When Will We Send Astronauts to Mars?

[Binary_Bark]

When Will We Send Astronauts to Mars?

History was made on July 20th, 1969, when Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the surface of the Moon. The moment was the culmination of decades of hard work, research, development and sacrifice. And since that time, human beings have been waiting and wondering when we might achieve the next great astronomical milestone.

So really, when will we see a man or woman set foot on Mars? The prospect has been talked about for decades, back when NASA and the Soviets were still planning on setting foot on the Moon. It is the next logical step, after all. And at present, several plans are in development that could be coming to fruition in just a few decades time.

Original Proposals:
Werner Von Braun, the (in)famous former Nazi rocket scientist – and the man who helped spearhead NASA’s Project Mercury – was actually the first to develop a concept for a crewed mission to Mars. Titled The Mars Project (1952), his proposal called for ten spacecraft (7 passenger, 3 cargo) that would transport a crew of 70 astronauts to Mars.

 

[Drifter]

Never

 

[Binary_Bark]

Never

Not NASA no, but SpaceX will be the ones to watch on this

 

[Enzo Matrix]

Sending humans to mars or anywhere doesnt make sense really apart from the wow factor of doing it. Robotics will allow regular interplanetary travel in a few decades i imagine. And I for one will welcome our new robot overlords

 

[Binary_Bark]

Sending humans to mars or anywhere doesnt make sense really apart from the wow factor of doing it. Robotics will allow regular interplanetary travel in a few decades i imagine. And I for one will welcome our new robot overlords

Robotics yes, to discover what is there to use, if we as humans can get a foothold on Mars we can use it as "pit-stop" for further exploration of the solar system. The distances to travel in the solar system alone is vast yes.
But we need to start somewhere

 

[garyc]

After Apollo NASA was planning a mission to Mars. The idea was to land in 1978 and have a permanent base by 1981. NASA felt that the technical challenges had been addressed, and had even developed the nuclear rockets required up to operational status. THE US congress felt that it would be too expensive and went for the Shuttle programme instead.

It seems that we can go to Mars as soon as someone comes up with the money.

BTW: interesting article on the rocket engines that they developed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERVA

 

[The_MAC]

I say we don't send any intellectuals out there, I say we send out some of our Politicians, we will be solving 2 problems at once: Getting rid of them for good, without legally killing them, and secondly they stand a far better chance of surviving out there

 

[Binary_Bark]

After Apollo NASA was planning a mission to Mars. The idea was to land in 1978 and have a permanent base by 1981. NASA felt that the technical challenges had been addressed, and had even developed the nuclear rockets required up to operational status. THE US congress felt that it would be too expensive and went for the Shuttle programme instead.

It seems that we can go to Mars as soon as someone comes up with the money.

BTW: interesting article on the rocket engines that they developed https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NERVA

Why SpaceX are the ones to watch for human Mars Exploration.
Then there is also progress from NASA: NASA’s First SLS Mars Rocket Fuel Tank Completes Welding

 

[Binary_Bark]

I say we don't send any intellectuals out there, I say we send out some of our Politicians, we will be solving 2 problems at once: Getting rid of them for good, without legally killing them, and secondly they stand a far better chance of surviving out there

Will be better to send them to Uranus

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Robotics yes, to discover what is there to use, if we as humans can get a foothold on Mars we can use it as "pit-stop" for further exploration of the solar system. The distances to travel in the solar system alone is vast yes.
But we need to start somewhere

problem has always been the will and the desire to move off world,
not gonna happen anytime soon, unless something big happens that forces us to reevaluate our position,

something like a big meteor, or a virus or some natural disaster that kills millions,

otherwise, I do think there is a big conspiracy with the whole thing,
cant be we landed on the moon in the 70's and since then nothing really......

 

[Binary_Bark]

problem has always been the will and the desire to move off world,
not gonna happen anytime soon, unless something big happens that forces us to reevaluate our position,

something like a big meteor, or a virus or some natural disaster that kills millions,

otherwise, I do think there is a big conspiracy with the whole thing,
cant be we landed on the moon in the 70's and since then nothing really......

Something big has happened already, we have passed the carbon tipping point in the atmosphere driving global warming, there is no more turning back. We need to move on as humans, terra-forming is a solution, but only temporary. Mars is a dead planet for a reason.

It does sit in the "Goldilocks Zone" but Mars was too small to hold the heat in it's core, the core solidified causing the magnetosphere to switch off, this in return caused its atmosphere to be mostly blown away by solar storms

 

[C4Cat]

problem has always been the will and the desire to move off world,
not gonna happen anytime soon, unless something big happens that forces us to reevaluate our position,

something like a big meteor, or a virus or some natural disaster that kills millions,

otherwise, I do think there is a big conspiracy with the whole thing,
cant be we landed on the moon in the 70's and since then nothing really......

