Thread: Will man make it to Mars in your lifetime?

MOSCOW (AFP) - Russia is leading the race to complete a manned mission to Mars and could land a Russian on the Red Planet by 2025, a leading scientist was quoted as saying on Tuesday.

"We have something of a head start in this race as we have the most experience in piloted space flight," the director of the prestigious Space Research Institute, Lev Zelyony, told Interfax news agency on Tuesday.

The goal of becoming the first country to land a human on Mars is "technically and economically achievable" by 2025, he said.

Mars is the most prestigious prize for the Russian space industry if it wants to boost the country's "scientific and political prestige" through manned space flight, he said.

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Space flight is an incredibly complex endeavor. With current propulsion technology it would take about 8-10 months to get to Mars. Astronauts would be exposed to very high radiation and social isolation. The biggest obstacle, though is the return. Mars is 2/3 the size of Earth. It's mind boggling how much equipment, brainpower and people are required to get anything out of our atmosphere.

Last time I checked, there are no launch pads, command and control centers or fuel depots on Mars.

Not in my lifetime.

nor mine , though one wonders if the Ruskies are planning on bringing them back as well ...................

Well this should be simple. America merely needs to offer the Russian Scientists an income and lifestyle they couldn't have in Russia and bingo, the USA reaches Mars first.

It's quite the cliche now but what is it they say about modern watches (or is that calculators?) having more computing power than the Apollo rocket.

Developments in technology have been exponential, I don't think there's any reason to completely rule it out. Just 100yrs ago cars were still a novelty, now they have cars that drives themselves, have talking navigation systems and HUD units.

i wish my money componded as quick as technology! somtimes i think i,d like to see it in my lifetime, but some how i doubt it maybe in me daughters

I'm the 'don't know & don't care' option. My only feeling about trying to get to Mars etc is I wish a tiny percentage of that money could be spent on trying to solve problems (homelessness/famine/epidemics/finding cures for diseases) on this planet.

I don't think it's worth the money or effort to get humans on Mars until you send several unmanned vessels there first, and see if theres anything worth going for.

BBC
20 June 2007

MOSCOW -- The European Space Agency (Esa) is seeking volunteers for a simulated human trip to Mars, in which six crew spend 17 months in an isolation tank.

They will live and work in a series of interlocked modules at a research institute in Moscow.

Once the hatches are closed, the crew's only contact with the outside world is a radio link to "Earth" with a realistic delay of many minutes.

It sounds like Big Brother, but there are no plans to televise the test.
The modular "spacecraft" measures some 550 cubic metres (19,250 cubic feet), the equivalent of nine truck containers. It is based at the Russian Institute for Biomedical Problems in the Russian capital.

The goal is to gain insight into human behaviour and group dynamics under the kinds of conditions astronauts would experience on a journey to Mars.

Big commitment

With the exception of weightlessness and radiation, the crew will experience most other aspects of long-haul space travel, such as cramped conditions, a high workload, lack of privacy, and limited supplies.

The volunteers will be put through a number of scenarios, such as a simulated launch, outward journey of up to 250 days, an excursion on the Martian surface, followed by the return home.

The 500-day duration is close to the minimum estimated timescale needed for a human trip to the Red Planet.

The Earthbound astronauts will have to deal with simulated emergencies and perhaps even real ones.

But, while Esa says it will do nothing that puts the lives of the simulation crew at unnecessary risk, officials running the experiment have made it clear they would need a convincing reason to let someone out of the modules once the experiment had begun.

"The idea behind this experiment is simply to put six people in a very close environment and see how they behave," Bruno Gardini, project manager for Esa's Aurora space exploration programme, told BBC News.

Team ethic

In all, 12 European volunteers will be needed. They must be aged 25-50, be in good health, have "high motivation" and stand up to 185cm tall. Smokers, or those with other addictions, to alcohol or illicit drugs, for example, will be rejected. Esa is also looking for a working knowledge of both English and Russian.

"We will do pre-selection, medical tests, psychological tests, etc. But at the end, you really have to see how they react in as close to a real situation as possible on Earth," explained Mr Gardini.

He added that the results would help define the selection criteria for a future Mars mission.

"This is the beginning; it will be a long time before we go to Mars," the Esa official said.

"But this is a field which is difficult to quantify. It's human behaviour, so there's no method. The Russians have done lots of study in the past and we will be sharing some data.

"We have to look at the mix of people; at the end of the day, we want a team."

Robots first

Marc Heppener, of Esa's Science and Application Division, said the crewmembers would get paid 120 euros (158 dollars) a day.
Viktor Baranov, of Russia's Institute of Biomedical Problems, said his organisation had received about 150 applications, only 19 of which had come from women.

A precursor 105-day study is scheduled to start by mid-2008, possibly followed by another 105-day study, before the full 520-day project begins in late 2008 or early 2009.

European scientists have been asked to submit proposals for experiments in the areas of psychology, medicine, physiology and mission operations.

Mounting a mission to Mars would face many other hurdles, not least of which would be shielding the crew against the potentially deadly dose of radiation they would receive on the journey.

Esa's Aurora programme has already begun preparations to land a rover - called ExoMars - on the Red Planet. It has the stated aim, however, of trying to get European astronauts to Mars at some time in the future.

BBC NEWS | Science/Nature | Volunteers sought for Mars test

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Damn, all the hardship, none of the glory, no thanks. Besides I drink like a fish and would require a trailer rocket full of Leo.

Spend the money on doing something about the bloody environment, or we will be forced to move to a place much less suited to humans at some not too distant point in the future.

While I do agree things need to be balanced regarding how to allocate monies to the variety of problems we face, it should be noted space programs result in technological advancements that otherwise would go undiscovered. Many of the things that contribute to solving the worlds problems would not exist if it weren't for the technologies pioneered by space programs.

Sooner the better.

If mankind wants to go on forever, the only option we have is to get off this planet.

Originally Posted by Deus Ex

If mankind wants to go on forever, the only option we have is to get off this planet.

We have the technology- there are several substances that can do that for you.

Originally Posted by Deus Ex

Sooner the better. If mankind wants to go on forever, the only option we have is to get off this planet.

There in is the motivation. If we don't manage to wipe ourselves out the only option for humans to survive lies in getting off the Earth at some point in the future. As DE says, the sooner the better. One large asteroid could bring a quick and dramatic end to us all if we just sit and wait with no Plan B.

Originally Posted by Norton

If we don't manage to wipe ourselves out

That's the trick.

We've got the entire planet wired up to explode & if we look at history as a guide, it's only a matter of time before some dickhead presses the button.

On the bright side - it will put that climate change racket into perspective.

Originally Posted by Deus Ex

On the bright side - it will put that climate change racket into perspective.

No more global warming for sure. Nuclear winter will be what the survivors will be trying to "fix".

Originally Posted by Deus Ex

Sooner the better.

If mankind wants to go on forever, the only option we have is to get off this planet.

Move to new planet, says Hawking

Thursday, 30 November 2006, 10:23 GMT


Prof Hawking is in "no hurry to die"



The human race must move to a star outside our solar system to protect the future of the species, physicist Professor Stephen Hawking has warned.


i'll get packing then .............................

I thought of it first.

Prof Hawking is in "no hurry to die"

I kinda wish he would. Well, not really, but he's getting annoying with all his pontificating.

He's full of shit.

Those books he did are laughed at by people who are in those circles.

Humans might be too far along to begin looking at interstellar, let alone interplanetary residences.

How many humans have ever been to space?
How many have stepped foot on the moon?

Imagine how long it would take to create a life-sustaining environment on another planet -- assuming it possible in the first place.