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#1 2006-12-15 22:38:38
Re: A Vision for Mars
In 2006 Mars remains an object of robotic science exploration and over the last ten years our knowledge of Mars has grown in leaps and bounds. The current Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has already started sending back stunning images of Mars in never before seen detail. Over the next few years NASA and the ESA plan to send an ever expanding flotilla of robotic explorers from the beefed up Mars Science Lab to a possible sample return mission. Yet planning for human missions is still only on paper. No firm commitment or time has been set for when humans might set foot on the red planet.
In this context, and for all of the people who believe we should be already on Mars I want to present a small vision which I hope might stimulate some interest in speeding up plans to send humans. I want to thank the many visionaries who have provided these ideas and given me the inspiration I now have. How will we get to Mars? It takes the right technology, money, political will and the right people.
There are technologies in several areas which are yet to be developed and which generally rely upon NASA for funding, but I believe that private groups can stimulate these areas much like the recent X Prize has in private space flight. But before any of this happens we must have the will to go. There cannot be any vague’ Maybe in 20 years we might do it” comments coming from our space agencies any longer on this. The first part of my vision involves one or more space agencies at least committing to sending humans to Mars. Many have expressed a desire to, but what we need is written and legal confirmation that these agencies will do everything they can to hasten a Mars mission, even if there is no money involved to begin with. A simple but solid commitment from or more of these agencies would be a significant step forward.
This commitment needs to include the option of partnering with and supporting private missions to Mars in every way possible. This would at least signal to such groups that they have the full support of space agencies and would help provide some stimulus to near term Mars missions. How can we even get a commitment like this though? Political will is a tricky thing. But that is where a plan for a “Mars Prize” could come in. In that context governments award the first successful mission to and from Mars and only pay for it upon successful completion. In the years leading up to such a mission smaller prizes could be awarded for different technological advancements and that way it opens the field up to many competitors instead of just one winner taking it all. This means a significant investment into private space companies and that can only mean good things for all the other related industries like space tourism.
The first stage in this plan is to gain recognition and support from our political leaders. The Mars Society have been working in that area for some time now and do have some inroads since the last conference they held in 2006. Political leaders across the world need to be contacted and lobbied to see that there are great benefits from supporting a robust human space presence and it is our job to do this. A Mars Prize could and should become a joint international effort, as should the drafting of a new space treaty that encourages humans to live and work in space instead of treating the universe like one giant Antarctic reserve.
The Mars Prize needs to be first formulated by members of the space community and presented to the appropriate leaders across the world when completed. At MarsDrive we have already started work on doing just this and we invite all interested supporters of space exploration to join with us in this effort.
The second part of this effort is to formulate a new Outer Space Treaty that encourages human settlement and rewards those who take the risks of establishing new outposts, especially for the private sector.
A mission to Mars is not going to be cheap, I think we can all agree on that. But the establishment of a series of Mars Prizes to reward various developmental steps along the road to Mars and to reward those who do send humans to Mars successfully can be a win-win for all concerned with the future of humans in space. Science funding has recently been cut at NASA in many areas to make way for a return to the Moon but what opponents of this action need to remember is that humans, while expensive to maintain in space, do have a much higher level of scientific exploration abilities than any robot ever could. The move to establish a permanent human presence on the Moon and Mars can only be a large boost to all scientific agendas in space.
There have been many ideas put forward as to how to fund a Mars mission, and all of them have some merit, but relying on only one source of funding is putting all our eggs in the one basket and is not a smart move for those of us wanting to see a long term human presence in space. All options must be considered equally and it is long overdue for the space community to start thinking of alternative means of funding as seriously as they do more traditional sources of funding like NASA. The reason I make this point is because one of the major reasons for our current stagnation in human space exploration is the inability or unwillingness for aerospace professionals to think “outside the box” when it comes to funding.
