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What are you going to do to make sure someone doesn't shoot down a spacecraft approaching the Earth on it's way home from Mars. I don't know if it's actually Space Command that might do it or another group of people saying that. I think that you should make sure that this doesn't happen in the future so that if people can go home from Mars they can.
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What? Why would anyone want to shoot down a spacecraft from Mars? I see two (highly remote) possibilities:
1) Attack by a hostile nation
2) Attack by a nation wanting to prevent contamination from 'killer Martian virus'
Now, I don't think that anyone, US included, has the capability to shoot down a spacecraft. But let's imagine they do, they go and try to shoot down a human spacecraft returning from Mars. There is practically nothing you can do to help the spacecraft; stuff like shielding and countermeasures would be too heavy and in any case, no-one is expecting an attack. Interceptors from space based weapon systems are also not likely to work as they are designed to knock out ballastic missiles and such.
So the spacecraft gets blown up. What next? The US finds out who did it, declares war on them, and blows them up. What a happy story.
As for the Martian virus, firstly I think the risk of contamination is negligable. Secondly, the astronauts on board the spacecraft wouldn't try to land without orders - these guys are professionals. I think they'd happily die up there if they knew they were infected with a contagious disease, or at least sit tight until someone could try to rendezvous and give them some medical attention.
Editor of [url=http://www.newmars.com]New Mars[/url]
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Because space exploration has such high propaganda, I definitely think that we should be aware of the risk of military action against our spacecraft, both manned and unmanned. Ground-based defensive weapons might be an option. Buzz Aldrin's company has proposed the partially-reusable Starhawk for shooting down anti-satellite weapons. I do believe that offensive weapons should stay out of orbit because of the risk they pose to manned spacecraft.
"I'm not much of a 'hands-on' evil scientist."--Dr. Evil, "Goldmember"
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