Aldrin: First Man On Mars 'Shouldn't Come Back'

The second man to set foot on the Moon was asked about the possibility of a permanent human presence on the Red Planet during an online question and answer session.

He was asked specifically about SpaceX founder Elon Musk, who believes people could visit Mars within a decade.

Aldrin said: "I have considered whether a landing on Mars could be done by the private sector.

"It conflicts with my very strong idea, concept, conviction, that the first human beings to land on Mars should not come back to Earth.

"They should be the beginning of a build-up of a colony or settlement. I call it a permanence."


An image of Mars taken by Nasa's Curiosity rover (Nasa/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)
He added: "To have an individual company, no matter how smart, send people to Mars and bring them back, it is very, very expensive. It delays the obtaining of permanence."

He said that some people would call it a "suicide mission", but he disagreed saying: "Not me! Not at all."

There would be no shortage of volunteers for a one-way trip to Mars.

Mars One - a non-profit organisation hoping to create a settlement on Mars by 2023 - received 200,000 applications for volunteers to travel to the Red Planet and never come back.

The 84-year-old was answering questions on Reddit to mark the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing on July 20.

He also told how impressed he was with the movie Gravity, describing it as "thrilling", and said he "doesn't waste very much time" on conspiracy theorists who believe the Moon landing was faked.

I'm 100% behind buzz on this they shouldn't come back due to the bugs and the damage they would cause !
But the irony would be that while going to mars to expand would just lead to our own demise.
Cue starwars !

Its not even possible to come back from Mars once you get there. Its very different from Moon, its one way trip. In current technology, its impossible to get fuel from Mars, and you cannot take enough for return trip from Earth. Spacecraft needs much more escape velocity from Mars than from Moon.

a reply to: Denoli

That would be one lonely existence. As soon as that person would become sick and in need of medical attention, his life would be over. It would take one brave, emotionless and introverted person to even consider doing such a thing.

They 'shouldn't come back' ?? Like it's even a choice ?? There is no way to come back. We won't have that kind of technology for a very long time. And if we don't get our act together here on Earth, we may never have it at all.

originally posted by: WeRpeons
a reply to: Denoli

That would be one lonely existence. As soon as that person would become sick and in need of medical attention, his life would be over. It would take one brave, emotionless and introverted person to even consider doing such a thing.

I know it would have to be a group of people , but I'm sure there's thousands who would do it ,they would have to be an array of specialists but to save humanity what choice have we got ?

a reply to: Denoli

S&F!

I disagree with Buzz on all the points he makes!

a reply to: FlyersFan


Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)

Image of the smallest Orion vehicle extensively studied, which could have had a payload of around 100 tonnes in an 8 crew round trip to Mars. On the left, the 10 meter diameter Saturn V "Boost-to-orbit" variant, requiring in-orbit assembly before the Orion vehicle would be capable of moving under its own propulsion system. On the far right, the fully assembled "lofting" configuration, in which the spacecraft would be lifted high into the atmosphere before pulse propulsion began. As depicted in the 1964 NASA document "Nuclear Pulse Space Vehicle Study Vol III - Conceptual Vehicle Designs and Operational Systems."

We have the technology ok!

The tech is even 50yrs old!

But yeah the willpower and acting together to do that ... pffft we're doomed!

originally posted by: DietJoke
a reply to: Denoli

S&F!

I disagree with Buzz on all the points he makes!

a reply to: FlyersFan


Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)

Image of the smallest Orion vehicle extensively studied, which could have had a payload of around 100 tonnes in an 8 crew round trip to Mars. On the left, the 10 meter diameter Saturn V "Boost-to-orbit" variant, requiring in-orbit assembly before the Orion vehicle would be capable of moving under its own propulsion system. On the far right, the fully assembled "lofting" configuration, in which the spacecraft would be lifted high into the atmosphere before pulse propulsion began. As depicted in the 1964 NASA document "Nuclear Pulse Space Vehicle Study Vol III - Conceptual Vehicle Designs and Operational Systems."

We have the technology ok!

The tech is even 50yrs old!

But yeah the willpower and acting together to do that ... pffft we're doomed!

One of the best breakthroughs in the last 10 years has to be 3d printing and this has lead to a lot of the things that would cause us issues- to not been an issue at all, but there are still going to be major problems !
Private investment speeds things up so much , instead of waiting for NASA to throw the scientists a bone every few years.

I applied to go on the Space X Mission.... They asked for a 1000 word essay on why i want to go to Mars. I dont do 1000 words for no man...though i have prepared my stepping onto the surface of Mars Speech..

"One small step for man and after all this traveling there better be Biatches with three Tetas or i'll be deeply saddened"

You could presume Buzz Aldrin was saying that they shouldn't come back from the point of view that they shouldn't go there until they could actually stay there. After all he uses the words, "shouldn't come back" which would more than imply that those people would be still alive. As far as I know there is no practical way to terraform Mars 'in house' as yet.
There is also the problem of Mar's very weak..at best, magnetic field.

originally posted by: Soloprotocol
I applied to go on the Space X Mission.... They asked for a 1000 word essay on why i want to go to Mars. I dont do 1000 words for no man...though i have prepared my stepping onto the surface of Mars Speech..

"One small step for man and after all this traveling there better be Biatches with three Tetas or i'll be deeply saddened"

Aha! thing is those three Mar's..ahem, ladies might be disappointed with Earthman's very singular set of gentlemans vegetables.

On seeing this, I am reminded of the "low information voters" out there.

My own mother in law, stated this exact sentence to me back when the Challenger blew up. We were discussing the latest news, and I mentioned that the accident was a tragic loss of life and that it will set the US space program back for years.

