Proponents of going to Mars see peril and opportunity in Elon Musk's close relationship with Trump. Experts say just getting Americans back to the moon in the near future will be challenging enough.
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In an age of automation (Elmo is promising self-driving cars for years!), what is the important of humans on Mars? We can send automated drones doing the same work and more. This is nonsensical even in a scientific view!
Launch a spaceX rocket into space with Trump, Musk, Putin and the full RNC, rip all those billionaires of their filthy money and spend it on the ppl in need....and A LOT of the problems in this world will be solved permanently.
That s where we are, right now.
“NASA aims to launch astronauts to Mars by the late 2030s or early 2040s. Making that vision a reality will be challenging.”
By that time Grampa Golf would be around 95 & Pres Musk would be in his 70’s.
They can stop talking about it like it’s coming right up. 🙄
We don’t have the resources to settle another planet. There is no amount of money that would allow humanity to live permanently or in large numbers on any planet other than earth. Mars cannot be made habitable.
I wouldn't go so far as that ... it has an atmosphere, so we know it's massive enough to possibly terraform. But the costs of such a thing at this time would probably bankrupt half of the world's governments.
Mars’ atmospheric pressure is 0.6% of Earth’s, and 96% CO2. Without a magnetosphere, cosmic & solar radiation ionize atmospheric molecules. Lower gravity allows solar winds to pull gases from upper atmosphere into space. This is happening now. Bring Earth’s entire atmosphere to Mars, it will leave.
Yeah, so the idea of terraforming is both likely (we understand enough to know what makes a viable planet, and various techniques to thicken an atmosphere) but also unlikely, because the scale and cost is insane, and for what?
In an Alien or Dead Space type of future where we strip mine entire dead planets for industrial production, such an idea might reach a point of viability. Who cares how much you'd have to do to stabilize a dying planet if you're strip mining entire OTHER planets?
And Mars will kill anyone who lives there. It is not a viable option to "escape" the earth. It is a delusional fantasy promoted by Musk and his "multi-planet species" BS to enrich himself. It will never happen, and distracts us from saving the one planet we live on that we're killing.
Yes, gutting programs that provide life-sustaining funding to impoverished nations so that we can give to 2 decadent billionaires a giant erection. Sounds reasonable for this timeline
Yes, and… They have destroyed our planet, made trillions doing it, now they want our tax dollars to pay for their escape to Mars?! No, thank you! We want services for us for our tax dollars, not for the greedy!
I’m cool if Trump wants to be the president who puts forward a trip to Mars. It’s a step we have to take at some point.
It’s not like it could happen in 4 years so I’m hopeful that by the time it happens the US actually has a president who focuses on science instead of his own entitlement.
Mars? Trump and Musk will be remembered for taking health insurance away from the people of Arkansas, Mississippi, and Appalachia, and taking food and medicine from the sick and starving people of Africa.
You keep framing questions about Trump or Musk as if there's a bright side. There isn't. Who the fuck will be left to care about Mars or the Moon when the flag that gets planted will represent despotism, authoritarianism, and fascism instead of freedom? Are you flush with AI interns or something?
Just articles about Trump and Musk with no mention of the corruption. No mention of the self dealing. No mention of the constant lying. No mention of the racism & xenophobia. No mention of the embrace of fascism or the abandonment of democracy.
Trump judges everything by what's in it for him. And Musk's billions is what's in it for him right now. It's doubtful he can name all of the planets, but he'll keep money flowing to Space X, because he'll keep getting healthy kickbacks and has a great scapegoat lined up for when things go wrong.
Elon Musk will suck every last dollar out of the U.S. Treasury, and then some! Trump is not only Putin’s puppet he’s now Elon’s stooge! Elon, Trump, & Republicans, destroying America!
Mars that's so low energy. I think Jupiter would be more fitting for a great nation such as ours because it's the biggest. Settling for Mars is a victory for China folks. Everyone thinks it.
According to a NASA scientist I met years ago, there’s more than adequate technology to send unmanned craft to explore the planet. Developing the systems to send, sustain and return a human crew would simply turn it into a massively pricey vanity project rather than an actual scientific mission.
Human travel to Mars is still more science fiction than practical. But people who reject science are more than gullible enough to think Elon can do it.
The human body isn't designed to deal with cosmic radiation and a trip to Mars is necessarily a one way trip because you'll get renal failure on the way back
Comparing real environmental suits versus Hollywood’s maximum transparent helmets / skin tight suits, it’s pretty clear that individuality and identity are more important than actual functionality to the public.
Really a metaphor for much of the “culture war” today…
Nobody is asking for this, especially at the expense of what that money could do for the everyday lives of people. Bored billionaires using the world as their playground with no regard for the rest of humanity.