It is circular reasoning at its worst. The space community look at alternative sources of funding and (rightly) judge them to be a joke. After decades of NASA funded programs it is hard for many to think of other ways more seriously, but if even a handful of the many future space visions are to be realised we must start to support other forms of funding set ups. The joke factor is there BECAUSE the space community do not seriously support alternative means. The financial struggles of the many private space companies and advocate groups is testament to that reality. While there seems to be an appearance of support from the space community for alternatives, for the most part that support is only skin deep.
Mars related groups suffer from this lack of funding and support issue as well and as they advocate a far off priority their funding levels also remain far-off. If we are to see humans on Mars we need to use all options at our disposal and be as pragmatic as possible. It is easy just to wait for NASA to do it all, but if the vision of a future in space for more than just the elite is to be realised, we do need to support alternative methods for funding our visions, and ideas like a Mars Prize and revised Space Treaty must become a part of our agenda in pursuit of a human presence on Mars. NASA will not colonize Mars either. They have said so explicitly. Their mandate is to explore space, not settle it. Even if they send a few missions there, colonization will not happen without international and private sector support in a big way. This is why we need to throw our full weight of support behind any and all private sector efforts to establish a permanent human presence in space beyond Earth.
No doubt my words here may fall on deaf ears but before you tune out remember that the space community are the only people in the world who want to see humans in space enough to do something about it. There is no one else. So if our efforts are misdirected (as they are currently), then there will be no settlements on the Moon, Mars or anywhere else until we decide to support such visions. The political and private sector leaders take their cue from us and if they see us divided and passive then they will continue to ignore our goals.
Many times I have watched as new funding ideas were suggested, only to be shot down by a cynical and divided space community instead of being explored or pursued in any serious way. No wonder we are so far from humans on Mars. There are some great ideas out there, (and some not so great) well thought through and detailed, but on presentation to the space community those ideas all suffer the same ignoble fate. Rallying behind an idea is not generally something the space community does very well, and so when good ideas are suggested they often get ignored when we should be supporting them (and improving them)in every way we can. If we truly applied our brain power to crafting professional funding plans I’m sure we would be much further along the way to humans on Mars than we are currently.
So in short, let’s support all of the private space groups and advocacy groups as they attempt to create new and viable funding options for a long term and ever expanding human presence in space. The longer we hold back in our support, the longer it will take to see any of our visions become a reality.
For example, if 100,000 people were to donate $500 each to a Mars Prize working group we would suddenly have 50 Million dollars from which we could easily and successfully start to implement new and exciting ways for humans to get into space and onto Mars privately. Professional lobbying could be paid for with funds like this and many alternatives could be pursued with the professionalism they deserve. It would come out at some definite solutions. Unfortunately the space community is so divided our funds are dribbled out to struggling groups and projects here and there with the net overall result being an advancement at snails pace. By concentrating our resources on fixing some of our more fundamental problems(like lack of public support) we can start to make decent headway in ALL areas.
Some version of a Mars Prize should be established with the support of as many governments as possible. This could even by administered by the U.N. Creating a new space treaty is also something the U.N could take charge of, if we supported such a move. Once the funding ideas and sources are established we will be halfway to Mars. But before those funding ideas are to succeed we need to ask if our leaders are convinced that such initiatives are worth it. Until now the “Case for Space” has not been made very well to those in power, and our divisions have hurt us in that area. There are definite earth based benefits for exploring space and the reasons for sending humans have been clearly made, but our governments largely remain unconvinced.
It is not the message which needs changing, it is our volume which needs adjusting. It is a known fact that the space community (and the sub group of Mars enthusiasts) is extremely small when compared to other political agenda based groups like Greenpeace and World Vision, etc When we speak it is usually with isolated voices and with little public backing. Our leaders note this and react accordingly. In short we need to expand our numbers if we are to amplify our message and our chance of being heard. Until now many of the groups within the space community have been dominated by academia and many of our programs reflect that engineering/scientific bias. But if we are to really reach and win over large numbers from the public we will need to completely change our methods from here on in. The non space public do have an interest in space that has never really been tapped into. If we want their support and signatures in our lobbying efforts then we have to give them things which they are interested in.
