NASA Announces Two Proposed 2011 Mars Missions

NASA is planning a new Mars mission to study the martian atmosphere and climate. I wonder if this is part of pre-manned mission study for sometime in the distant future.

Link

I'm beginning to really dislike NASA... maybe they can actually bring results that are worthwhile not skeptical and useless (to an extent.)

Originally posted by antmax21
I'm beginning to really dislike NASA... maybe they can actually bring results that are worthwhile not skeptical and useless (to an extent.)

yes.

you are totally right.

the morons are just wasting our money.

who cares about the bloody climate...its boring and mundane...

we already know it from the orbitors....


the people in charge seem to have **** for brains....

i mean telling us what we already know over and over and over and over again.....

when i mentioned that we should send a microscope to mars i was attacked mercilessly.....

Well this doesn't suprise me at all...

Even though I am not a believer in the 2012 doomsday predictions flying around the net. There does however seem to be quite a lot of plans and preparations happening in the world surrounding the date, and now we have NASA saying it will launch a major mission in 2011....

What is going on I wonder??

Here in England we have the Olympics 2012.... Could that be used as a cover for other activity going on in the background???

All the best,

NeoN HaZe.

Seems like a waste of time. NASA will drive itself into the ground if it cannot do anything with regard to its current manned exploration program. They will dissolve into various function of NOAA and the DoD if they countinue to count their blessings with these childish "robot missions" to Mars.

Originally posted by Soitenly
Seems like a waste of time. NASA will drive itself into the ground if it cannot do anything with regard to its current manned exploration program. They will dissolve into various function of NOAA and the DoD if they countinue to count their blessings with these childish "robot missions" to Mars.

The "childish" robot missions to Mars have been the biggest success stories of the space program since Apollo in my opinion. The fact they have exceeded all expectations and are running practically permanently on the surface and relaying back more data than we've ever seen at a fraction of the cost of a manned mission is extremely exciting. It's the type mission that the DoD would never do, and that's WHY we need NASA. To do the things Science says makes sense rather than the things the Defense Department says makes sense.

NASA will put humans on the Moon again and that should be good enough for the manned exploration program right now, especially if they build a permanent base as a launching point for Mars. Also, the International Space Station may not be a "sexy" manned mission but it's a major stepping stone in space exploration. A permanent "laboratory" in space is essential for any sort of development of advanced space exploration technology. Now that the Space Shuttle program is thankfully drawing to a close, we're moving ahead and we just have to be patient. I'd expect a manned Mars mission by 2025, and probably "tourist" trips to the moon by then.

Originally posted by antmax21
I'm beginning to really dislike NASA... maybe they can actually bring results that are worthwhile not skeptical and useless (to an extent.)

Seems to me the missions are geared towards gathering data necessary to eventually begin terra forming activities.

The Mars Atmosphere and Evolution Mission, or Maven, was proposed by prominent astrobiologist Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado, Boulder, to “address key questions about Mars climate and habitability and improve understanding of dynamic processes in the upper Martian atmosphere and ionosphere,”

Dynamic processes in the upper atmosphere and ionospere? One of the challenges to developing long term colonies on mars will be decreasing solar and cosmic radiation dosing. Upper atmosphere dynamics are associated with this.

The Great Escape mission, proposed by Alan Stern of the Boulder-based Southwest Research Institute would, according to the release, “directly determine the basic processes in Martian atmospheric evolution by measuring the structure and dynamics of the upper atmosphere.” The spacecraft would also seek out and measure “potentially biogenic atmospheric constituents such as methane.”

Again, critical information in terms of establishing outposts and eventual colonies.

Yeah, NASA's decision makers must have [] for brains. I wonder if some recent posters to this thread might also?

Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 13/1/2007 by Umbrax]

Originally posted by darkbluesky

Originally posted by antmax21
I by measuring the structure and dynamics of the upper atmosphere.” The spacecraft would also seek out and measure “potentially biogenic atmospheric constituents such as methane.”

Again, critical information in terms of establishing outposts and eventual colonies.

Yeah, NASA's decision makers must have [] for brains. I wonder if some recent posters to this thread might also?

look u []..how is measuring radiation fields going to stop the radiation??

are they gonna terraform it...of course not...

we are sick and tired of hearing that mars has craters.

mountains
rivers
valleys
clouds
dust
wind...

i can tell u that for free

i can tell you that every planet
has rocks
valleys
methane
clouds..
and so on

dirt
sand
rocky formations
has low and high temperatures
has a sky

i demand a retraction of your abuse and an apology..

radiation..


[edit on 13-1-2007 by esecallum]

[edit: removed censor circumvention from quoted content]

[edit on 1/14/2007 by 12m8keall2c]

Both of you.

Keep to the topic and kindly knock off the personal insults. If you can't post without discussing each other than please don't post at all.

