ecosystem, constantly under threat by natural disasters both terrestrial and extra-terrestrial, where thousands of years of civilizations and heritages bear the risk of being extinguished in a simple moment of not being prepared. Or by a man-made mistake.

To colonize Mars is to go beyond our homeworld, to leave our comfort zone amidst what we have come to be so familiar with- and venture towards the final frontier with the curiosity that has driven our will to succeed, so that one day our descendants may look into the night sky at the bright blue dot in the distant reaches of space and smile with pride that the efforts and foresight of this generation has enabled our species to boldly go where once we never thought we could.

Edited July 13, 2014 by Ashyne

[coolguy]

We will never see men on mars in our life times or maybe never at all

Its all scince fiction.lets put back man on the moon frist and go from there