I call this “Space with Non Space Outreach methods”. The public are interested in things like music, movies, sport, fashion, travel, family, etc The space community needs to invest in serious PR and outreach in those areas if we are to succeed at building our numbers. The old model of professional presentations of space missions/ideas to the public is only ever going to reach a very narrow demographic. No matter how good our websites are or our books and conferences or documentaries might be, we will never reach that larger crowd with topics that only interest a small number of people. I can hear people saying “ But if we go into non space areas to reach people how will they end up supporting us?”. Good question.
The answer lies in the association the space community has with such endeavours. When the public listens to a song by a band that is promoted by The Mars Society or MarsDrive and they are aware of that association a certain number will look deeper and become exposed to the messages of such groups as well. It is good PR. As it is right now the public see no connection between the space community and their every day priorities and interests. The space community would do well to publicly support Earth based charities and causes as well if they are to gain any hope of being respected and supported in the numbers it hopes for.
So the first two steps are these-
1. Put together draft resolutions of a Mars Prize and Outer Space Treaty to be presented to our leaders across the world.
2. Build our numbers to a level that will be noticed by our leaders.
Step one will actually be more effective and make more sense if it is presented to our leaders AFTER step 2 is a reality but still needs to be started as early as possible.
The third step involves development of technologies needed for long term human missions to Mars. Usually NASA funds such developments but to ensure a robust and continuing program of development we must look to other alternatives. The recent X Prize is a good example of private stimulation of technology development. If you recall my previous example of a 50 Million dollar working fund set up for the advancement of the humans in space/Mars cause you will understand that from an amount like this a series of prizes could be set up to stimulate development in areas needed for Mars missions. For example, a series of ten $1 Million prizes could be set up in the areas of EDL- Entry Descent landing systems, Radiation Mitigation Technologies, Simulated Gravity Systems, Life Support, Space Suits, etc.
As long as this program is available to the international space community and is promoted strongly across the world, development times for Mars mission technologies could be brought down to 10 or 15 years. With the development of new heavy lift capabilities now firmly on NASA’s horizon, and with ideas like Mars For Less suggesting medium lift “on orbit assembly” there has never been a better time to start developing the other technologies needed for human missions to Mars.
With all of the above steps in place we could reach Mars in under 20 years.
Step four of this program would entail gathering together the experts and best minds from the science and engineering communities to formulate a Mars mission plan that addresses all of the key requirements and gains broad consensus. This is what I would call a “Workshop”, a working group that focuses on solutions to the problems of human Mars missions and works together with technology providers to create the systems and plans needed for successful human missions to Mars. We have many books and research papers on these subjects and they do need to be brought together. This workshop/working group can be conducted in partnership with space agencies and other interested groups and will work best with more, not less members.
A timeline of how these steps progress can be seen here-
2 to 5 years- Mars Prize, New Space Treaty developed.
PR campaign and numbers building process.
Establishment of private prize funds for smaller development prizes apart from the Mars Prize in this time.
10 to 15 years- Initiation of the Mars prize and actual development of real Mars missions.
Year 15 to 20- Launch of first human mission to Mars.
In the context of this type of scenario and with the private space sector gaining strength issues like long term human settlements on Mars and space tourism will be firmly on the agenda. With an international mix of companies and governments working towards the goal of humans on Mars this will provide a fertile field for the rapid development of other areas of space exploration and colonization.
The problem we have right now is that the space community is deeply divided. Some see that lowering costs for access to space to be THE main priority with Mars as a distant afterthought. But this type of goal, while worthy and highly relevant to all space ventures cannot be pursued in a vacuum. It is a worthwhile goal which will benefit all space ventures but it does not have to be a goal that is in conflict with sending humans to Mars in the near term.
