Non Gaming Discussions => Off-Topic => Topic started by: Joker on April 18, 2008, 10:12:08 AM
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Joker on April 18, 2008, 10:12:08 AM
I personally don\'t think so. They still have troubles trying to land robots on Mars let alone an entire spacecraft full of people. I do think it would be fascinating tho to live in a time where humans actually take their first steps on another planet.
Bush has said he wants Nasa to go back to the moon by 2020 and use it as a launching pad to worlds outside our orbit and I don\'t even think there is a spaceship capable of taking humans that far yet. I\'ve also heard talks about making Mars inhabitable for humans by melting the martian icecaps and giving the planet water and life. I believe we actually do have the technology to do that at the moment but the costs would be astronomical.
One thing I do hope to do before I die however is I hope they perfect technology like what the Virgin company is trying to do and take a ride to space, even if just outside earths orbit I could die happy.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: clips on April 18, 2008, 10:23:56 AM
Maybe they\'ll be able to take a flight in orbit to the the planet and maybe even land humans on the surface as some type of vacation or in the same since that a cruise ship stops off at certain islands for a few hours,..but that is about it....i don\'t think humans will ever be able to live on it. From the photos i\'ve seen, it\'s nothing but dry flatlands,...
And if humans did setup some type of artificial atmospheric bubble, with humans living inside of it, i think it would cost too much to maintain oxygen,food and other supplies needed for nourishment...it\'d be nice, but i don\'t think it\'s feasible.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Joker on April 18, 2008, 10:39:09 AM
The article I read (which I unfourtunately cannot find at the moment) explained that if you melted the icecaps you can then plant trees and what not and create oxygen for the planet. In our rather small solar system Mars really seems to be the only option for a \'chance\' at human colonization on another planet.
As for the other planets, I do think it would be awesome if we could ever take a photo image and see what one of the gas giants looks like from the inside.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Jumpman on April 18, 2008, 10:45:23 AM
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: GmanJoe on April 18, 2008, 11:10:57 AM
If Mars was populated now, we\'d be superbeings with their relatively low gravity. They\'ve got a mountain 2 times taller than Everest. No way a mountain that big could exist on Earth. The force of gravity would make the base of the mountain molten.
I found that out at the Planetarium in Baltimore last weekend. :p
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Joker on April 18, 2008, 12:08:30 PM
I was bored and felt like thinking out loud in a post :(
and Gman planetariums are awesome :D
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Viper_Fujax on April 18, 2008, 12:16:27 PM
I definitly think we will. By like 2012 we\'ll have even more sophisticated equipment/robots there (probably later since they always get delays), and killing two birds with one stone will look at what the best location would be when we land there.
Optimistically, i think ill be in my 40\'s by the time we do..which is like 20ish years. There\'s no other planet we can land on..and we have the ability, just not the funds right now. i guess it all depends what state the world is in to see if we\'ll fund nasa enough to do such a huge mission.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Titan on April 18, 2008, 12:27:48 PM
I sometimes don\'t think we will ever get to another planet because of politics and money. I feel that there is always going to be something that will hold it back, no matter if its a war or an economic recession. It would be cool though to go to another planet.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Viper_Fujax on April 18, 2008, 12:44:07 PM
Quote from: Titan
I sometimes don\'t think we will ever get to another planet because of politics and money. I feel that there is always going to be something that will hold it back, no matter if its a war or an economic recession. It would be cool though to go to another planet.
that\'s only because right now we\'re going through both of those things that that\'s on your mind..while theres obviously a probability that either/both of those will reoccur (the economy goes up and down and every decade has a war/"conflict"), the likelyhood that thing will always be as the are right now isn\'t likely.
id just never say with a lot of gumption that just because we\'re at a shitty economic time now that it will always be so bad that we wont put people on mars. We\'re putting crazy high-tech equipment into space even with wars and recession...the only reason we don\'t put people with that crazy high-tech equipment is because it doesn\'t matter as much if the equipment malfunctions and slams into mars\'s ground right now. landing\'s definitly going to be super complex with people involved
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Eiksirf on April 18, 2008, 12:49:28 PM
Does Mars have oil? And will building a launching pad on the moon and fueling a rocket to other worlds use any of ours?
Because Mars can suck a nut for $4 a gallon.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Viper_Fujax on April 18, 2008, 12:56:24 PM
the faster we burn off the oil the faster we get cars that run on air...
lez burn that fuel
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Knotter8 on April 18, 2008, 01:17:00 PM
The technology is the least problem...
