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posted by
martyb
on Wednesday June 08 2016, @09:17AM
from the build-a-space-elevator-on-the-moon dept.
from the build-a-space-elevator-on-the-moon dept.
NASA seems hell bent to go to Mars, but can't afford to on its own.
Its international partners have no stomach for that — they would would rather return to our moon and build a base there for further exploration.
Doesn't going back to the moon make more sense? Build a base on the moon, and use its low gravity and possible water at the poles as propellant for further space exploration?
Why not the moon first?
http://www.theverge.com/2016/6/7/11868840/moon-return-journey-to-mars-nasa-congress-space-policy
Links:
From NASA itself, in 2008: https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/news/series/moon/why_go_back.html
The all-knowing, ever-trustworthy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_the_Moon
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Should We Skip Mars for Now and Go to the Moon Again?
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heavy, adj.:
Seduced by the chocolate side of the force.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday June 08 2016, @02:57PM
We did Mars back in the 1970s.
We then waited an appropriate amount of time for technology to advance (cameras, storage, radio links) and we did it again, with that little Sorjourner thing.
So far, so good. Then, without waiting: We attempted to land at the Martian pole, but that failed. (we never tried again) We sent 2 identical rovers and a bigger rover. Woah there! What about getting that polar lander to work? What about the rest of the Solar System?
Venus was last done by the USSR, mostly analog and very crappy by modern standards. Venus has mountains with very different radar reflectivity, possibly due to metallic rain. We've never been there. Mercury has never been done. Even at Mars, we've ignored 2 interesting moons. Jupiter has lots of moons. Saturn has lots of moons.
What the Hell are we puttering around on Mars for??? Been there, done that, time to move on!
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday June 08 2016, @07:46PM
We attempted to land at the Martian pole, but that failed. (we never tried again) ... What about getting that polar lander to work?
We didn't go back because it didn't really fail; it was destroyed by a giant mechatronic alien.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Wednesday June 08 2016, @08:48PM
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_10 [wikipedia.org]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MESSENGER [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday June 09 2016, @05:39AM
Russia is thinking about maybe launching the Mercury-P mission in 2031. That's 15 years to a "maybe", plus flight time.
(Score: 2) by butthurt on Thursday June 09 2016, @06:01AM
Right, neither landed. Pioneer Venus landed after Venera 9 landed but was before Venera 15, which didn't land but did the radar studies alluded to by the OP. Hence I assumed that orbiting or flying by a planet would qualify as "doing" it.