I'm sitting here watching a special on colonizing Mars, and I'm struck by the idiocy of all of these PhD's, who don't seem to realize the simple lessons of history...

Historically, when people leave to colonize a new place, THEY DON'T PLAN ON COMING BACK! Most of the plans for colonizing Mars seem to depend on getting the people back to Earth. This is insane. Did the Pilgrims plan on shipping back to England? No, this was a commitment. They chopped up the boats and used the wood to build homes in the new world.

Earth has the infrastructure for launching space vehicles. Mars does not, so to get humans back, you'd really have to do some engineering and design a craft that could launch without a huge spacelaunch infrastructure. And, if any little thing went wrong with that ship, and your plan is to return home. You are screwed. Help is way too far (and too long) away.

If you actually send "colonists" to Mars (i.e. those who plan to stay on Mars, and make the most of the new opportunity), it will require far less money, time, and engineering. In addition, the trip to Mars (weightlessness) and the conditions on Mars, will cause human physiology to drastically change, as we've learned from prolonged orbital missions. Coming back to Earth would then place further strains on these bodies. Staying on Mars would not.

Sending colonists that won't return eliminates the need for a return to Earth vehicle. It is a huge cost saving endeavor, as well as saves years and billions in required engineering. We could send colonists to Mars within a few years, and using current technology, if we didn't plan on them coming back to Earth.

A lot of the plans also involve testing a Mars mission with a Moon base. This is absurd. This is like preparing for a swimming marathon by jogging. Two completely different environments. Mars is far more hospitable than the moon. It would seem strange to me to spend billions on a habitat module that protects against Lunar conditions versus Mars conditions.

Kennedy challenged America to go to the moon, and it was accomplished in a decade, and 40 years ago! Why the hell should we accept that it will take decades to go to Mars, when we've already landed craft there and roamed around? It is ridiculous, and I can only hope that eventually NASA and other space agencies and companies crack open the history books and learn something from our past pioneers......

I believe we need to go further than colonizing Mars.
We need to Industrialize the Solar System.
A Space Stock Market for long and medium term pension funds etc.
The idea of going to Mars in a pod is merely a gesture, and a meek one at that.
The Pilgrims did not row a little boat, they bought the biggest ship they could afford.
Activities on Mars can only really be achieved with large support vessels.
Large support vessels can only be built on the Moon.
I would like to see a shipyard on the Moon, the use of Lunar Titanium and Aluminium as construction materials, He3 as a fuel for fusion drive?
Whomsoever builds a shipyard on the Moon is virtualy guaranteed a monopoly on space transportation for decades to come.
We need a new Brunel and a new Bloomberg.

Originally posted by Cosmic4life
Whomsoever builds a shipyard on the Moon is virtualy guaranteed a monopoly on space transportation for decades to come.

I highly doubt there'd be only one corporation interested in such a task. The rewards are too great, competition would be fierce.

[edit on 30-9-2009 by Zero_Hour]