Sending a human mission to Mars AT THE SAME TIME AS space tourism and NASA’s return to the Moon are on the rise is the perfect context for such activities. I contend that doing this will in fact lower costs (via increased demand and publicity) for access to space in a quicker timeframe than if we just relied upon the slow and painful development of private space tourism (as it is currently) and related fields. The key is making sure that this effort to get humans to Mars is spread across the world, not just in the U.S. No one can deny the “cool” factor of sending humans to Mars, and one thing space tourism and private space efforts will need bucket loads of is public confidence. What better way to inspire the public than in a context of sending humans to a new world?
The financial and technical resources are available to begin to achieve all of our space visions simultaneously. They are scattered across the whole world, not just in the U.S. Relying upon one nation or one space agency to achieve all of our visions when it is not even their mandate is unrealistic and inappropriate. It is time all of us stepped up to the challenge of being the force of change so that our visions (whatever they might be) are achieved within our own lifetimes.
Will average people be able to visit Mars in our lifetimes? The answer to that is currently in the negative. With the implementation of a serious and united effort to get humans to Mars and establish a private presence in space (and some creative thinking) right now we may just have the opportunity to walk on the red sands of Mars ourselves. This vision I have described is but one of many. You can accept it or reject it, but whatever your reaction, I hope that we can hasten the day that humans in space and for all becomes a routine thing.
If you have any comments, questions or suggestions don’t hesitate to contact me at info@marsdrive.com and if you can think of more appropriate solutions by all means let me know. We will be working on these sorts of things for the immediate term at MarsDrive and all that holds us back is a lack of people and funds. Once we are on Mars, colonization and terraforming will follow in time but it has to start somehwere, why not with us now?
welcome to [url=http://www.marsdrive.net]www.marsdrive.net[/url]
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#2 2006-12-31 21:55:43
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Starting a new topic is at best a difficult task in that you have so much to say that few will sometime start to discusion when they see this much in a post. So I am diving in hoping for a good dialog and will start with just a small section first rather than the whole posting.
Yet planning for human missions is still only on paper. No firm commitment or time has been set for when humans might set foot on the red planet.
While I see that the plans are not there for Mars I do questions the version as presented for the moon dealing with international cooperation and of scale for the lunar base. While once the paying of funds or the building of items for the base helps it also puts the trump card in play after first delivery in that it will be hard to stop due to international involement.
While the timeline as stated is after 2035 for mars the build up of the moon base from 2020 to 2024 before really getting it manned full time is to much of a budget strain in that all the pieces or nearly all must be in place before Nasa can move on. This is the same senerio as the ISS.
How will we get to Mars? It takes the right technology, money, political will and the right people.
Without political strength from the right people the funding for the technology to give us a faster means of getting there will not happen. But it is the legacy of failed Nasa projects, programs, and probes that have and will hamper this process unit faith in the once great agency is back.
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#3 2007-01-01 20:26:10
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
There are technologies in several areas which are yet to be developed and which generally rely upon NASA for funding, but I believe that private groups can stimulate these areas much like the recent X Prize has in private space flight.
How can we even get a commitment like this though? Political will is a tricky thing. But that is where a plan for a Mars Prize could come in. In that context governments award the first successful mission to and from Mars and only pay for it upon successful completion.
In the years leading up to such a mission smaller prizes could be awarded for different technological advancements and that way it opens the field up to many competitors instead of just one winner taking it all.
A Mars Prize could and should become a joint international effort, as should the drafting of a new space treaty that encourages humans to live and work in space instead of treating the universe like one giant Antarctic reserve.
The Mars Prize needs to be first formulated by members of the space community and presented to the appropriate leaders across the world when completed.
the establishment of a series of Mars Prizes to reward various developmental steps along the road to Mars and to reward those who do send humans to Mars successfully can be a win-win for all concerned with the future of humans in space.
If you speak of nuclear propulsion for use once in orbit we are probably not all that far off with several types but yes they need more funding to come to flourition.
The second part of this is not so much private companies but how space business in general most change from the bloated contract awarding to a more direct purchase of items. That these same contract fed companies are capable of producing the items that we need can already do. I still like giving seed money but not for paper plans alone.
