What's Really Happening On Mars

[Zaccheus]

We may not have Doom3 style space stations on the red planet, but I find the fact that NASA are roaming around the surface taking lots of cool pictures very exciting.

 

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html

[oDDity]

They've been doing that since the seventies with liitle result. No one is prepared to put the required outrageous amounts of money into manned expeditions to Mars.

A Moon base would be the first step and that's 20 years away, if we're being optimistic.

[SneaksieDave]

What I want to know is, if they can spend billions making this incredibly functional remotely operated machine to drive around the surface of another planet, why the hell don't they spend a few extra bucks and put some decent optics and storage hardware on the damn thing? Yes, yes; dust-proof, solar powered, recycled storage, blah blah, high tech, whatever. Fine. I understand it's very complex and amazing and has special needs. But for goodness sake, if you're going on a trip to Mars, include a camera that can take a decent picture, decent movies, and in color. I'll lend them my sony if they are so hard up on budget. It was only $400, sheesh.

Edited June 8, 2005 by SneaksieDave

[oDDity]

The problem is that the data has to be transmitted back to Earth. That's why they need a special camera which can produce the kind of data they need. The sort of broadcast equipment required to send a powerful enough signal from Mars to Earth that could send back TV quailty pictures, would be too bulky, and there is extrtemely limited space on these probes.

[SneaksieDave]

Well, then it's a shame that they can't bring the crafts back (yet), because they could surely store a ton of high-res stuff locally. To think about that dust-devil, out there on mars, is cool as hell (D3 pun?)... but they've got what, 5 frames of it?

[Zaccheus]

include a camera that can take a decent picture, decent movies, and in color.

Hmm, I'd say this is pretty good:

SpiritApproaches.jpg

[SneaksieDave]

Oooh, creepy. (sorta)

[Vadrosaul]

This is how life really is on Mars:

[Zaccheus]

No one is prepared to put the required outrageous amounts of money into manned expeditions to Mars.

This is true.

 

I do enjoy going to the NASA website and seeing all the funky stuff they are doing, but if you asked me how I would like the government to spend 1,000,000,000 pounds/euros/dollars, NASA/ESA would NOT be the first thing that springs to mind.

Edited June 8, 2005 by Zaccheus

[obscurus]

Actually, if you check out the JPL/NASA websites more thoroughly, you will find that the mars rovers have sent back vast quantities of very Hi-Res colour images, and various other instrument data, and have more thatn tripled their design specifications for operational duration. I can't remember the data transmission speed figures off hand, but I am pretty sure it is better than most Broadband connections you can get... If you go to the raw image collections you will find a lot more than the little press release images would seem to show you... I think it is money well spent, especially if you consider that they cost less than most crappy hollywood movies... if the US spent a tenth of what they spend on defence on the space program, we could have manned moon and mars bases in ten years...

[oDDity]

Spending on space exploration isn't sexy, at least not since they stopped having to look over the fence and continually outdo the Jones'. It doesn't get votes.

Stirring up paranoia and then soothing it by spending billions on security and 'defense' (the american term for 'attack') does get votes.

[John D.]

I saw one out in the field on the way to my parents the other day, looks like Mars has dust devils too. Perhaps one day when the technology gets advanced enough, the cost will drop low enough to be practical.

[Napalm]

Well actually, the american paranoia soothing only gets votes from about half the american population, specifically the very partisan republican party... I think as soon as some valuable minerals found in space we'll have plenty of space stations and such, there just has to be comercial motivation

[Zaccheus]

At which point we could see the first space related military conflicts in history.

[John D.]

Edited June 10, 2005 by John D.

[Zaccheus]

LOL - I did say space related.

 

It's likely someone will bomb someone else's launch sites on earth.

Edited June 10, 2005 by Zaccheus

[John D.]

It's likely someone will bomb someone else's launch sites on earth.

I dont think that's much of a possibility, a space shuttle might look good on paper attached to a large fuel tank but I've heard Nasa has jacked up security around their launch areas over the last few years. Plus you have to take into account the fact that the area around the launch pad is kept clear of people when there is a flight about to begin, so an attack would be likely to only kill the shuttle crew. Terrorists like Al Queda like big body counts so I would worry more about crowded sports events or places where there are hundreds/thousands of people coming together at predictable times. Edited June 10, 2005 by John D.

[oDDity]

Who owns space anyway? Is it first come, first serve?

If I built a spacecraft that could take me to Mars, could I automatically claim the planet for myself?

[Napalm]

yes yes you could..then some other spacer would come kill you. Land wars, us humans like em

[John D.]

If I built a spacecraft that could take me to Mars, could I automatically claim the planet for myself?

Interesting idea, we'd better grab the place while we can! :lol:

Seriously though, I think one major obstacle to any sort of permanent base is the harsh environment. If there was some sort of terraforming technique we could develop to give Mars a thicker, breathable atmosphere with some sort of ozone layer to help screen out the ultraviolet rays-and be able to do it in decades not centuries, perhaps there might be a greater interest in exploring the place. It would probably still be pretty cold though.

 

Wonder if nukes on the polar ice caps would kick up enough vaporized carbon dioxide/water vapor into the air to create some sort of greenhouse effect?

Edited June 10, 2005 by John D.

[Macsen]

I'm kicking myself that I'm probably part of the last generation that won't get to go to Mars and such cool stuff. But come to think of it I haven't been to most places on Earth yet, and there's a ton of more interesting stuff down here.

[obscurus]

Who owns space anyway? Is it first come, first serve?

If I built a spacecraft that could take me to Mars, could I automatically claim the planet for myself?

I'd say for all intents and purposes, yes. There are already a number of private companies planning to mine asteroids (or at least assess the feasibility of doing so) in the next five to ten years or so.. I wouldn't be surprised, seeing as how NASA has dropped the ball in terms of manned space exploration, to see lots of private companies take ownership of large chunks of space... Ultimately ownership comes down to what you can defend - those with the military might to tell anyone who encroaches on territory they claim can tell anyone to fuck off, and ther is nothing any UN resolution can do about it really.

 

I am tipping Richard Branson to have Virgin Spaclines up and running tours to Mars long before NASA gets back on the moon .. Americans are too paranoid these days to revive the frontier spirit of the wild west days... My apologies if I have offended any Americans here..

[Zaccheus]

I dont think that's much of a possibility, a space shuttle might look good on paper attached to a large fuel tank but I've heard Nasa has jacked up security around their launch areas over the last few years. Plus you have to take into account the fact that the area around the launch pad is kept clear of people when there is a flight about to begin, so an attack would be likely to only kill the shuttle crew. Terrorists like Al Queda like big body counts so I would worry more about crowded sports events or places where there are hundreds/thousands of people coming together at predictable times.

Al Queda?

:lol:

 

I was thinking more along the lines of the US sending a brave fearless cruise missile into the heart of some rival country's space program, for reasons of pre-emptive national security of course.

[Zaccheus]

I'd say for all intents and purposes, yes.

But only until some big bully comes along and kicks you out.

[Gildoran]

I was thinking more along the lines of the US sending a brave fearless cruise missile into the heart of some rival country's space program, for reasons of pre-emptive national security of course.

They were hiding weapons of mass destruction under the launch pad I tell you!