This administration can't keep simple airplanes from crashing into each other on the ground or in the air. There's a reasonable chance that any of musk's rockets will blow up shortly after launch. Mars? WTF-ever
Terraforming Mars would cost $15 to $20 trillion a year for 1,000 years. That brings us to a total sum in the tens of quadrillions of dollars. And Musk thinks it’s a waste to spend a few million to prevent the next outbreak of Ebola in Africa.
That wouldn’t be enough. Even if you could transport the Earth’s entire atmosphere to Mars, it would be very quickly lost to space. A third the gravity of Earth and no magnetosphere to block ionizing solar and cosmic radiation.
Not to mention the fact that very few people would be willing to spend 450 days (or thereabouts) confined to a rocket ship to Mars, even assuming that Mars could be made habitable by humans.
Exactly. The Moon isn’t habitable either, but at least it’s nearby. At its closest, Mars is 2500 times further from Earth than the furthest any astronaut has ever gone.
Can @npr.org talk about something else for once? We’re assaulted on a daily basis about Trump, it’d be nice to see something else being reported. Please. For the love of all things holy.
Under the boot of the current brain trust, I'm thinking it will be more like that line from the movie Interstellar, "We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars, Now we just look down and worry about our place in the dirt"
🚨We are about to have a major food crisis in America. Spring is coming along with migrating flocks of birds. This will spread and grow with gov department closed & food banks shuttered
THE LAST STRAW WOULD BE SPENDING BILLIONS ON A MARS FARCE.
No one is going to Mars with this level of idiocy at the helm. Have you seen what’s happening with planes in the United States since Trump became president again?
What a waste of freaking money! Tens of billions of dollars on outer space when we need a major infusion of capital for housing, health care, infrastructure, childcare assistance, education, consumer protection
Destroying planet earth then seeking an escape to Mars is crazy chatter among the rich!
There is no important reason for us to put boots on Mars. Don't normalize Musk's desire to send people to Mars to die. He is a snake oil salelsman and a threat to democracy Do better @npr.org
They have destroyed our planet, made trillions doing it, now they want our tax dollars to pay for their escape to Mars?! No, thank you! We want services for us for our tax dollars, not for the greedy!
No. I remember when Dubya talked about Mars, and my first thought was: "did they find oil on Mars?!" If Trump is on about it, it's because of Elon Muskrat....
Musk: Establishing a presence in the Moon, challenging China's growing influence, and set the course to mine its resources (instead of stealing them from Greenland) is inneficient.
And the most idiotic thing is that it was Trump, in his first presidency, that changed the focus from Mars to the Moon.
Now that NASA, the scientific comminuty, and the private sector have adapted, they are going to pull the rug under they feet and move to Mars again. Ridiculous.
Frankly, I think Musk is seeing that other players, such as Intuitive Machines, getting a foot of the emerging lunar economy and he wants to sabotage them.
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Musk is in this for a bigger slice of corrupt government contracts as part of that plan.
The moon is a logical jumping-off point to interplanetary travel. There is plenty to exploit on the Moon, raw materials
In an age of automation (Elmo is promising self-driving cars for years!), what is the important of humans on Mars? We can send automated drones doing the same work and more. This is nonsensical even in a scientific view!
That s where we are, right now.
Without a reentry vehicle.
By that time Grampa Golf would be around 95 & Pres Musk would be in his 70’s.
They can stop talking about it like it’s coming right up. 🙄
https://www.space.com/nasa-plans-astronauts-mars-mission-30-days#
If time / money were no obstacle, probable.
2. A smaller proportion live in extreme poverty than at any point in human existence.
This is the most "livable" point in human existence.
Yes, but ...
Climate change is accelerating, and fascist nationalist takeovers are not gonna help.
At the same time, fleeing this planet will only make that problem much worse.
It’s not like it could happen in 4 years so I’m hopeful that by the time it happens the US actually has a president who focuses on science instead of his own entitlement.
Now he says 2030. Trust me bro.
That shit needs to be public and available or else 1 company will have a monopoly on new tech for decades stifling innovation.
Welfare for billionaires
I've lost all respect for NPR.
During the first Trump administration, NASA funding went up every year.
During the Obama administration and Biden administration, there were years where NASA funding went down or stayed flat.
Comparing real environmental suits versus Hollywood’s maximum transparent helmets / skin tight suits, it’s pretty clear that individuality and identity are more important than actual functionality to the public.
Really a metaphor for much of the “culture war” today…
(per Betteridge: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betteridge%27s_law_of_headlines)
THE LAST STRAW WOULD BE SPENDING BILLIONS ON A MARS FARCE.
Destroying planet earth then seeking an escape to Mars is crazy chatter among the rich!
So he is gonna fleece the tax payers for it all
Also Musk: Let's go to Mars!
Now that NASA, the scientific comminuty, and the private sector have adapted, they are going to pull the rug under they feet and move to Mars again. Ridiculous.