Our human bodies & mental capacity are going to be the bottleneck ; because i\'m sure extended time outside of earth will be desastrous to human sanity.
Unless we mutate, i don\'t think we\'ll last there.. and no, technology is not gonna do the trick.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Jumpman on April 18, 2008, 02:00:47 PM
Quote from: Joker
I was bored and felt like thinking out loud in a post :(
I forgive you. The topic has potential for meaningful discussion.
I just wanted an excuse to post that picture.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Titan on April 18, 2008, 02:12:00 PM
Quote from: Jumpman
I forgive you. The topic has potential for meaningful discussion.
I just wanted an excuse to post that picture.
That\'s what she said
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Viper_Fujax on April 18, 2008, 02:13:41 PM
shows how they landed the rovers on mars
even the small stuff like the parachute had huge problems let alone all that other crap (when they were testing it)
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Titan on April 18, 2008, 02:14:36 PM
Quote from: Viper_Fujax
that\'s only because right now we\'re going through both of those things that that\'s on your mind..while theres obviously a probability that either/both of those will reoccur (the economy goes up and down and every decade has a war/"conflict"), the likelyhood that thing will always be as the are right now isn\'t likely.
id just never say with a lot of gumption that just because we\'re at a shitty economic time now that it will always be so bad that we wont put people on mars. We\'re putting crazy high-tech equipment into space even with wars and recession...the only reason we don\'t put people with that crazy high-tech equipment is because it doesn\'t matter as much if the equipment malfunctions and slams into mars\'s ground right now. landing\'s definitly going to be super complex with people involved
That\'s very true. We also have no competition to get to Mars. At least with the Moon we were competing with the Soviets. Now we can take our cushy time. But I\'m sure when we have the money, in a booming economy and no war, technology to go to Mars will advance sevenfold. Just sucks I won\'t be going to Mars :(
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Luke on April 18, 2008, 04:34:43 PM
You guys know that aliens are from Mars right?
Scary stuff!
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: mm on April 18, 2008, 06:15:23 PM
i hope not, there\'s little reason to go there.
unless you\'re an "omg, we\'re ruining earth and must abandon!!!!1" hippy.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Joker on April 18, 2008, 06:29:10 PM
No I don\'t think the earth is in any stage of needing to be abandoned. I just think it would be an amazing feat for the species to accomplish.
and Titan the Chinese are actually trying to get a space program up and running and wants to send a probe there in 2009. I think if they ever got close to anything major like other planet explorations that the US would definately not let Nasa sit on the side lines and more funding would be made available to make sure Nasa was the first. I think the US would be pissed if the first man on mars wasn\'t an American or maybe from a different country but not associated with an American space program.
Thats a great video of the rovers landing. So much work into something that small. I can only imagine how hard it would be for a space craft carrying people.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: clips on April 18, 2008, 06:57:37 PM
Quote from: Eiksirf
Does Mars have oil? And will building a launching pad on the moon and fueling a rocket to other worlds use any of ours?
Because Mars can suck a nut for $4 a gallon.
Tru dat!....oil is passin\' $116 a barrel....and i don\'t care that most other countries pay more for gas than we do,...bush needs to release some of our reserves to ease the pain at the pump and talk to his buddies over there in saudi arabia...now if they did find an oil resource on mars that would be great, but again i think the cost of shipping the said oil would be too much of a burden to transport it back to earth.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Raz The Friggin Grea on April 19, 2008, 02:15:36 AM
Quote from: mm
i hope not, there\'s little reason to go there.
unless you\'re an "omg, we\'re ruining earth and must abandon!!!!1" hippy.
Well, there was no real reason to walk on the moon. It\'s just a feat that us humans should accomplish.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: mm on April 19, 2008, 04:35:37 AM
if i was alive back then, i would have questioned its purpose too. a huge waste of money.
kids in america can\'t get an education and we want to send humans to a lifeless rock just because we want to compare dick sizes with the rest of the countries? do not confuse america\'s reasons with "feats of humanity".
curing cancer or making crops thrive without water to solve world hunger is an accomplishment.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: GmanJoe on April 19, 2008, 04:40:55 AM
I\'d rather research the deep seas.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: clips on April 19, 2008, 05:04:09 AM
Quote from: GmanJoe
I\'d rather research the deep seas.
