funding for manned Mission to Mars [financial/political ONLY]

[jefferiestubes8]

Here it is.
THE thread to discuss the funding and the politics behind funding of a manned mission to Mars. Hell, to the moon too...
(Try to keep in mind it would be in 2020-2035 and not 2010.)


If you care to discuss the Science and Technology of a manned mission to Mars head over to this thread.

[Mistral]

Best argument to present to Congress for funding-we live on one planet with dwindling resources. As we keep finding evidence that Mars was once very similar to Earth, the possibility of finding a vast trove of resources there makes any investment a win-win situation. Why use up what we have here when what we need is out there. It's a whole planet's worth!

[Alidar Jarok]

The cost of harvesting that planet's natural resources would be enormous.

[Mistral]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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The cost of harvesting that planet's natural resources would be enormous.

Its a planet. The return would still be bigger.

[jefferiestubes8]

Before the end of August, Norman Augustine and the other members of the [Human Space Flight Review]panel will deliver the group’s consensus. I am very much looking forward to the presentation. At that point, the ball will be in Obama’s court. Traditionally, the president has been the one to set priorities for NASA and where the country takes its space program.

http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/08...-mr-president/

I think the proponents of such a mission, like all adherants of irrational belief systems, should form the Church of Manned Spaceflight, and demand tithes from their members to fund this grandiose religious endeavour.

Getting recognition as a religion would also make it easier to explain the irregular human sacrifice (like the sacrificial lambs and virgins of yore, only near-flawless, bright, capable specimen can become astronauts) their god demands.

[SilentP]

Eh?

[Colin Xavier]

Double Eh?

I would think that religion would like to keep us on Earth

[RJDiogenes]

Triple "Eh?" And a bonus "Eh?" for the ironic Username.

[Aragorn]

Alidar Jarok wrote:

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The cost of harvesting that planet's natural resources would be enormous.

Just use illegal aliens.

[jefferiestubes8]

The committee's report puts forth five alternatives for human exploration of the solar system: continue with the current Constellation program; slow down and stretch out the Constellation program; focus on extending the life of the ISS to 2020, and develop a smaller version of the Ares V heavy-lift rocket for moon missions; extend the Space Shuttle to 2015 and the ISS to 2020 using either commercial services, a lighter version of the Ares V, or a shuttle-derived concept; and sending astronauts on deep-fly-bys of the moon, asteroids, and Mars.



The committee has stated that Mars is "unquestionably the most scientifically interesting destination in the inner solar system...but it is not an easy first place to visit with existing technologies and without substantial investment of resources." Therefore, it recommends that the U.S. travel to the moon first or follow a "flexible path" option--in other words, embark on a series of deep-space rendezvous and fly-by missions before attempting to land astronauts on Mars.

James Oberg, a space expert and former NASA engineer, says that the report's recommendation to develop commercial orbital access is central to some of the options. "There are some remarkable orbital vehicles that are being designed by the private sector," he says.

NASA's current budget for fiscal 2010 is approximately $18.6 billion, an increase from fiscal 2009, but the human space exploration program has received $3.4 billion less than was suggested by the previous administration. In addition, the budget's profile through 2020 is around $80 billion--$28 billion less than what the agency was told it could expect four years ago, when it devised the Constellation program.


However, the Constellation program, which calls for developing the Ares I rocket for flights to the ISS by 2016 and building the Orion crew capsule to return humans to the moon by 2020, has attracted criticism. Logsdon says it's clear that the committee does not think the Ares I is a good idea and that the most feasible date for moon landings would be mid-2020s.

SOURCE


Why not have a rocket with painted sponsor logos & crew uniforms with patches with logos painted on it ala NASCAR?

[jefferiestubes8]

Earlier today, President Obama spoke at the Kennedy Space Center, outlining the future of the US space program, including a $6 billion budget increase and plans to go to Mars.

Obama also set out several goals for these programs, bypassing the Moon and saying that he wanted to send astronauts to asteroids for the first time, and by 2030, to Mars itself.

the U.S would begin designs for a heavy-lift rocket that we would begin building by 2015 - two years in advance of what had been planned for Constellation - which would be used for deep space exploration and travel beyond the moon. Obama specifically noted that NASA would revise older models.

APRIL 15, 2010
http://io9.com/5518187/obamas-plans-...increase-today

[jefferiestubes8]

On Wednesday, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation is scheduled to hold a hearing on the future of the human spaceflight program.

live webcast here now:
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/in...1-de668ca1978a

Majority Statement

* Chairman John D.(Jay) Rockefeller IV
U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation

[jefferiestubes8]

An interesting article on io9 today titled:

The plans, published last month in the Johns Hopkins APL Technical Digest, would take us to Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto starting around year 2050.

Their travel plan to Neptune, for example, was designed with a 5-year total mission duration

Based on the costs of historic large technological endeavors, the scientists project that a mission to Neptune would cost roughly 4 trillion dollars.

via Ars Technica Dreaming big: planning a human mission to outer solar system

Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory, the starting point for many unmanned space missions—the study’s lead author, Ralph McNutt,

You can read McNutt et. al.'s paper here [“Human Missions Throughout the Outer Solar System: Requirements and Implementations” ] (it's a PDF), and find out more about the voyage our descendants might someday take to the outer system.

via io9
Why it would cost 4 trillion dollars to take humans past Jupiter

[Vendikarr]

Aragorn wrote:

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Just use illegal aliens.

On Mars, they'd all be illegal aliens.