Please review these links.
Go after the ball not the player.
Courtesy Is Mandatory
Please Stay on Topic

Thank you.

Personally I am pleased to see ANY missions to Mars, the Moon, or Space in general. Much of the general public seems apathetic when it comes to space exploration and some still believe all we ever got from the space program is Tang.

Sending a manned mission to Mars is not like a camping trip. Even getting a simple probe to cross the vast distance and arrive in orbit safely is quite a challenge. The more data we can get in advance the better. There is still a lot we don't know and these new missions will add a great deal. I am not worried about racing to find life on Mars. There is no hurry in my mind. Sure, it would be great to discover life on Mars, but there is a lot of other good science to consider along the way. By better understanding the Martian Atmosphere, we will get a better understanding of any conditions that would be conducive towards life and what form it might take. The Methane presence on Mars is just one example.

I just wish NASA had a better budget and less went towards the Bush/oil war in Iraq. Science and understanding is far more productive than guns and ammo.

I just wish NASA had a better budget and less went towards the Bush/oil war in Iraq. Science and understanding is far more productive than guns and ammo.

Why can't people is these forums ever make statement without taking immature jabs at Bush and/or the United States in general. Honestly, I haven't seen this level of immaturity and nonsensical banter since grade school. Grow up people!

Noting imature or nonsensical at all in that statement. The fact is that significantly more is spent on war than on science. Few realize how much the space program has given us in the form of spinn off technology. We could choose to go to war with everyone we dont agree with. In the case of Iraq there was deliberate misrepresentation of the facts leading up to war. There has been significant spending with little or no result when it comes to rebuilding the country. Even Bush has fully admited that his "Stay the course" previous plan is not working.


NASA has a long history of having it's budget cut and then the monies transfered into military use. We could have had a manned base on the moon had the budget not been slashed to the bone. NASA has done some great science despite the reduced budget and that was the point of my comment. If they were better funded we wouldnt be having discussions about what type of equpiment they should send to Mars as they would all ready have had more options than they can afford now.

The facts and figures are all publicly available on the budgets involved. The politics of where the money goes is also a matter of public record. Bush stated that he would like for us to resume Lunar missions shortly after the Chinese announced their Lunar plans. No speculation is needed as he talked about the need to remain competitive. If these political games had not been played by this, and previous administrations, and the NASA budget been set at a certain percentage of GDP, we wouldnt be talking about the need to send better equipment to space.

Space exploration is increasingly a global initiative. Private ventures are slowly comming online. The future is in joint ventures both international and private/government. If less was going towards the Bush led War in Iraq, more would be available for the presidents wish to return to the Moon. Having personaly worked on a project related to the Mars Rover Missions, as well as a project related to the Chandra X-Ray space telescope, I do have some understanding about the process.


[edit on 14-1-2007 by Terapin]

[edit on 14-1-2007 by Terapin]

As already mentioned by Umbrax, please keep the response(s) focused on the content of the post, Not directed at the character of the poster.

Thank you.

In regards to Soitenly's reply about maned missions. The only reason NASA or other space agency's even consider maned missions is simply to keep the majority of the less intelligent population happy. Take the number of ISS experiments by people in space, with everything they do the project still brings in the lowest scientific results compared to robots and the majority of there experiments are about how man copes in zero G. The fact is robotic missions are far more rewarding both scientifically, cost and reliability.

NASA's plans for future missions do indeed include elements that could help find life on the red planet.

-- Urey Mars Organic and Oxidant Detector: The Urey instrument would investigate organics and oxidant materials on Mars using three complementary detection systems. The principal investigator is Dr. Jeffrey Bada, University of California at San Diego. The instrument would be built and managed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

-- Mars Organic Molecule Analyzer, or Moma: The instrument would investigate organic molecular signatures and the environment in which they exist using a mass spectrometer and gas chromatograph. The principal investigator is Dr. Luann Becker, University of California at Santa Barbara.

These selections were judged to have the best science value among 26 proposals submitted to NASA in August 2006 in response to an open announcement of opportunity.

The Mars Scout program is an initiative for innovative, relatively low-cost missions selected on a competitive basis.

NASA's Mars Exploration Program seeks to characterize and understand Mars as a dynamic system, including its present and past environment, climate cycles, geology and biological potential.

-From Mars Exploration Program: General press releases

Rather than searching a desert for a microbe, the idea is to understand the environment so you can better taylor missions in the right direction. We will be able to develop life determining experiments in the future based on newer data.

Originally posted by esecallum
[
look u []..how is measuring radiation fields going to stop the radiation??

Assuming that at some time in the future it will be possible to engineer a system capable af altering the electro-chemical make up of the upper martian atmospere, it seems apparent to me, that one would need to fully understand the existing make up and dynamics of the upper atmospere before applying the engineered solution.

are they gonna terraform it...of course not...

Why not?