:wtf:

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

:wtf:

think about it, the moon landings happened in the 70's when computers were the size of a small building,
the guidance computer had how much processor power?

where are we now? 2016, when every housewife has the power of a supercomputer from the mid 70's available at home,
and calculations that took a week are now done in hours, if not min with cloud computing....

and yet space tech hasn't moved much since that high of the 70's, yes we build the ISS and robots and such things,
but besides that, nothing much else,

show me a field of human endevour that hasn't advanced since one big precipice....
something is deeply wrong with the entire enterprise, why cant more people see that?


let me give you an analogy, that maybe explains my point better,
I mean its as if we invented the motor car, and left it at that, still with a speed limit or 4 KM/H and extremely expensive and unreliable.
in the meanwhile we invented roads and everything else, but haven't touched the motor car for everybody.
wouldn't you also think that is wrong?

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Something big has happened already, we have passed the carbon tipping point in the atmosphere driving global warming, there is no more turning back. We need to move on as humans, terra-forming is a solution, but only temporary. Mars is a dead planet for a reason.

It does sit in the "Goldilocks Zone" but Mars was too small to hold the heat in it's core, the core solidified causing the magnetosphere to switch off, this in return caused its atmosphere to be mostly blown away by solar storms

100% agree with you, problem is I think there is something holding us back,
I belive it is an artificial barrier, that been put in place for some reason,

what it is? one can speculate, treaty with ET, radiation poisoning, other factors maybe?

but humanities future as you so rightly put it isn't on Earth at all,
mars, maybe, or a space station build to our specifications with artificial gravity adjusted to us,

 

[Binary_Bark]

think about it, the moon landings happened in July 20, 1969 when computers were the size of a small building,
the guidance computer had how much processor power?

where are we now? 2016, when every housewife has the power of a supercomputer from the mid 70's available at home,
and calculations that took a week are now done in hours, if not min with cloud computing....

and yet space tech hasn't moved much since that high of the 70's, yes we build the ISS and robots and such things,
but besides that, nothing much else,

show me a field of human endevour that hasn't advanced since one big precipice....
something is deeply wrong with the entire enterprise, why cant more people see that?


let me give you an analogy, that maybe explains my point better,
I mean its as if we invented the motor car, and left it at that, still with a speed limit or 4 KM/H and extremely expensive and unreliable.
in the meanwhile we invented roads and everything else, but haven't touched the motor car for everybody.
wouldn't you also think that is wrong?

The problem here is money, there is no money in taking it further, the first electric car was killed off by the oil companies, the first solar plant was melted and used to build weapons in the first world war.
The space race only happned because of the Cold War

 

[spiderz]

Never

Don't be like that now!

I'm sure if we club togheter we can at least send Thor and Yorkie to space.
What does it cost to lauch a trash can into space?

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

The problem here is money, there is no money in taking it further, the first electric car was killed off by the oil companies, the first solar plant was melted and used to build weapons in the first world war.
The space race only happned because of the Cold War

good point, hence my analogy to "something big" needs to happen first, and there needs to be a desire and will to take it further,
I wont be surprised, if in secret NASA and the Russians have perfected space tech very quietly,

and waiting for funding and a political will to make it happen.... and send people to Mars/Moon or outside earth atmosphere.

 

[Binary_Bark]

good point, hence my analogy to "something big" needs to happen first, and there needs to be a desire and will to take it further,
I wont be surprised, if in secret NASA and the Russians have perfected space tech very quietly,

and waiting for funding and a political will to make it happen.... and send people to Mars/Moon or outside earth atmosphere.

At the moment we just have Elon Musk to take things further. http://www.universetoday.com/131094/ready-not-musk-dragging-us-interplanetary-species-status/ As it seems establishments like NASA and ESA will not do anything

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Don't be like that now!

I'm sure if we club togheter we can at least send Thor and Yorkie to space.
What does it cost to lauch a trash can into space?

laugh about it, but there might be a real market for sending toxic or radiation poised waste into orbit,
I mean what is there always more of? nuclear waste?

and where is a safe place to send it, where it cant harm anybody for the next 2000000 years...

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

At the moment we just have Elon Musk to take things further. http://www.universetoday.com/131094/ready-not-musk-dragging-us-interplanetary-species-status/ As it seems establishments like NASA and ESA will not do anything

I applaud pioneers like elon musk to do governments dirty work,
but don't be surprised if suddenly he cuts his space dream short, or suddenly one of his companies runs into financial issues,
or numerous other 1 in a million things happen to keep him or his companies firmly on the ground....

yes I know its a conspiracy, an especially wild one,
but there has to be a good reason no other billionaire hasn't tried and succeeded before him,
its that they been ordered not to.....