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I suppose because Elon Musk wants to go there, and he seems good at getting stuff done.

by cschmidt 12y ago

14113 12y ago
This comment really sums up the cult of personality that's grown up around Musk.
- markdown 12y ago
  The world needs more Musk fanboys and less Beliebers, thank you very much.
  - saraid216 12y ago
    The kind of mind that can produce such a false dichotomy.
  - bduerst 12y ago
    The world needs more critical thinking, and less judging.
ryandvm 12y ago
Building a better car has an expected return on investment. So far nobody is able to come up with a way to recoup the many hundreds of millions of dollars it will cost to get humans to Mars and back.
- cecilpl 12y ago
  It's entirely possible that Elon Musk doesn't care about recouping his investment in SpaceX. It seems like the end goal of the company is to start a colony on Mars so he can go live there.
- jack-r-abbit 12y ago
  Q: "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?" - unknown A: "Because it's there" - George Mallory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory)
  - Retra 12y ago
    That's not a reason, that's a trite saying.
- cryptoz 12y ago
  > So far nobody Well...Elon has made guesses/estimates/given us lots of ideas about his monetization strategy. I think the most promising is to sell tickets at $500,000 apiece, which he thinks will be about the going market price to meet a demand of ~100,000 colonists. Mars One thinks they can do it on a TV show (they'll fail, though, obviously). My point is that your "nobody" comment is unfair and incorrect. Lots of intelligent, capable and experienced people have articulated a number of different business models around the colonization of Mars. None of them are proven, of course, but that will take time.
- WalterBright 12y ago
  Many great voyages of exploration were privately financed, often by newspapers who got exclusive story rights in exchange. Considering all the money corporations spend on marketing to create goodwill, I'm surprised none have financed a space probe for goodwill purposes.
- ethbro 12y ago
  > So far nobody is able to come up with a way to recoup the many hundreds of millions of dollars it will cost to get humans to Mars and back. Have you seen the price of "sovereign" islands lately? Say what you want about the validity and enforceability of the claim (and the sanity of the people who buy them), but land separated from any Earth government by ~55 million km+ doesn't seem like it would be a hard sell at any price.
- PeterisP 12y ago
  Curing malaria also doesn't have a return on investment to whoever is doing it. We're at the point where governments are doing the neccessary things, but private individuals are able to sponsor the visionary but less practical endeavors - simply because they believe that it's the right thing to do and don't have to answer to millions of voters who might quite rationally prefer more bread and circuses instead.
andrewchambers 12y ago
You think the organization that landed man on the moon and rovers on mars can't get stuff done?
- seanflyon 12y ago
  Today's NASA has little in common with the organization that put men on the Moon, but they can put rovers on Mars so they have some ability to get stuff done.

I suppose because Elon Musk wants to go there, and he seems good at getting stuff done.

14113 12y ago

This comment really sums up the cult of personality that's grown up around Musk.

markdown 12y ago
The world needs more Musk fanboys and less Beliebers, thank you very much.
- saraid216 12y ago
  The kind of mind that can produce such a false dichotomy.
- bduerst 12y ago
  The world needs more critical thinking, and less judging.

ryandvm 12y ago

Building a better car has an expected return on investment. So far nobody is able to come up with a way to recoup the many hundreds of millions of dollars it will cost to get humans to Mars and back.

cecilpl 12y ago
It's entirely possible that Elon Musk doesn't care about recouping his investment in SpaceX. It seems like the end goal of the company is to start a colony on Mars so he can go live there.
jack-r-abbit 12y ago
Q: "Why do you want to climb Mount Everest?" - unknown A: "Because it's there" - George Mallory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mallory)
- Retra 12y ago
  That's not a reason, that's a trite saying.
cryptoz 12y ago
> So far nobody Well...Elon has made guesses/estimates/given us lots of ideas about his monetization strategy. I think the most promising is to sell tickets at $500,000 apiece, which he thinks will be about the going market price to meet a demand of ~100,000 colonists. Mars One thinks they can do it on a TV show (they'll fail, though, obviously). My point is that your "nobody" comment is unfair and incorrect. Lots of intelligent, capable and experienced people have articulated a number of different business models around the colonization of Mars. None of them are proven, of course, but that will take time.
WalterBright 12y ago
Many great voyages of exploration were privately financed, often by newspapers who got exclusive story rights in exchange. Considering all the money corporations spend on marketing to create goodwill, I'm surprised none have financed a space probe for goodwill purposes.
ethbro 12y ago
> So far nobody is able to come up with a way to recoup the many hundreds of millions of dollars it will cost to get humans to Mars and back. Have you seen the price of "sovereign" islands lately? Say what you want about the validity and enforceability of the claim (and the sanity of the people who buy them), but land separated from any Earth government by ~55 million km+ doesn't seem like it would be a hard sell at any price.
PeterisP 12y ago
Curing malaria also doesn't have a return on investment to whoever is doing it. We're at the point where governments are doing the neccessary things, but private individuals are able to sponsor the visionary but less practical endeavors - simply because they believe that it's the right thing to do and don't have to answer to millions of voters who might quite rationally prefer more bread and circuses instead.

andrewchambers 12y ago

You think the organization that landed man on the moon and rovers on mars can't get stuff done?

seanflyon 12y ago
Today's NASA has little in common with the organization that put men on the Moon, but they can put rovers on Mars so they have some ability to get stuff done.