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Over at the Astronomy.com forums there's a big thread about manned missions to Mars and everybody in there thinks it will cost nearly a $ trillion to send people to Mars and that there's no reason for going in the first place. I thought hobby astronomers would be more up to date than to refer to the Battlestar Galactica report as the definitive proof that a manned Mars mission will not happen in our lifetimes. I do agree that sending people to Mars would be a waste of time and that robots are cheaper and safer, but I'm shocked that none of those people apparently never heard of Mars Direct or the concept of living off the land. If those people aren't up to date, imagine what the general public must think!
Link to thread:
http://www.astronomy.com/community/foru … PIC_ID=136
My people don't call themselves Sioux or Dakota. We call ourselves Ikce Wicasa, the natural humans, the free, wild, common people. I am pleased to call myself that. -Lame Deer
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Well luckily, for all types of issue, what the general public thinks really isn't too much of a factor.
Space is an issue that is decided upon on a closed circuit. The decisions on what the US does in space are made behind closed doors. And most of these are never reportred to the general public.
In general Space is not an issue that the general public is against. Most people in the US support a space program. Of course there are probably many who don't, but they are not in the majority. And they certainly DO NOT make visits to their local congressmen telling them why we shouldn't go to space.
So your chances when lobbying for specific changes in space policy isn't really dependent upon what the US public THINKS.
What matters more is what the legislators KNOW. If you tell them that you can get to mars for 50 billion, and have it verified somehow, than you may actually get your represenative behind going to mars, and that's what counts.
So if the general public, and astronomers who are uneducated about mars issues think that it costs 1 trillion to go to mars, let them eat their cake..... because they don't care enough to say anything about it.
Mike
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