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I watched the moon landings as a child. I don't expect to see humans set foot on the moon again in my lifetime. I do however expect to see opportunists suckling
by bregma 3y ago
I watched the moon landings as a child. I don't expect to see humans set foot on the moon again in my lifetime. I do however expect to see opportunists suckling on the fatted pork barrel here on earth up until my expiry date. Mars is a realistically unobtainable goal but certainly a lot of people will be gainfully employed not getting there.
- borissk 3y agoThere will be people on the Moon within the next 10 years. Both Chinese and American. Sending humans to Mars is completely doable with chemical rockets. Just a matter of investing enough money. If SpaceX is successful with further development of Starship they can very likely send people to Mars by 2040.
- somenameforme 3y agoWhy? I can understand the pessimism about bigger goals (like colonizing Mars), even I may not agree with it, but a man on the Moon? Even if one thinks the entire US Public system is dysfunctional, SpaceX is actively pursuing such a goal and advancing space tech at a rate faster than any time in our history, excepting perhaps that magical ~1959-1969 window. And even if you have doubts about private industry, then there's China. They have all the motivation, capability, risk tolerance, funding, and more necessary. They have the stated goal of putting astronauts on the Moon by 2030, and there's no reason to think they won't succeed. They've been nailing their space goals in both terms of success and timeline. And if we look a bit more optimistically there are all sorts of third parties that would like to get back in the game, or newcomers looking to find their own place in it.