Many have expressed a desire to, but what we need is written and legal confirmation that these agencies will do everything they can to hasten a Mars mission, even if there is no money involved to begin with. A simple but solid commitment from or more of these agencies would be a significant step forward.
Agreed giving notice to those that control the purse strings will hopefully get the desired funding for the plans to leave LEO.
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#4 2007-01-01 21:54:57
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
The second part of this effort is to formulate a new Outer Space Treaty that encourages human settlement and rewards those who take the risks of establishing new outposts, especially for the private sector.
This means a significant investment into private space companies and that can only mean good things for all the other related industries like space tourism.
Well I would be glad to hitch a ride in an ailse for the chance to go. I am sure that others would work for free for the rest of there lives if given food, air ect.. to be given the chance to show that not only the rich or Nasa Astronauts have the right stuff.
A mission to Mars is not going to be cheap, I think we can all agree on that.
But the why is how Nasa does business and not how the rocket manufacturers do. The trouble is getting these companies to provide items without all the normal cost plus contracts.
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#5 2007-01-04 17:57:24
- dicktice
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Here's an idea, which might encourage an ongoing interest by the public in Mars exploration: entertainment, in the form of a TV-sitcom that follows the lives week-by-week of a mixed crew aboard the first Mars mission, for the same number of weeks an actual trip would take to get there. The daily sit-com activities inside and outside the fictional spacecraft while coping with weightlessness can now be done convincingly, as well as space settings realistically done presented through digital animation. The opportunities for education at the same time as being entertained should be endless.
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#6 2007-01-05 08:19:15
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Last I recalled there was a web cam of sorts at the Mars society Devon Island but I am unable to find the link and it may have been for the greenhouse only.
Haughton-Mars Project Research Station
I did find on this site has quick time videos but did not take the time to check them out.
http://www.marsonearth.org/multimedia/vr.html
I am not sure how a reality tv show would come off with just show day to day stuff I think it would need more to garner interest.
Maybe a silly item would be Spirit Oportunity rover racing souped up version or canyon jumping...
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#7 2007-01-05 20:35:48
- dicktice
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Thanks for not rejecting the idea for a "Mars Mission Sitcom" out of hand. TV-series re-runs such as "Friends" and "Everyone Loves Raymond" for instance, all take place in the same places and the characters deal with repetitive situations ad infinititum. Inflatable living quarters, possibly with an enclosed centrifuge, to reduce the need for endless weightness scenarios. Meals, experiments which either go wrong or unexpectedly right, a companion spacecraft to provide "neighbor" visits, crises allowed to develop: psychological as well as technical, and Earth/Spacestation/Lunar related communications handled realistically as the distance increases--all included to create a variety of amusing andsuspenseful situations. Love/jealousy could be allowed to occur as in the typical sitcom. Closed cycle recycling, rediculous looking but essential excercise methods, space hygene, etc, should provide opportunities for many interesting situations to develop. Spacesuits would provide complications in themselves both inside and outside, via airlock complications, with views of the warm secure interior witnessed from outside. Gosh, I wish it was running right now....
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#8 2007-01-05 22:02:41
- Number04
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Re: A Vision for Mars
I don't mean to jump over your Sitcom idea dicktice, but i've got a question for Marsman.
What kind of criteria could we set for the prizes? It's not like we can test them on Mars....
How could we award someone on theoretical? I'm not trying to na say, i think it's a great idea.
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#9 2007-01-05 22:22:28
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Number04, You can find Marsman over on
MarsDrive Consortium forum
As to What kind of criteria could we set for the prizes? Thats is a good one in that we could look to the lunar lander contest that was held at the xprize cup.
Thanks for not rejecting the idea for a "Mars Mission Sitcom" out of hand.
Some of the funniest moments will occur just out of the nature of people being not always predictable. One copuld see the rover racers now running over some equipment or plowing into the on looking astronaut, oops there goes a tear in his suit, gasping for air while the other crew pulls a McGiver pulling out the duct tape to cover it as quick as he or she can.
