posted on Jul, 25 2009 @ 02:37 AM
With all the talk regarding the timing of a Mars mission some people still forget that we have many obstacles to over come before any such mission,
whether internationally or nationally, takes place. I do believe however that if we had the ability to land a man on the moon 40 years ago we should
have the ability to overcome afew of the obstacles in the way. I thought however it may be good to discuss some of these issues.
By far the largest obstacle is
time. It takes approx 9 months for the fastest space shuttle to travel from Earth to Mars... and take into mind
this is when Mars orbits its closest to Eartch and the sun. The longest time any individual has ever spent time out in space was Sergei Krikalev, who
was commander of the international space station for nearly 750 days. So while it is possible for humans to withstand the time take into consideration
the trip to Mars and back, including the time spent on Mars. In addition the issue of how those individuals are effected. Long periods of time space
have negative effects on our bones who cease to work when they are not used for very long periods of time.
Heres a quick list I got from wikipedia. May not be the most accurate source but certainly a good list:
physical effects of exposure to high-energy cosmic rays and other ionizing radiation
physical effects of a prolonged low-gravity environment
physical effects of a prolonged low-light environment
psychological effects of isolation from Earth
psychological effects of lack of community due to lack of real-time connections with Earth
social effects of several humans living under crowded conditions for over one Earth year
inaccessibility of terrestrial medical facilities
en.wikipedia.org...
I think another major issue is the nay sayers. I understand that right now the economy is unfit, however in the near future even during economy booms
there will always be the "money issue". An internationally joint mission will do good and bring down costs to each individual nation, however there
will then be demands as to which nationals will be going on.
Mars has potential for possible colonization and a second planet couldnt hurt
This is a really interesting topic though. The former Apollo11 crew advocating a Mars mission, experience men, one of few who have ever ventured on
another world other than our own, only further shows that there is potential... however these obstacles need to get out of the way.
Opinions from fellow ATSers?
[edit on 25-7-2009 by Southern Guardian]