Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
1–10 of 81 posts
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#2Same could be said for sending people to the south pole, but people did it anyway.
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#3Anders went to space in ‘68. I think he’s lost the spirit of adventure he must have had to do so. Putting a human on Mars will be one of the pinnacles of human achievements, even a small ultimately failed colony an unbelievable achievement. I support both wholeheartedly.
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#4Same could be said for sending people to the south pole, but people did it anyway.
Or the moon.
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#5So this is the part I don't get, re: "What's pushing us to go to Mars?", some time ago someone said the same of going to the Moon. There was no good main reason for going to the moon, other than the US and the USSR having who's got a bigger dk war. The reality I feel, is this time we do have a good reason, to actually kick start off-planet habitable zones that we'll reap the benefits years and years into the future
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#6So this is the part I don't get, re: "What's pushing us to go to Mars?", some time ago someone said the same of going to the Moon. There was no good main reason for going to the moon, other than the US and the USSR having who's got a bigger d k war. The reality I feel, is this time we do have a good reason, to actually kick start off-planet habitable zones that we'll reap the benefits years and years into the future
I don't understand these naysayers. I'm not trying to be mean here, but is there anything more to that than an old guy complaining about how it was awesome in his time and age, and how we get everything wrong nowadays? I'm genuinely asking - are astronauts talking about space programs similar to actors and celebrities taking about moral or political issues? I.e. just famous but not so smart people?
Also, Elon's take on this three years ago:
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#7So this is the part I don't get, re: "What's pushing us to go to Mars?", some time ago someone said the same of going to the Moon. There was no good main reason for going to the moon, other than the US and the USSR having who's got a bigger d k war. The reality I feel, is this time we do have a good reason, to actually kick start off-planet habitable zones that we'll reap the benefits years and years into the future
I don't understand these naysayers. I'm not trying to be mean here, but is there anything more to that than an old guy complaining about how it was awesome in his time and age, and how we get everything wrong nowadays? I'm genuinely asking - are astronauts talking about space programs similar to actors and celebrities taking about moral or political issues? I.e. just famous but not so smart people? Also, Elon's take…
I disagree somewhat with what this astronaut is saying, but generally speaking I think astronauts are supposed to be quite intelligent, especially about issues related to space. I was under the impression that each of them had excellent skills and knowledge in at least one area that benefits their missions and of course strong understanding of space-related things.
So, to answer your question I don't think it's the case that it's similar to celebrities talking about moral and political issues in any way. I assume that he's pretty well informed but just has a totally different view that's less forward-thinking than others of his astronaut brethren.
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#8So this is the part I don't get, re: "What's pushing us to go to Mars?", some time ago someone said the same of going to the Moon. There was no good main reason for going to the moon, other than the US and the USSR having who's got a bigger d k war. The reality I feel, is this time we do have a good reason, to actually kick start off-planet habitable zones that we'll reap the benefits years and years into the future
I think it was more "who has a bigger rocket who can hit a precise target with a nuclear weapon" war. Going to the moon just proved the capability without nuking someone.
I don't think people really understand the tyranny of the rocket equation and the propellant mass fraction. For the space shuttle, about 80% of the mass was fuel. Propellant mass fractions are typically around 0.8 to 0.9.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propellant_mass_fraction
Going to Mars with people implies we're going to bring those people back. We've never launched something off of Mars before, and getting up to escape velocity on another planet (more than 2x the gravity of the Moon) isn't an easy task. The slower you go on the return trip also means you need more consumables (air, food, water) for the travelers. Not only do you have the mass to go up, but you have to land with that mass in order to launch again from the surface.
I think the future is automated settlements. A group of robots 3d printing and producing things automatically (things like methane fuel, simple parts, what if we could build a rover on Mars) would be a huge boon and start bootstrapping Mars for human settlement. We would need to take a huge amount of stuff to start doing anything interesting on Mars. Something that would take lots of trips, before we could support just a few people. People are generally quite fragile and more of a liability: limited life span, unable to easily repair, get sick or ill, bored or depressed easily...
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#9"What's the imperative? What's pushing us to go to Mars?" he said, adding "I don't think the public is that interested".
I think it's the opposite -- the general public is much more interested in sending humans to space than yet another unmanned mission.
I agree that robotic missions give the most bang for the buck, and should continue for the foreseeable future, but as far as the general public goes, a manned mission is much more glamorous and more likely to keep Nasa funded.
Re: Sending astronauts to Mars would be stupid, astronaut says
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't understand these naysayers. I'm not trying to be mean here, but is there anything more to that than an old guy complaining about how it was awesome in his time and age, and how we get everything wrong nowadays? I'm genuinely asking - are astronauts talking about space programs similar to actors and celebrities taking about moral or political issues? I.e. just famous but not so smart people? Also, Elon's take…
I disagree somewhat with what this astronaut is saying, but generally speaking I think astronauts are supposed to be quite intelligent, especially about issues related to space. I was under the impression that each of them had excellent skills and knowledge in at least one area that benefits their missions and of course strong understanding of space-related things. So, to answer your question I don't think it's the c…
They're supposed to be quite intelligent about a very specific scenario: operating a specialized vehicle in launch, low/zero gravity, and landing. I wouldn't look to them for understanding or insight into the geopolitical or economic role their missions might be a part of. When listening to experts it's always very important to remember precisely what their expertise happens to be.