Manned Mission To Mars - January 2018 - Announced!

Very exciting news indeed but is it really going to happen so soon?

I have my doubts but what does ATS think?


BBC News 27th February 2013

"Plans for a manned mission to Mars and back have been announced, subject to funding, by a team led by millionaire and former space tourist Dennis Tito"


source

www.bbc.co.uk...

reply to post by MisterMiyagi



Well it might and might not due to Mars being smacked by a comet by next year.
But then again it could just because of that event.

Originally posted by dreamfox1
reply to post by MisterMiyagi

 

Well it might and might not due to Mars being smacked by a comet by next year.
But then again it could just because of that event.

C/2013 A1, discovered by Robert McNaught at Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, was spotted on 3 January out between the orbits of Jupiter and Saturn. After digging into data from other observatories, astronomers were able to reconstruct its orbit going back 74 days. Projecting that forward, it became clear that it would fly pretty close to Mars sometime on 19 October 2014 -- which means there is a slight chance of it impacting the planet, according to astronomer Ian Musgrave. Now, further observations have increased that chance (though it's still not very likely, before anyone starts panicking about the fate of the Curiosity rover). The current estimate is that C/2013 A1 will come within 0.00073AU (109,000km) of Mars, but uncertainty in measurements of its path thus far mean that it could end up as far away as 0.008AU (1,197,000km) or plowing straight into the planet's surface. It has a retrograde orbit around the Sun, giving it a high velocity relative to Mars of 56km/s -- that, combined with its relatively large size (estimated as around 50km) could leave a crater on Mars of 500km across and 2km deep, according to astronomer Leonid Elenin.

Source:Impact on Mars?

reply to post by MisterMiyagi

As long as its done with private money, I could care less.

If they want to use public money ie adding additional debt and taxes on the slaves (me and you), then screw them.

And how about they get to the moon first?

Very exciting news indeed but is it really going to happen so soon?

I doubt it.

subject to funding

www.bbc.co.uk...

You're probably right Phage.Time alone will tell.

At any rate, as much as I advocate space exploration, there is a massive part of me that can't help but feel we should be solving our more pressing social and environmental problems before we start thinking about ~ let alone investing in~ travelling the cosmos.

publicity stunt

Thought we'd already been.

Silly me.

reply to post by MisterMiyagi

No reason both can't happen simultaneously. There are a lot of smart people on the planet.

I don't think that Tito and his "team" really understand the difficulties of sending "an older couple" to Mars.

reply to post by MisterMiyagi


As long as the underground martians are in agreement.

Originally posted by Phage

Very exciting news indeed but is it really going to happen so soon?

I doubt it.

subject to funding

www.bbc.co.uk...

This is one of few times I'm agreed with Phage.

And for several reasons....