China is not "Much closer to Mars" than the U.S.

 

They could get ahead of the US eventually, if the U.S. continues to cut back on its space exploration budget and they expand theirs. However, that's no where close to true now.

 

We may need a joint Opp to do it, but that's only because the U.S. is gutting its space exploration budgets.

 

I'm just saying what I heard from the guy who works for NASA so ya. The video should be on the Aots website tomorrow, I'll post it. Good interview, even though the guy doing the interview is a tool.

 

He also said next December, we'll have something orbiting Mars.

 

 

Also maybe the "much" word was a bit of an overreaction but I did hear theyre closer.

Edited August 13, 201213 yr by 2nd_city_saint787

I'm just saying what I heard from the guy who works for NASA so ya. The video should be on the Aots website tomorrow, I'll post it. Good interview, even though the guy doing the interview is a tool.

 

He also said next December, we'll have something orbiting Mars.

 

 

Also maybe the "much" word was a bit of an overreaction but I did hear theyre closer.

We currently have several things orbiting Mars. One of them took a great picture earlier in this thread. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey are the 2 currently active ones, both of which also are used to relay data from the rovers to Earth, since the Rovers can't point to Earth directly.

 

The next thing we'll be sending to Mars is called "MAVEN", The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN probe. Its a small NASA mission, Discovery class. Its goal is to see how the atmosphere of Mars interacts with the solar wind...Mars used to have an atmosphere, it's lost now, and really we don't know quite how fast it's been lost or what the mechanisms of loss were. MAVEN's job is to figure out what interactions take place and how fast the atmosphere was lost.

We currently have several things orbiting Mars. One of them took a great picture earlier in this thread. Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, Mars Odyssey are the 2 currently active ones, both of which also are used to relay data from the rovers to Earth, since the Rovers can't point to Earth directly.

 

The next thing we'll be sending to Mars is called "MAVEN", The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN probe. Its a small NASA mission, Discovery class. Its goal is to see how the atmosphere of Mars interacts with the solar wind...Mars used to have an atmosphere, it's lost now, and really we don't know quite how fast it's been lost or what the mechanisms of loss were. MAVEN's job is to figure out what interactions take place and how fast the atmosphere was lost.

 

Yup Mavens what he mentioned, and you described it exactly how he did.

China is still developing rockets with the lift Capacity of a US Delta rocket, and that still doesn't measure up to the legendary Saturn V.

 

If money keeps going to the Space Launch System, which will hopefully multiply our launch weight capacity by something like a factor of 5, then the US will have the rocket to pull off people outside of the Earth Moon system. The goal for that is ~2020. Will it happen? That's up to Congress and the Voters this November.

The supposed goal is in the 2030's.

 

With the current round of budget cuts, I'd say most people are skeptical.

Seriously? How do they propose on making this happen? Are they going to build some sort of bubble that we can live on that is airconditioned, etc? 20-30 years from now seems incredibly optimistic.

Seriously? How do they propose on making this happen? Are they going to build some sort of bubble that we can live on that is airconditioned, etc? 20-30 years from now seems incredibly optimistic.

That's why the date keeps getting pushed back. At some level yes, that's what you'd need to do: create a habitat, probably so that you can produce fuel

On the surface, hence the need for heavy lift rockets. But if you're going there, you put the people there for 6 months or more just because the trip there is so long.

 

Honestly, if the money was there, 2030 would probably be beatable. But it's kinda pricey. Apollo was a Manhattan Project level commitment. We just landed a river on Mars for 1/6 the cost of the Olympics because that's all the money available.

Isn't there some private Dutch company aiming to do it in the next 10-12 years?

Isn't there some private Dutch company aiming to do it in the next 10-12 years?

I'm sure there is, and I'm sure no one believes it.

I'm sure there is, and I'm sure no one believes it.

 

2023 is their goal - one way tickets to Mars

I was hoping it would be sooner then 30 years. I wonder if will be a bigger deal than when we landed on the moon.

 

 

I bet the Soviet Union is already there.

I was hoping it would be sooner then 30 years.

Getting it done is at least 75% about "is the money there or not". Right now, it's not.

The rocket capacity needs to be dramatically increased above the Saturn V, right?

The rocket capacity needs to be dramatically increased above the Saturn V, right?

If it works, here's your building block.

There was someone from NASA on Attack of the show...He said it's always been "30 years away" and apparently still is. I guess China is much closer to it than the US and have made "great strides" towards it. He says he thinks we need to make it a joint opp with China to make it happen.

 

Here's the video I was talking about.....Guess he wrote a book called "Destination Mars" and doesn't work for NASA like I thought.

 

Edited August 17, 201213 yr by 2nd_city_saint787

Even with current technology its probably close to doable just with a high risk.

 

Without a cold war enemy most people in the US just dont seem to care that we are falling behind on science investment.

Whatever "Today" counts as, they're firing the laser up today!

 

HD Video of landing.

These pictures are great.

 

The Clearest Images Of Another Planet You've Ever Seen