I would invert that model... make people pay for the new stuff, give away archives. Make more money that way cuz really people pay for news... the only ones that go to archives are people writing reports.
Of course, you also do realize that a week-long quarantine (or something like that) has been a NASA policy for extraterrestrial landers since the 60's...
We'd probably laugh at seeing this nowadays, but I doubt they'll be any less cautious.
Now what would be really cool is to see the damage the do to our micro-buddies... perhaps a bacterium that eats up virii for lunch?
Not entirely so... Spain, France and Portugal were hardly bankrupt when they started exploring the world despite the massive expense. All you need as a Ferdinand and Isabella to believe (or probably more along the lines of what to believe) the rhetoric of a merchant sailor and provide him with the way to go.
Also, research is being conducted to lower the bar every day. If the bar gets low enough, the smell of the steak may be just as good as the real thing.
As for governments worrying about control... you forgot their arrogance. Even after a 101 lessons about overextending their control, they still continue to try and sneak something out. And you also forget just what a tenuous situation Mars would be in. The colonists would be VERY dependent on outside help for a while, and it's very simple to trash a dome or habitat.
On the other hand, when the colonists can self-sufficient, you're right. The difficulty in reaching Mars will serve to aid the opposite side.
You know, you guys are both extremely optimistic and extremely pessimistic...
1) Way out of proportion... it will take decades to get enough people onto Mars to even begin to affect things, and even then it will be pretty slow. It seems small in comparison to Earth... until you realise it's surface area is greater than all the land on our planet.
2) Fsck your pessimistic bunk! NASA blowing up missions left and right... despite the PR they try to feed the public about being the scientists and all, they specialize in one very specific thing: designing and flying spacecraft and airplanes. Of the spacecraft, they have been hugely more successful with manned than unmanned, because face it... in real life, computers suck! They are just the quick pocket calculators that take care of the details for us.
3. And to paraphrase Machiavelli, it frankly doesn't matter what others think of us unless they can either do something about it or we want something from them.
4. Mars will be a society of scientists and social outcasts, just like America once was... if the next stage of political evolution is like the last, things may get very interesting. Maybe enough so that statements like 3) really will change.
5. Finally, life displaces/mutates/destroys other life... this is the rule of the wild.
At least one of the probes failed due to SOFTWARE problems... that means you/. geeks. Computer programs are always the worst buggers to get right.
The real engineers did their jobs just fine on that one. They also knew what they were doing on Challenger (it's now well-known the O-Ring problem had been discovered by both NASA and their subcontractor... the management just didn't listen).
Think of the threats, though...
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Except for the rare case of true revisionist states like Iraq (where Saddam has actually been spending money on arms research like a good classical man with eyes on the prize), most of the foes we're worried about probably won't use missiles. Unless they get full support and contracting from people that know how to fully use them (like buying a Russian sub with merc crew)... but that's very expensive.
I think that the terrorists would probably use an attack more like the one shown on Peacemaker... just pull out the core and firing mechanism and toss it in a backpack. Then hand it to some young kid with eyes of fire and ears full of the Torah, Qaran, Bible or whatever the particular zealotry of the day is. It's much cheaper to use a matyr as delivery system than bother with the full machinery of a true nuclear power.
The terrorists are the biggest threats in this realm though... the rest of the world is too busy either trying to get a piece of our action or deflate our power in less dramatic ways.
However, we did talk about an interesting motive for Rummsfield in our poli sci class... Bascially the Chinese (and North Koreans (?) - we don't know for sure) have just few enough missiles for our defense system to work... But the best offense is a good defense, you know. If China, N. Korea and other "rogue states" to be can be thwarted by our defense, then they don't get to participate in the MAD scenario. And if they aren't a part of MAD... then we maintain a LOT of power in the world.
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I would invert that model... make people pay for the new stuff, give away archives. Make more money that way cuz really people pay for news... the only ones that go to archives are people writing reports.
I don't know about the surface itself... but the Mars society is currently doing a Biosphere-type deal in the northern wilderness of Canada.
We'd probably laugh at seeing this nowadays, but I doubt they'll be any less cautious.
Now what would be really cool is to see the damage the do to our micro-buddies... perhaps a bacterium that eats up virii for lunch?
Also, research is being conducted to lower the bar every day. If the bar gets low enough, the smell of the steak may be just as good as the real thing.
As for governments worrying about control... you forgot their arrogance. Even after a 101 lessons about overextending their control, they still continue to try and sneak something out. And you also forget just what a tenuous situation Mars would be in. The colonists would be VERY dependent on outside help for a while, and it's very simple to trash a dome or habitat.
On the other hand, when the colonists can self-sufficient, you're right. The difficulty in reaching Mars will serve to aid the opposite side.
1) Way out of proportion... it will take decades to get enough people onto Mars to even begin to affect things, and even then it will be pretty slow. It seems small in comparison to Earth... until you realise it's surface area is greater than all the land on our planet.
2) Fsck your pessimistic bunk! NASA blowing up missions left and right... despite the PR they try to feed the public about being the scientists and all, they specialize in one very specific thing: designing and flying spacecraft and airplanes. Of the spacecraft, they have been hugely more successful with manned than unmanned, because face it... in real life, computers suck! They are just the quick pocket calculators that take care of the details for us.
3. And to paraphrase Machiavelli, it frankly doesn't matter what others think of us unless they can either do something about it or we want something from them.
4. Mars will be a society of scientists and social outcasts, just like America once was... if the next stage of political evolution is like the last, things may get very interesting. Maybe enough so that statements like 3) really will change.
5. Finally, life displaces/mutates/destroys other life... this is the rule of the wild.
You forgot JonKatz... then you'd have lots more votes.
At least one of the probes failed due to SOFTWARE problems... that means you /. geeks. Computer programs are always the worst buggers to get right.
The real engineers did their jobs just fine on that one. They also knew what they were doing on Challenger (it's now well-known the O-Ring problem had been discovered by both NASA and their subcontractor... the management just didn't listen).
I think that the terrorists would probably use an attack more like the one shown on Peacemaker... just pull out the core and firing mechanism and toss it in a backpack. Then hand it to some young kid with eyes of fire and ears full of the Torah, Qaran, Bible or whatever the particular zealotry of the day is. It's much cheaper to use a matyr as delivery system than bother with the full machinery of a true nuclear power.
The terrorists are the biggest threats in this realm though... the rest of the world is too busy either trying to get a piece of our action or deflate our power in less dramatic ways.
However, we did talk about an interesting motive for Rummsfield in our poli sci class... Bascially the Chinese (and North Koreans (?) - we don't know for sure) have just few enough missiles for our defense system to work... But the best offense is a good defense, you know. If China, N. Korea and other "rogue states" to be can be thwarted by our defense, then they don't get to participate in the MAD scenario. And if they aren't a part of MAD... then we maintain a LOT of power in the world.