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NASA Releases 'Journey To Mars' Plan -- But Not a Budget (nasa.gov)

Posted by Soulskill on from the it-takes-some-green-to-get-to-the-red-planet dept.

MarkWhittington writes: NASA released a document describing the steps involved in its Journey to Mars program (PDF). But, as the Wall Street Journal suggests, the "plan" has a conspicuous lack of specifics. It doesn't go into how much the program will cost or what intermediate steps have to be taken before human beings set foot on Mars in the 2030s. This is likely because of the upcoming and subsequent changes of governing administrations — the space agency's deep space exploration goals are likely to get a reevaluation. The plan serves as a public relations document more than anything else.

1 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Re:"..or what intermediate steps have to be taken. by KeensMustard · · Score: 3, Informative

    This is always a problem: incrementalist thinking, the idea that one can achieve the revolutionary through small intermediate steps with an evolutionary process.

    There's nothing particularly revolutionary or even evolutionary about sending humans to Mars: there's robots already there, and robots can cater for any foreseeable need for a presence on the surface of Mars. If anything, humans are an evolutionary step backward: humans are ill adapted to Mars and our time and effort on the surface of Mars will be spent catering to our own survival rather than doing anything useful.

    If you think like this, you should probably get the hell out of the way of those of us who don't. We'll come back for you. Some day. Maybe.

    You do realised you aren't going to Mars? and that no amount of 'thinking big' will change that?

    You aren't going to Mars.

    It's conceivable that we might suppress our better judgement and send some humans one day, but the chances of it being you are about 1 in a billion.