That\'d be pretty interesting...i was watching a program i guess on the discovery channel about the ocean floor and this is supposedly the farthest anybody has ever been.... i think they actually went to the ocean floor using some type of mini sub or device, but anyway that deep down the ocean was in complete darkness, and there were all kinds of alien looking creatures down there that glowed in the dark.....if you\'ve ever seen the abyss and how the alien craft looked and how the aliens themselves looked, that\'s exactly how these creatures looked,...they were somewhat like jellyfish in the sense that you could see thru them but the way they glowed was like a neon-like flash show...really interesting stuff.
It should also be noted that there were these really intense hot area\'s down there,.. i mean i think the narrator stated something like the temperature in these immediate area\'s was like 800 - 900 degrees, but there were actually creatures living by these guisers of intense heat, there was this giant crab living in realm of these intense heat guisers seemingly unfazed by the intense heat...it was kind of amazing to see something exist like that on the ocean floor considering you would think that on the ocean floor, the temp would be incredibly frigid...
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Knotter8 on April 19, 2008, 06:23:09 AM
Quote from: GmanJoe
I\'d rather research the deep seas.
Rapture !!!!
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: square_marker on April 19, 2008, 07:35:54 AM
weren\'t we suppose to have flying cars about 8 years ago?
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Luke on April 19, 2008, 11:01:18 AM
Quote from: square_marker
weren\'t we suppose to have flying cars about 8 years ago?
Dude, thats what I\'m saying.
When we get those floating skateboards from Back to the Future II, then I\'ll say were making progress.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Viper_Fujax on April 19, 2008, 11:05:42 AM
i was just thinking about those skateboards yesterday,haha. fuck the cars..we dont need those. plus gravity would make car crashes pretty craptacular. but those skateboards...
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: videoholic on April 19, 2008, 12:00:58 PM
Quote from: mm
if i was alive back then, i would have questioned its purpose too. a huge waste of money.
kids in america can\'t get an education and we want to send humans to a lifeless rock just because we want to compare dick sizes with the rest of the countries? do not confuse america\'s reasons with "feats of humanity".
curing cancer or making crops thrive without water to solve world hunger is an accomplishment.
It\'s a proven fact that American\'s have large penises.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Joker on April 19, 2008, 02:13:49 PM
Quote from: mm
if i was alive back then, i would have questioned its purpose too. a huge waste of money.
kids in america can\'t get an education and we want to send humans to a lifeless rock just because we want to compare dick sizes with the rest of the countries? do not confuse america\'s reasons with "feats of humanity".
curing cancer or making crops thrive without water to solve world hunger is an accomplishment.
Yeah but landing on the moon, even tho everyone knows that was Americas time to shine and they did it to be in the spotlight. It became a human accomplishment not just an American one and shows what the species are capable of. Even if going to it was only for bragging rights, it became much more than that in the end.
Also how many times have scientific discoveries been made by accident or have been found from an indirect link because some other scientific discovery? Even if developing technology to go to mars has no direct link to medicine, whos to say something invented along the way could turn around and make finding the cure for cancer much easier. Some tool or something. Humans furthering their education in any field that we have not mastered is good as a whole, not just its primary objective.
Likewise what if on the road to curing cancer they find a way or something to make humans more durable in space travel, or something that helps bones and muscle not lose their strength on account of being in 0 gravity.
I think curing cancer is without a doubt, along with curing many other diseases should be at the top of the human agenda. I also think that education is the most important thing you can give any human being, not just a child. I don\'t think education ends after university I think its a lifelong experience. One of the few things I can say that has 0% percent downside. Just simple learning.
Yes the schools are quite shit at the moment, as rich as this continent is North America still puts out some of the lowest % of scientists into academic fields when compared to other countries. This is a big problem and definately needs to be fixed. I however personally think that going to a \'lifeless rock\' is just as important as discovering the cure for cancer in the grand scheme of things.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: clips on April 19, 2008, 02:14:27 PM
Quote from: videoholic
It\'s a proven fact that American\'s have large penises.
tru..no doubt...and i\'m livin\' proof of it!!....:cool2:
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Viper_Fujax on April 19, 2008, 02:17:09 PM
Quote from: Joker
Yeah but landing on the moon, even tho everyone knows that was Americas time to shine and they did it to be in the spotlight. It became a human accomplishment not just an American one and shows what the species are capable of. Even if going to it was only for bragging rights, it became much more than that in the end.
Also how many times have scientific discoveries been made by accident or have been found from an indirect link because some other scientific discovery? Even if developing technology to go to mars has no direct link to medicine, whos to say something invented along the way could turn around and make finding the cure for cancer much easier. Some tool or something. Humans furthering their education in any field that we have not mastered is good as a whole, not just its primary objective.