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#10 2007-01-06 16:18:08
- dicktice
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Yeah, that's the idea. Just make the space environment realistic (no ficticious gravity fields, no sounds outside the ship, no visible laser beams in vacuum, no beaming of crew members up and down, no control panels going up in smoke and flames, lots of dressing and undressing dishevelment and general messiness due to weightlessness) now that we have the capability to produce such made-on-Earth digital video. The ongoing series where the characters learn to live for up to a year en route, in space instead of on Earth, somewhat like a "Wagons West" or "Little House on the Prairy" saga, perhaps. Although a "Third Rock from the Sun" comedy series might not be such a bad idea either. Okay, I'll drop it for now, and get back to the serious stuff....
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#11 2007-01-07 22:10:35
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Have been thinking about the exposure problem of getting the Marsdrive and related efforts to go to mars more visablity.
Have you reached into you wallet and pulled out a credit card with any mars scenes lately? Probably not...
If we could create a prepaid card with Mars scenes and logo's for Marsdrives would be a first step.
What about sponsoring a Nascar vehicle to get the logo's out there.
Is there away to capture the minds of youth when it comes to building the goals to some day reach for the stars.
How about designing an astronaut corps similar to ROTC and launching a young person as an astronaut, to put a young human face on a high-tech journey.
Of which some of the structure for it may also be borrowered from the Civil Air Patrol since they have a section on AEROSPACE EDUCATION intro page while here at the main page http://www.cap.gov/visitors/members/aer … education/
we could borrow some ideas from them and if it is worth while, of interest, feesible, it just might be worth while to open up a space camp/college/incorporation program.
It does depend on what you want to do to inspire children or do you want to produce very capable kids for the future?
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#12 2007-01-08 10:54:33
- Tom Kalbfus
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Yeah, that's the idea. Just make the space environment realistic (no ficticious gravity fields, no sounds outside the ship, no visible laser beams in vacuum, no beaming of crew members up and down, no control panels going up in smoke and flames, lots of dressing and undressing dishevelment and general messiness due to weightlessness) now that we have the capability to produce such made-on-Earth digital video. The ongoing series where the characters learn to live for up to a year en route, in space instead of on Earth, somewhat like a "Wagons West" or "Little House on the Prairy" saga, perhaps. Although a "Third Rock from the Sun" comedy series might not be such a bad idea either. Okay, I'll drop it for now, and get back to the serious stuff....
How about a Space Western, except do it realistically? The best way to achieve realism is to do it all CGI, that way no money is wasted in creating sets. So maybe the characters don't look quite real, at least the whole movie would have a consistant unreality to it all, and then you can deal with the real stuff like the physic. I mean how would you like the be the actor, that shows up for work everyday to hang from blue cables to simulate Mars Gravity? The involvement of actors and sets makes the whole thing that much more expensive, do away with all that and make the whole thing computer cgi animation, and you can reduce costs considerably.
Now as for the Western Part. What you basically need is a good reason to bring guns to Mars so you can have shootouts. In the scenario, space transportation costs would have to be reduced considerably to have any hope of families traveling their to seek their fortune.
What are the ways to reduce space transportation costs so it would be believable?
A reusable 2 stage scramjet shuttle?
A Space Elevator?
Single Stage Rockets with metastable monopropellents?
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#13 2007-01-08 12:20:38
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Well the old brain has been cooking up another under processed thought but here goes.
The analog mars hab that is part of mars societies efforts to more or less understand the dynamics of people and time of exposure to what mars would be like.
Ok now that you have that picture, lets try it as a summer camp for kids making the cabins to look somewhat like the hab and put with it education as well as learning as it relates to what could be...
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#14 2007-01-08 20:37:13
- Number04
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Re: A Vision for Mars
That would be cool for the parents, but the kids would only see "space camp"
Now, some kids would want to go, but we need to introduce new people to the idea. I think a travelling Mars exhibit would be better. Build a mobile HAB and drive it around city to city. Make it a playground of sorts. Get em climbing and exploring.