"I just don't get it, why don't they just use that ship they use on that show you watch, Star Trek"?

And yes, she was dead serious.

You simply can't argue with logic like that.

BUT, it makes me wonder what else the low information voters really believe.

I think he just doesn't want anyone eclipsing his fame here on Earth. A human who walked on Mars would be a lot cooler than any of the Apollo guys!

a reply to: matadoor

That is such a huge issue...the only answer would be to test people prior to voting and that will never fly. Ignorant voters are the saving grace of the corrupt and inept incumbent. Informed voters would not continue to vote into office the politicians we see today that are elected ad nauseum until they are virtual vegetables.

Charles Rangel and Chuck Schumer come to mind immediately.

originally posted by: wildespace
I think he just doesn't want anyone eclipsing his fame here on Earth. A human who walked on Mars would be a lot cooler than any of the Apollo guys!

Aldrin is just like Mars he we'll .....ROCKS !

a reply to: Denoli

An interesting and thought provoking thread, it kind of give's the impression he is not too happy that we never established a permanent presence on the moon, look at how the space race and especially the moon mission pumped the american and western economy's up through government directed spending leading to new technology and applications of those technology's and we can only wonder what might have been had they indeed established a permanent presence on the moon (I am not talking black budget mission's which may or may not have occured but publicly open and clear).
What new technology/alloy's and applications might they have developed and what new business and expansion frontier's might now exist, should we today have been looking up at the light's of a luner city when the moon was in earth shadow and has there negligent withdrawel from manned space exploration set humanity back hundreds of years.

originally posted by: LABTECH767
a reply to: Denoli

An interesting and thought provoking thread, it kind of give's the impression he is not too happy that we never established a permanent presence on the moon, look at how the space race and especially the moon mission pumped the american and western economy's up through government directed spending leading to new technology and applications of those technology's and we can only wonder what might have been had they indeed established a permanent presence on the moon (I am not talking black budget mission's which may or may not have occured but publicly open and clear).
What new technology/alloy's and applications might they have developed and what new business and expansion frontier's might now exist, should we today have been looking up at the light's of a luner city when the moon was in earth shadow and has there negligent withdrawel from manned space exploration set humanity back hundreds of years.

I think buzz knows we can already make the trip there and support a colony there.
I would love to have been a fly on the wall at some of the meetings within the inner circles of NASA/black projects not just meetings but also the barbecues and laid back meetings. I hope they don't start calling him a nut before the deathbed confession of mr aldrin.
Like I said earlier the private sector will take us further and quicker than NASA ever will or want to.
Just hope we win the private space race because Korea or Iran up there will be disaster!

originally posted by: smurfy

originally posted by: Soloprotocol
I applied to go on the Space X Mission.... They asked for a 1000 word essay on why i want to go to Mars. I dont do 1000 words for no man...though i have prepared my stepping onto the surface of Mars Speech..

"One small step for man and after all this traveling there better be Biatches with three Tetas or i'll be deeply saddened"

Aha! thing is those three Mar's..ahem, ladies might be disappointed with Earthman's very singular set of gentlemans vegetables.

originally posted by: DietJoke
a reply to: Denoli

S&F!

I disagree with Buzz on all the points he makes!

a reply to: FlyersFan


Project Orion (nuclear propulsion)

Image of the smallest Orion vehicle extensively studied, which could have had a payload of around 100 tonnes in an 8 crew round trip to Mars. On the left, the 10 meter diameter Saturn V "Boost-to-orbit" variant, requiring in-orbit assembly before the Orion vehicle would be capable of moving under its own propulsion system. On the far right, the fully assembled "lofting" configuration, in which the spacecraft would be lifted high into the atmosphere before pulse propulsion began. As depicted in the 1964 NASA document "Nuclear Pulse Space Vehicle Study Vol III - Conceptual Vehicle Designs and Operational Systems."

We have the technology ok!

The tech is even 50yrs old!

But yeah the willpower and acting together to do that ... pffft we're doomed!

So when was the Orion Nuclear Propulsion space craft built?

It wasn't. It components wernt even tested. It's a concept and always has been a concept. So no we don't have the technology. We've thought of it but that's a long ways off from actually having it.

originally posted by: Denoli

I think buzz knows we can already make the trip there and support a colony there.
I would love to have been a fly on the wall at some of the meetings within the inner circles of NASA/black projects not just meetings but also the barbecues and laid back meetings. I hope they don't start calling him a nut before the deathbed confession of mr aldrin.
Like I said earlier the private sector will take us further and quicker than NASA ever will or want to.
Just hope we win the private space race because Korea or Iran up there will be disaster!

"By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to ORBIT, (my caps) Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it." That's what Obama has said.
Elon Musk is not a lone entrepreneur, he is being funded by NASA or if you like, part of their funding is going to his research, so not exactly 'power to the people'. NASA will also be paying to hitch a ride to Mars on Falcon or something similar, I presume that to be the orbital bit, at first anyway.
There will also be Moon landings, an asteroid lander and a asteroid manned landing in the interim. The last three are NASA programmes, as far as I know using their own technology. So yes go figure, is this really space 'fusion' when you need to consider also NASA's military commitments in the past/present?
Now go with the timelines, twenty something years for a Mars manned orbit and a later landing after already 35 years of manned deep space success.
So maybe Buzz does know about supporting a colony on Mars, I don't think getting there is the fundamental problem and that should mean that the ability to get back to Earth is not such a fundamental problem either. So it's the staying bit, and you just don't stay somewhere to look through glass forever.