You're right. That is always ignored because basic physics shows its absurdly difficult. Suppose you had the following simple trip: (1) leave Earth, (2) land back on Earth without further assistance, (3) leave Earth once again without further assistance. To accomplish this feat you would have to carry on your back the equivalent of a Saturn V rocket full of fuel into orbit for the 2nd launch. You would need many times (hundreds) a Saturn V of fuel for the 1st launch. On the moon landings we had to carry a lot of fuel, leave a lot of gear behind, and there was still very little margin for either the landing or the takeoff. It was really a PR stunt that could have very easily resulted in an expensive death. We got some rocks out of it. As a gravity well, Mars is about midway in depth between the Earth and the Moon. You would have to slingshot past the moon, coast to Mars, brake without a moon carrying a lot of fuel, land (in atmosphere) with a lot of fuel, take off again (in atmosphere), escape Mars local gravity without a slingshot maneuver, coast home, brake at Earth, and re-enter the atmosphere here. With current technology it is quite close to impossible, current science fiction notwithstanding. Quite a magic trick.
And all that just to ship some sacks of warm meat to Mars and back. The same amount of budget could pay for every single graduate student to get their PhD, some of whom might come up with very important stuff. Or pay for hundreds of small, cheap robotic probes to the entire solar system. The cybernetics could have incredible payback. Or pay for decent science and math education at the primary and secondary school level, rather than teach our kids "intelligent design".
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Crows clearly have a basic understanding of caws and effect!
You're right. That is always ignored because basic physics shows its absurdly difficult. Suppose you had the following simple trip: (1) leave Earth, (2) land back on Earth without further assistance, (3) leave Earth once again without further assistance. To accomplish this feat you would have to carry on your back the equivalent of a Saturn V rocket full of fuel into orbit for the 2nd launch. You would need many times (hundreds) a Saturn V of fuel for the 1st launch. On the moon landings we had to carry a lot of fuel, leave a lot of gear behind, and there was still very little margin for either the landing or the takeoff. It was really a PR stunt that could have very easily resulted in an expensive death. We got some rocks out of it. As a gravity well, Mars is about midway in depth between the Earth and the Moon. You would have to slingshot past the moon, coast to Mars, brake without a moon carrying a lot of fuel, land (in atmosphere) with a lot of fuel, take off again (in atmosphere), escape Mars local gravity without a slingshot maneuver, coast home, brake at Earth, and re-enter the atmosphere here. With current technology it is quite close to impossible, current science fiction notwithstanding. Quite a magic trick. And all that just to ship some sacks of warm meat to Mars and back. The same amount of budget could pay for every single graduate student to get their PhD, some of whom might come up with very important stuff. Or pay for hundreds of small, cheap robotic probes to the entire solar system. The cybernetics could have incredible payback. Or pay for decent science and math education at the primary and secondary school level, rather than teach our kids "intelligent design".