Slashdot Mirror
Bill In U.S. House Plans Manned Mars Mission
maddogsparky writes "Spaceref.com has a copy of a bill laying out a roadmap for NASA to send a manned mission to Mars by 2022. Highlights include an manned asteroid landing, building a research outpost on one of Mars' moons and actually providing funds to start mission planning."
I call shotgun!
Who wants to bet that on the end of this bill some idiot is going to add a clause that all our web traffic has to be monitored. I can see it now "We are finally going to mars better make sure we konw what people are talking about online."
Research bases on Mars' moons, are they crazy? Haven't they played Doom!?
If we donate money can we maybe send off a few of the slashdot trolls on the space shuttle? I think Mars would suit them well.
And in other news, the president announced today that members of Al Qaeda have been spotted on Mars. "We're going to find them and smoke them out of their canals," the president said.
how much do you think it'll cost for some billionare to get a ride on this?
sig - .
shouldn't we be planning a mission to Venus instead?
Not enough votes on Mars.
No farmers, no steelworkers, no Cuban immigrants, no nothin'. It ain't a key "swing planet", it has no electoral votes, no representation, no key industries, and it isn't even a decent vacation spot.
What we need is a lobby. First make land grants on Mars. Slip it in as a rider on some military spending bill. Then, we can start complaining about how transportation is lousy there; maybe divert some funds from Amtrak, grease a few palms here and there. The first rocket needs to be loaded with representatives for welfare mothers, schoolchildren, teachers, steelworkers, farmers, union members, and other key constituency groups who know how to lobby. The scientists can come later.
If the rocket makes it we'll get one helluva Mars lobby. If it blows up, that'll be fine too. It's a win-win situation.
Hey, don't blame me. You were the ones who brought Congress into the picture.
For all intensive purposes, "whom" is no longer a word. That begs the question, "who cares"?