New Mars Forums

Rather then get into a tit for tat argument here, i would like to bring up an actual bit of conversation.

No one here will argue that Saddam was a just and fair ruler. He did commit awful crimes that i think he should be accountable for.

BUT!

It looks to me that it did a good job of running the country. (minus his lust for war) Before you explode, hear me out.

Currently, we have civilians being killed in the thousands per month. There is rampant crime by militia groups, outsiders (Iran and the like) and even US solders. There are power outages, people don't have running water and have the risk of being blown up while buying food.

Now, Saddam's methods were no doubt harsh and I am no way saying it's right, but it may be the only way to pacify the region. 

Just like on the play ground, it could be said that the "kids" or "factions" won't get along unless you threaten to slap them.

Discuss.

i am sure it does. Also, you could define millions of people around the world in G7 countries as cooperate slaves. But i think that's another topic.

i don't have any facts of reports, but people are mean.

OK, to shift the conversation here.

Since this war is going to cost ALLOT, where is this money going to come from? Since the Columbia tragedy has cast a black cloud over the space program, will it be scrapped to pay for the US war hunger? Or is this a time for other nationalities to shine?

You are right, the world is calm at the moment. That's what is scary. I don't think it will be some country using it's weapons, but it will be some guy who hates the world. That could be a trigger for bigger things.

if the US goes to war, what is going to stop Saddam from using his weapons just before he loses?

Just got back from work. Someone told me about the accident. tr?s not cool.

But like cobra said, this is an all or nothing situation. We can forge ahead, or get stuck in a rut.

And about the old computers, The TI-83 calculator that I have, and allot of other people use has more computing power then what Apollo 11 had. If you are not running windows, you don't need allot of computer

But I am deeply saddened by this. Not so much by the loss of life, but the possible loss of the program. I would take that 2% risk any day. But I would never want to risk the program.

I don't know how much i like the idea that we are going to mars because of war. Not too cool.

Kinda makes you wonder if Bush reads fourms like this after an anouncment eh?

even if it's a lie, i think it will help raise the posibility to the general public.

"Recent reports from the Los Angeles Times and Space.com indicate that President Bush may announce a spectacular new Mars initiative, aimed at putting humans on Mars by 2010."

What do you guys think? hype, or is there going to be any real work done?
Link

Allot of what he says makes sense. But I still want to go. Who knows what will happen when we get there? What about using mars as a refinery for all the metals on the asteroids? Should we just ignore mars? I think we need to move from the goal of colonizing one place to many places.

Mars will fit into space exploration; we just need to find out when.

YAY! field trip to mars!

I don't think temperature should be a big issue. A hab could be engineered with different layers on it with insulation to avoid any major problems. (In my mind)

Now, as for wind and dust, as long as it's somewhat aero dynamic, I think it should be fine. Keep the hab to 1 or 2 levels and make it long enough for the wind to pass over it.

Would it be possible, or is there even a point, to send any non essential payload for manned missions before they get there? Instead of sending allot of building materials and raw steel (or whatever) are there any plans to send that stuff on it's own to lighten the load for the manned mission?