Mars?

[michaelreader]

Who will land on mars first if not u.s.?

 

[COLGeek]

There have been multiple landings on Mars, just not with humans. Is that what you are asking about?

 

[rustythebailiff]

I think at this point China is the closest to competing with the U.S. in a crewed Mars landing. That said, I think that a human setting foot on Mars is still a long way off. There are a lot of technological hurdles that have to be cleared before we can even think about going there.

 

[michaelreader]

Yes, why?

 

[Wolfshadw]

First off would be survivability. We have to know that humans can survive the journey to and from Mars. I personally believe that the technology exists to facilitate a trip to and from Mars, but I don't believe it's been tested in space (artificial magnetic field).

Next would be survivability (again). We have to know that we can bring people back, safely (unless they volunteer for a suicide mission). This means we have to demonstrate that we can launch and land some sort of functional refueling station on Mars.

Next, we have to demonstrate that we can launch and land a return vehicle that can remotely refuel itself from said refueling station and return to Earth.

We also need to launch and land some type of habitat for our astronauts near the return vehicle and verify it's sustainability. At the very least, we need to source liquid water. We also will probably need to demonstrate the ability to produce oxygen/grow food.

All of this needs to be tested, verified, retested and reverified several times over before any human astronaut straps down in a ship heading towards Mars.

-Wolf sends

 

[michaelreader]

First off would be survivability. We have to know that humans can survive the journey to and from Mars. I personally believe that the technology exists to facilitate a trip to and from Mars, but I don't believe it's been tested in space (artificial magnetic field).

Next would be survivability (again). We have to know that we can bring people back, safely (unless they volunteer for a suicide mission). This means we have to demonstrate that we can launch and land some sort of functional refueling station on Mars.

Next, we have to demonstrate that we can launch and land a return vehicle that can remotely refuel itself from said refueling station and return to Earth.

We also need to launch and land some type of habitat for our astronauts near the return vehicle and verify it's sustainability. At the very least, we need to source liquid water. We also will probably need to demonstrate the ability to produce oxygen/grow food.

All of this needs to be tested, verified, retested and reverified several times over before any human astronaut straps down in a ship heading towards Mars.

-Wolf sends

2037?

 

[Wolfshadw]

2037?

Being optimistic, probably closer to 2137.

-Wolf sends

 

[michaelreader]

Being optimistic, probably closer to 2137.

-Wolf sends

Are you serious?

 

[COLGeek]

Are you serious?

When do you think we can realistically land humans on Mars?

 

[Wolfshadw]

Are you serious?

Yep. Dead serious.

We're not talking about a walk in the park, here. Heck, we're not even talking about a week's vacation to the moon and back.

It takes time, development, testing, and funding to create all the technologies we'd need to get to Mars and back. Sure, we managed to do it back in the 50's/60's to the moon, but now, there is no urgent need to "get there first" and Mars is a whole new Trapper Keeper of problems to solve. I don't see any real reason to devote that much time and resources to what I believe to be inevitable, but likely not in our lifetimes.

-Wolf sends