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You can manufacture fuel in-situ on Mars, something not possible (or significantly more difficult) on the Moon. This, coupled with the atmosphere of Mars that p

by iwwr 14y ago

You can manufacture fuel in-situ on Mars, something not possible (or significantly more difficult) on the Moon. This, coupled with the atmosphere of Mars that provides delta-V savings on the way down (with little drag on the way up) makes Mars somewhat more accessible, energy-wise. Mars is interesting because it has the ingredients for humans living there: water, minerals for industry and agriculture, energy. The Moon has only solar energy, even that dampened by the 2 week long night.

XorNot 14y ago
The problem is we don't really know how we'd do that yet - we have no prototypes on Earth, so it would all have to be invented. I'd budget a decade for that, cautiously, since it has to work once we get there. A much better plan would be an expedition with no set return date (other then intention) - if you were going to land people. A reasonably self-sustaining habitat could probably be set up if we could prove a few key things (namely - can you grow things in Martian soil if you provide an atmosphere, and can you find extra water while you're there?) The big benefit of a fly by mission - the one we should take advantage of - would be to put people close enough that we could do more frequent rover moves since they'd have real time control for a period while in orbit.
- pasbesoin 14y ago
  You can get someone (ok, some couple) in a can and on their way by 2018, the next near approach. The following near approach will be enough time in the future to define a distinct mission, enough that current interests and abilities may no longer be capable (even multi-millionaires only live so long and/or retain mental capacity so long, or even possibly their money and influence), and enough time in the future that it will not provide the current boost and motivation that is intended. TL;DR: This is in part the "just fucking do it" approach to manned space exploration including travel. Some people argue that it / a return to it are long overdue.

by iwwr 14y ago

XorNot 14y ago

The problem is we don't really know how we'd do that yet - we have no prototypes on Earth, so it would all have to be invented. I'd budget a decade for that, cautiously, since it has to work once we get there. A much better plan would be an expedition with no set return date (other then intention) - if you were going to land people. A reasonably self-sustaining habitat could probably be set up if we could prove a few key things (namely - can you grow things in Martian soil if you provide an atmosphere, and can you find extra water while you're there?) The big benefit of a fly by mission - the one we should take advantage of - would be to put people close enough that we could do more frequent rover moves since they'd have real time control for a period while in orbit.

pasbesoin 14y ago
You can get someone (ok, some couple) in a can and on their way by 2018, the next near approach. The following near approach will be enough time in the future to define a distinct mission, enough that current interests and abilities may no longer be capable (even multi-millionaires only live so long and/or retain mental capacity so long, or even possibly their money and influence), and enough time in the future that it will not provide the current boost and motivation that is intended. TL;DR: This is in part the "just fucking do it" approach to manned space exploration including travel. Some people argue that it / a return to it are long overdue.