I Want to Go Skiiing on Mars!

[QCzar]

It's now been almost half a century since humans began tooling around in the very-very-near cosmos and I'm beginning to wonder what's taking so long to really take the plunge. I'm not looking for super-serious detailed historical analysis here. Just a general sense.

How far do you think we are from, say, a Star Trek or Babylon 5 or even Battlestar Galactica level of space travel, but within our solar system? Hell, we aren't even at Space Odyssey yet.

I really want to go skiing on Mars, but at this rate, that's looking kinda unlikely. Yet, barely a century ago if you had told people then that we'd be doing as much flying as we do now, they'd have probably reacted with some incredulity. I know space travel is a whole other ball of wax from simple tooling around in the sky, but the analogy provides some insight. If we look ahead based on what we know now, how far do you think we can go?

I want to go skiing on Mars. I want to have a retirement condo in orbit (instead of Florida). I want my nieces and nephew's kids to be able to take a class trip to Luna. I want the species to plant roots on another world, eventually (Kobol?).

If the whole 21st century passes with us being able to do none of those things, then I'll die really disappointed (unless we eliminate poverty, hunger, disease or war in that time).

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Until we build a space elevator, have bases on the Moon and Mars and find a better cheaper faster method of propulsion we'll never get far in space.
My guess would be another 150-200 years before we start having tourism on other planets like Mars.

 

[LadyPenelope]

When I read the title of this post the first thing i thought of was Wallace and Gromit when they go to the moon and there's that robot fridge thing that likes skiing.

Hell, even Wallace and Gromit have progressed further than mankind in terms of space travel - they just go to the moon to ski and eat cheese. And make first contact with robofridge.

 

[Holdfast]

Until we build a space elevator, have bases on the Moon and Mars and find a better cheaper faster method of propulsion we'll never get far in space.
My guess would be another 150-200 years before we start having tourism on other planets like Mars.

Bizarrely enough, I find myself agreeing with Tachy.

I better take some Extra Strength Oil of Oregano to recover.

 

[Brent]

We won't realize the full potential of exploring and colonizing our own solar system until we have Fusion powered engines. Think impulse drives.

We simply aren't going to make it far in our solar system with puny rocket engines. Something like Fusion powered Ion drives will be necessary for ships to zip around our solar system fast enough for manned missions and colonization's of planets and moons in our solar system.

So it is my opinion, that the next great breakthrough in space exploration will come when we can get Fusion power working good enough to use on space ships.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Until we build a space elevator, have bases on the Moon and Mars and find a better cheaper faster method of propulsion we'll never get far in space.
My guess would be another 150-200 years before we start having tourism on other planets like Mars.

Bizarrely enough, I find myself agreeing with Tachy.

I better take some Extra Strength Oil of Oregano to recover.

I don't know why you find that so shocking, everyone eventually ends up agreeing with me.

 

[Holdfast]

Yes my Lord.

 

[All Seeing Eye]

Yes my Lord.

Excellent.

 

[Mallory]

Holdfast defeated by extra strength oil of oregano? I don't think so.

 

[RJDiogenes]

That's not Holdfast. It's Sylar.

I think we're pretty close to reaching "critical mass" on technologies related to space travel, such as materials synthesis and robotics, as well as propulsion. Some indy free thinkers will make access to space much easier in the next couple of decades. I'd say we'll have serious manned space exploration, including orbital and interplanetary tourism, in the next 50-100 years.

 

[MetalPants]

I don't think I'll see any serious effort to go to space in my lifetime.

 

[Australis]

I keep saying it: Technological Singularity, look it up.

Example: there was a thread here last year, iirc, about radiation shields. Not the hard metal kind, the Trek-type "Raise shields" shields. They aren't going to stop missiles or lasers, but they are going to stop the constant radiation spaceships will encounter. If they can come up with artificial gravity, they will have over come two of the biggest hurdles to space travel and tourism. If we survive Tacky's 2012, we'll be underway by 2030.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Exactly. I'm still not sure if we'll have a Singularity, but it's the same idea. Once all the related technologies reach "critical mass," we're on our way. The radiation shield would be a big part. As for artificial gravity, all you need is spin, so that would be a by-product of materials technology, possibly including tethers in the early years.

 

[Venardhi]

A good first step is getting over the idea that we have to go to the moon again first. We could be on Mars within a decade if we set our minds to it. The technology is all there already, it just needs to be put towards this particular task.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I disagree. I think if we build an infrastructure we can go anywhere. We need a railroad, not a wagon train.

 

[Venardhi]

What infrastructure do you want to build that can't be built in orbit? Stick a few modules on some Ares rockets and shoot em at Mars. No infrastructure needed.

The moon has Helium 3, you might say, but that requires a huge infrastructure to harvest at any considerable rate, apart from any building you plan to do to help with solar exploration. We're talking a decade or more of shooting pieces of machinery up there before we see any payoff(starting in the 2020s at the earliest), and a decade more before anything useful to exploration will come of it. And that is being optimistic as hell.

Let private enterprise go to the moon, they can harvest the Helium 3 and power the planet for a hundred generations at a very fair and very huge profit. Meanwhile, lets shoot for a new target that is just as much in our reach if only we're willing to go for it.

 

[Australis]

Heinlein once said, "When you can get into orbit, you're halfway to anywhere". Huge expansion of orbital facilities first, and both the Moon and Mars are in easy reach.

 

[RJDiogenes]

^^ Exactly; that's why I think easy access to space will be the critical tipping point.

Venhardi, I think the Moon offers a lot of benefits on the road to Mars and elsewhere. The experience gained living off-planet for one; better to gain that experience in a relatively close environment. The Moon also has resources, Helium 3 being one. It's far easier to launch larger vehicles from the Moon, so an industrial base there would be very advantageous. I just think we need to solidify our presence in space this time, and not have another Apollo program that could end and leave us nowhere again.

 

[Venardhi]

It is easier to launch from the moon, true enough, but it isn't necessary. If we can launch everything we need for a mutli-stage Mars mission from earth, then why add in the pit stop? I'd like to have a permanent 'station' on the moon as much as the next guy, but I'd rather see a man walk in martian soil before I'm an old man. If Helium 3 really is as heavy in the lunar regolith as we suspect, it is a perfect opportunity for private enterprise to get into the space game. The estimated He3 could power earth for tens of thousands of years, and there is a lot of profit to come of that. Profits that could build colonies on the moon and encourage other extra-terrestrial enterprises.

Going to the moon is only going to delay Mars and create more opportunity for waste in the budget. If we don't go to Mars in the next 20 years, I kinda doubt we ever will in my lifetime.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I agree completely about the private enterprise thing, and that's another reason for a Moonbase. It would be like the towns that sprang up along the railroads in the Old West; there would be a synergy that would grow and strengthen the Human presence in space. I'd like to see people on Mars in my lifetime-- and I'm sure I will, one way or another-- but I'd also like to see it be robust and permanent and as safe as possible, and not so vulnerable to an Apollo-like collapse.