I just watched a mini series on Netflix called Mars. It is based on a book about the realities of colonizing Mars. The style of the series was unusual, because it mixed a fictional story of a near future Mars mission with a documentary style.
I have been a total geek for space exploration for my entire life. I'm a big science fiction fan, especially when the science fiction is set in space. I served in Air Force Space Command where I operated satellites.
However, in my old age I am starting to sour on space exploration a little bit. In my younger days, I would have been chomping at the bit to strap myself in on top of a missile that was going to be launched into space. But now that just seems really, really crazy to me. And unbelievably expensive. And I honestly don't see the point. I have become sort of jaded after the fuzzy feel good vibes of Apollo faded, and it finally sunk in that after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, then every mission after that was one of diminishing returns. The real driving force behind Apollo was to make the USSR afraid of us. If we could put men on the moon and bring them back again, then we could most certainly reach out and touch Moscow. So there just isn't much to be gained by continuing moon missions, no matter how sad it is that we stopped them.
I mean, sure, it would totally make sense if we figured out how to make fusion reactors work, and we needed helium 3 to make them work, and the surface of the moon was the closest place to get sufficient quantities of it. But we don't have anything that is so important right now. So space exploration is just a really, really expensive way for people to do really, really dangerous things that are going to get some of them killed.
A Mars mission is orders of magnitude more difficult, expensive, and dangerous. If it really were possible for us to get there and set up a self sustaining permanent colony, I would be for it. But I don't believe that we can do that. I think that we might be able to get some people there, and hopefully get them back. But then it will just be Apollo all over again. The rule of diminishing returns will cause us to stop sending more Mars missions. So I just don't see any reason to do it in the first place, until we develop the ability to go there and stay.
To do that, we really need to develop sustainability. We don't have sustainability. We aren't even really very close. It makes far more sense to work on sustainability than it does to work on a Mars mission. Sustainability has super long term benefits. If we can make self sustaining habitable environments on the moon and Mars, then we can most certainly live sustainable lives on earth. Not only would we have the ability to colonize other worlds; we would have the ability to live sustainably on the world that we already have. We shouldn't even be thinking about going to Mars until we have cracked the sustainability nut.
And hopefully, that would give us a lot more time to work on technology that might be preferable to chemical rockets. The rockets are really expensive and really dangerous. Any thoughts on Mars missions, colonizing technology, sustainability, or alternatives to rockets?
I have been a total geek for space exploration for my entire life. I'm a big science fiction fan, especially when the science fiction is set in space. I served in Air Force Space Command where I operated satellites.
However, in my old age I am starting to sour on space exploration a little bit. In my younger days, I would have been chomping at the bit to strap myself in on top of a missile that was going to be launched into space. But now that just seems really, really crazy to me. And unbelievably expensive. And I honestly don't see the point. I have become sort of jaded after the fuzzy feel good vibes of Apollo faded, and it finally sunk in that after Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, then every mission after that was one of diminishing returns. The real driving force behind Apollo was to make the USSR afraid of us. If we could put men on the moon and bring them back again, then we could most certainly reach out and touch Moscow. So there just isn't much to be gained by continuing moon missions, no matter how sad it is that we stopped them.
I mean, sure, it would totally make sense if we figured out how to make fusion reactors work, and we needed helium 3 to make them work, and the surface of the moon was the closest place to get sufficient quantities of it. But we don't have anything that is so important right now. So space exploration is just a really, really expensive way for people to do really, really dangerous things that are going to get some of them killed.
A Mars mission is orders of magnitude more difficult, expensive, and dangerous. If it really were possible for us to get there and set up a self sustaining permanent colony, I would be for it. But I don't believe that we can do that. I think that we might be able to get some people there, and hopefully get them back. But then it will just be Apollo all over again. The rule of diminishing returns will cause us to stop sending more Mars missions. So I just don't see any reason to do it in the first place, until we develop the ability to go there and stay.
To do that, we really need to develop sustainability. We don't have sustainability. We aren't even really very close. It makes far more sense to work on sustainability than it does to work on a Mars mission. Sustainability has super long term benefits. If we can make self sustaining habitable environments on the moon and Mars, then we can most certainly live sustainable lives on earth. Not only would we have the ability to colonize other worlds; we would have the ability to live sustainably on the world that we already have. We shouldn't even be thinking about going to Mars until we have cracked the sustainability nut.
And hopefully, that would give us a lot more time to work on technology that might be preferable to chemical rockets. The rockets are really expensive and really dangerous. Any thoughts on Mars missions, colonizing technology, sustainability, or alternatives to rockets?
We do not inherit the world from our parents. We borrow it from our children.
