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Barack Obama: America Will Take the Giant Leap To Mars, To Send People There by the 2030s (cnn.com)
The United States President Barack Obama said Tuesday the country will send Americans to Mars by the 2030s and return them "safely to Earth." This is all part of a longer-term goal of making it possible to "one day remain there for an extended time," he added in an op-ed published on CNN. The effort will require cooperation between public and private space interests in meeting that goal, the president added. As a sign of forward progress, private space companies will send astronauts to the International Space Station within the next two years. "Someday, I hope to hoist my own grandchildren onto my shoulders. We'll still look to the stars in wonder, as humans have since the beginning of time," Obama wrote. "But instead of eagerly awaiting the return of our intrepid explorers, we'll know that because of the choices we make now, they've gone to space not just to visit, but to stay -- and in doing so, to make our lives better here on Earth." The White House in a joint blog post with NASA said that seven companies have received awards to develop habitation systems. And this fall, NASA will provide companies with the opportunity to add modules and other capabilities to the International Space Station.
Every outgoing presimadent since the Reagan, blessings upon him, makes the same grandiose claims that we'll put a Man on Mars real soon now.
Just like Lucy tricking Charlie Brown into thinking she's not going to yank the football away this time.
the preceding comment is my own and in no way reflects the opinion of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
What is it about presidents at the end of their second terms that they love to float space goals?
Bush, near the end of his 2nd term:
""Our third goal," Bush said, "is to return to the moon by 2020, as the launching point for missions beyond." He proposed sending robotic probes to the lunar surface by 2008, with a human mission as early as 2015, "with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods of time." "
While I'd love it ever to be true, I can't imagine any post Obama congress will fund it at all.
-Styopa
Mercury lacks water, which is the foremost thing you need, just for oxygen and propellants. Some of the Jovian and Saturnian moons are great, but they are so far away that getting there takes years, also solar power out there is sparse and radiation thick enough to kill you within hours. They are ignored for now with good reason.
Mars has loads of water, an atmosphere of CO2 (so you have oxygen, hydrogen and carbon) and is not too far away. The atmosphere also makes landing much easier, since you can use it to brake. Dragging enough fuel with you to slow down several km/s just by propulsion makes things much harder. If you have to also take the fuel with you (and brake and land it) to launch back again as with Mercury this gets just impossible.
$7 to $8 dollars in goods and services produced, for every $1 of government money spent. Acceleration of computer, miniaturization of computer parts, which benefited mankind. Software development Freeze dried foods Countless others. Before you go on with your anti-capitalist socialist agenda, you might want to look this up. It will help you from looking like a FOOL.