Likewise what if on the road to curing cancer they find a way or something to make humans more durable in space travel, or something that helps bones and muscle not lose their strength on account of being in 0 gravity.
I think curing cancer is without a doubt, along with curing many other diseases should be at the top of the human agenda. I also think that education is the most important thing you can give any human being, not just a child. I don\'t think education ends after university I think its a lifelong experience. One of the few things I can say that has 0% percent downside. Just simple learning.
Yes the schools are quite shit at the moment, as rich as this continent is North America still puts out some of the lowest % of scientists into academic fields when compared to other countries. This is a big problem and definately needs to be fixed. I however personally think that going to a \'lifeless rock\' is just as important as discovering the cure for cancer in the grand scheme of things.
all that and of all the things "wasting "our tax money (which is what people like mm would label it as), space exploration is nowhere near the top of that list. it\'s a lot of money, but really isn\'t in the broad scheme of things. mm\'s just being a stick in the mud...who \'da thunk
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Joker on April 19, 2008, 02:19:51 PM
I think at LEAST something like this should be funded
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17473059/
cause well if that happens...were kinda fucked.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Raz The Friggin Grea on April 19, 2008, 04:52:16 PM
Quote from: Viper_Fujax
all that and of all the things "wasting "our tax money (which is what people like mm would label it as), space exploration is nowhere near the top of that list. it\'s a lot of money, but really isn\'t in the broad scheme of things. mm\'s just being a stick in the mud...who \'da thunk
Amen.
I never once mentioned North American, I mentioned humanity. I don\'t care what country does it, I just want someone to do it. This whole thing about wasting money, crying about the education system is just absurd. The Space Program is important to North America, but a space program for any country is important. It furthers our knowledge as a human race about all the stuff we don\'t know.
As for Clips comment about the ocean. The ocean truly is the last frontier to discover. It is amazing the stuff down there.
Planet Earth - FTW, by the way. The episodes about the oceans are amazing. Not to mention all the space shots. Great stuff.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: mm on April 19, 2008, 08:25:17 PM
Quote from: Viper_Fujax
all that and of all the things "wasting "our tax money (which is what people like mm would label it as), space exploration is nowhere near the top of that list. it\'s a lot of money, but really isn\'t in the broad scheme of things. mm\'s just being a stick in the mud...who \'da thunk
what broad scheme of things? that the US govt has to find expensive ways to spend taxpayers money?
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Viper_Fujax on April 19, 2008, 08:40:01 PM
broad scheme of things as in the country\'s tax use as a whole. in relation to all the other taxes, which could be used way more efficiently in many other areas, space exploration doesnt account for shit. Instead of complaining about using things to further our knowledge, complain about us building the useless berlin fence by mexico...
i mean..they put up these huge clouds, bulletin board type things on this huge water tower by my house...what the fuck?
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: mm on April 19, 2008, 08:43:41 PM
NASA wanted almost 18 Billion for 2008 alone.
that\'s approaching the UN\'s yearly budget.
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Viper_Fujax on April 19, 2008, 08:46:34 PM
what did they get though? theyll always want a crazy amount since you can never have enough money.
im trying to find a list of what programs get how much/the most, but all im finding are short lists with obvious stuff like social security
Title: Will humans make it to Mars in our lifetime?
Post by: Titan on April 20, 2008, 09:03:19 AM
Quote from: clips
That\'d be pretty interesting...i was watching a program i guess on the discovery channel about the ocean floor and this is supposedly the farthest anybody has ever been.... i think they actually went to the ocean floor using some type of mini sub or device, but anyway that deep down the ocean was in complete darkness, and there were all kinds of alien looking creatures down there that glowed in the dark.....if you\'ve ever seen the abyss and how the alien craft looked and how the aliens themselves looked, that\'s exactly how these creatures looked,...they were somewhat like jellyfish in the sense that you could see thru them but the way they glowed was like a neon-like flash show...really interesting stuff.
It should also be noted that there were these really intense hot area\'s down there,.. i mean i think the narrator stated something like the temperature in these immediate area\'s was like 800 - 900 degrees, but there were actually creatures living by these guisers of intense heat, there was this giant crab living in realm of these intense heat guisers seemingly unfazed by the intense heat...it was kind of amazing to see something exist like that on the ocean floor considering you would think that on the ocean floor, the temp would be incredibly frigid...
Isn\'t like such a small part of it explored? I love the deep sea. That was one of my favorite Planet Earths. Imagine if we did more exploration how much we\'d find.