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#15 2007-01-09 12:03:01
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
I think that they would see it as more than a "space camp" but put the college moniker to it and train to be a marsanaut...
MarsDrive is seeking to build a team of experts in the scientific and engineering fields. Our aims are to put together a world class Mars mission plan, and in association with Red Colony to also put together an original settlement design. If you are close to graduating or have definite experience and qualifications in these areas we need you. We will be entering our incorporation phase over the next few weeks and will be seeking sponsors and grants for these projects but before we do so we need to form a team ready for the tasks at hand. As grants and sponsors are secured compensation for services rendered will also be a policy we will enact. If you have any previous research you think might help us please don't hesitate to get in contact with us at any time. You can drop us a line on our website www marsdrive com< a> or send us an email- info@marsdrive com Check us out and if you have any questions at all please let us know.
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#16 2007-01-10 21:50:52
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Well I hope all can recognize this image:
or how about this floor of the Hab:
Can any guess yet where I am going with this yet...
Ok, how about Mars Homes based somewhat on the Analog Research Stations. Building these customed to the needs of the owner with the top floor possibly being able to have a glass roof for star gazing. Maybe having a greenhouse and rover garage, solar hot water heating if location permits, heat pump cooling and heating system and lots of solar energy cells as well as wind gerneration of power.
With each completed home a portion could go to funding a future mars mission and one could even sell franchises to builders that would work towards this goal.
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#17 2007-01-22 13:24:34
- SpaceNut
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Re: A Vision for Mars
Continuing on the thought of rocketry and education.
Some nice comments at the bottom of the article by readers.
Student teams tap Rocket City expertise Club, shuttle contractor help kids in national event
the Huntsville Area Rocketry Association, have helped hundreds of kids at 13 schools in Birmingham and North Alabama field Team America Rocket Challenge, or TARC, teams.
Officials at Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in Huntsville, the contractor for the space shuttle main engines, the Ares I upper-stage engine and the Ares V core-stage engines, decided that students from the Rocket City should be among the nation's student rocketry elite.
Sure would be nice to spread the locations to other states where chances are there would be other youths looking to be rocket scientists as well.
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#18 2007-01-27 06:27:24
Re: A Vision for Mars
Thanks for the replies guys, sorry I haven't got back sooner. Just on the entertainment stuff, did anyone here know about the aborted attempts at making the Red, Green and Blue Mars trilogy into movies? It was on again, off again for a while and I believe if it was done right and was faithful to the vision in the books it would make a perfect tv series or mini series. Same thing happened with the Sim Mars game which was ditched in favour of "The Sims". These are the sorts of things (along with greater public participation in space/Mars missions) that will help raise the profile of these issues.
In the end though, I just want to see us on Mars, and being a pragmatist I don't mind who gets the credit, as long as it happens. Once humans are walking upon the surface of Mars all of these sorts of discussions and Mars based groups will enter a new era. Theories will start to be taken seriously and support for greater visions will be high. There are no easy answers and frequently I find myself being accused of being "negative" but all I can say is that the problems for getting to Mars are not to be taken lightly. For example, how will EDL for human rated missions be solved? Can small Mars groups like MS and MD make a difference in areas like this? Perhaps. But to do so will take resources and people we don't currently have. For now it would be great to see all Mars groups working together at least as a start to making us stronger in space advocacy circles.
How can we work together better? That part is up to each of us and I'm open to suggestions as always. The Mars community of the world is quite small when compared to the larger space community and at this stage we can't afford to be divided and pulling in different directions. One extra thing I will say though in the area of reaching the real public on Mars issues- the geek factor must be totally removed. Engineers and scientists are engineers and scientists. To reach different types of people and demographics we need people expert in those areas and we need people who can speak the language of the real general public. The public will fund our space dreams (through tax dollars or private investments). So reaching them effectively should be one of our highest priorities on the way to building succesfull human Mars missions and settlements.
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