Jeffrey Bell's take on Genesis - The New Editorial

Mark S · 2004-09-10 18:22:50

It's become a New Mars ritual: Jeffrey Bell posts a new op-ed on Space Daily, and now we post like mad to weigh in.

The topic of the week is Genesis and "The Andromeda Strain." I take my usual position in that I think Bell makes good points but goes too far in his position.

If Mars Sample Return takes place in the next fifteen years, it may be better to retrieve the capsule from earth orbit using a shuttle or CEV. Or maybe the MSR capsule will need to be made beefier, to incorporate braking rockets and a crushable backside (the first fix would improve reliability and eliminate the need for a helicopter, but not save us from the problem that hurt Genesis.)

Jeffrey Bell mocks poor Bob Zubrin over the perceived risks of Martian life. The logical view is that because nobody has ever observed Martian life, nobody can say whether it is dangerous. The best approach is obviously to take it one step at a time, to study Mars, search for life, and characterize life should it be found.

Perhaps the recent methane and ammonia measurements may lead scientists towards existing Martian life. That should hopefully catalyze the scientific exploration of Mars. It would be a mistake to rule out humans-to-Mars in the event that Mars has life.

Grypd · 2004-09-11 17:10:59

Do you know what really disturbs me about Mr Bells absolutly straight hatred with all space programs except his beloved telescopes. People read his forum who dont know better and when as is now it seems to be a DOOM scenario they get it into there heads and these people think negative about future space missions or even worse become frightened about space exploration without all the facts. It annoys that he airs these thoughts and we have to spend so much time saying the man is a blithering idiot and ignore the reference to a 70s B movie. Of course it could be that he does this as he wants all space programs except his beloved telescope stopped and he is looking for ways to put all space missions down. But I would have thought he would have been happy for an unmanned probe to have been used he has harked on about cancelling manned flight for years. But I think we will just have to get used to Mr Bell coming out with these comments for years to come, certainly it seems he has loads to say to down any space program.

Mark S · 2004-09-12 11:18:16

There will always be people who detract from manned spaceflight and push robots as an alternative. Some of these folks remain downright ignorant of what space exploration entails (like Elanor Clift of Newsweek) while others are respectable scientists like James van Allen and Jeffrey Bell.

Robots have their advantages, but human scientists and explorers are occasionally needed. Humans have the gift intuition and flexibility, unlike the robots which are tailored to do particular missions. The robots in the past have also been fairly limited in scope. That's why we gained so much more knowledge about the moon from Apollo than we did from all of the previous unmanned missions combined.

If life is definitively found on Mars, it will be found by a human examining soil samples in a Martian lab rather than by a robot examining soil a few grams at a time, being monitored by scientists after a 20 min. time delay.

People should always use the right tools for the job. As advocates of manned spaceflight, we need to convince the world that there are some missions for which humans are necessary.

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2005-02-04 23:50:20

Do you know what really disturbs me about Mr Bells absolutly straight hatred with all space programs except his beloved telescopes. People read his forum who dont know better and when as is now it seems to be a DOOM scenario they get it into there heads and these people think negative about future space missions or even worse become frightened about space exploration without all the facts. It annoys that he airs these thoughts and we have to spend so much time saying the man is a blithering idiot and ignore the reference to a 70s B movie. Of course it could be that he does this as he wants all space programs except his beloved telescope stopped and he is looking for ways to put all space missions down. But I would have thought he would have been happy for an unmanned probe to have been used he has harked on about cancelling manned flight for years. But I think we will just have to get used to Mr Bell coming out with these comments for years to come, certainly it seems he has loads to say to down any space program.

Jeff Bell is so angry

what is his problem ?

:angry:

such writing

The Stardust Project similar idea to Genesis, it now utilizes the same g-force devices, has them installed right side up engineering drawings show it to be so

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/de … tails.html

Commodore · 2005-02-06 11:21:39

Whats the point of even unmanned exploration if people are never going to go there?

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#1 2004-09-10 18:22:50

Re: Jeffrey Bell's take on Genesis - The New Editorial

#2 2004-09-11 17:10:59

Re: Jeffrey Bell's take on Genesis - The New Editorial

#3 2004-09-12 11:18:16

Re: Jeffrey Bell's take on Genesis - The New Editorial

#4 2005-02-04 23:50:20

Re: Jeffrey Bell's take on Genesis - The New Editorial

#5 2005-02-06 11:21:39

Re: Jeffrey Bell's take on Genesis - The New Editorial

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