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Ed Regis writes in the New York Times that today we an witnessing an outburst of enthusiasm over the literally outlandish notion that in the relatively near future, some of us are going to be living, working, thriving and dying on Mars. But unfortunately Mars mania reflects an excessively optimistic view of what it actually takes to travel to and live on Mars, papering over many of the harsh realities and bitter truths that underlie the dream. "First, there is the tedious business of getting there. Using current technology and conventional chemical rockets, a trip to Mars would be a grueling, eight- to nine-month-long nightmare for the crew," writes Regis. "Tears, sweat, urine and perhaps even solid waste will be recycled, your personal space is reduced to the size of an SUV., and you and your crewmates are floating around sideways, upside down and at other nauseating angles." According to Regis every source of interpersonal conflict, and emotional and psychological stress that we experience in ordinary, day-to-day life on Earth will be magnified exponentially by restriction to a tiny, hermetically sealed, pressure-cooker capsule hurtling through deep space and to top it off, despite these constraints, the crew must operate within an exceptionally slim margin of error with continuous threats of equipment failures, computer malfunctions, power interruptions and software glitches.
But getting there is the easy part says Regis. "Mars is a dead, cold, barren planet on which no living thing is known to have evolved, and which harbors no breathable air or oxygen, no liquid water and no sources of food, nor conditions favorable for producing any. For these and other reasons it would be accurate to call Mars a veritable hell for living things, were it not for the fact that the planet's average surface temperature is minus 81 degrees Fahrenheit." These are only a few of the many serious challenges that must be overcome before anyone can put human beings on Mars and expect them to live for more than five minutes says Regis. "The notion that we can start colonizing Mars within the next 10 years or so is an overoptimistic, delusory idea that falls just short of being a joke."
(Score: 4, Insightful) by mcgrew on Tuesday September 22 2015, @01:39PM
NASA says we could visit Mars by the 2030s. [nasa.gov] One scenario has us visiting one of its two moons first. And you know what? I'll listen to NASA before I'll listen to some dumb reporter's opinion.
Why do I say "dumb"? Because of the dumb reporter's own words: "Tears, sweat, urine and perhaps even solid waste will be recycled, your personal space is reduced to the size of an SUV., and you and your crewmates are floating around sideways, upside down and at other nauseating angles."
First, has that dumbass never heard of the ISS? Second, does he not now that in microgravity there is no up, down, or sideways? As Bugs says, "What a maroon!"
There's a book I read a couple years ago, an SF title by Andy Wier The Martian. It was a great book (NASA astronauts agree) and the movie comes out Oct 2. The trailers look like it stays pretty close to the book, I'm really looking forward to seeing it. A NASA mission controller was the movie's science adviser. Wier did his homework and got all the science right except one thing that wasn't discovered until it was published - due to Mars' low atmospheric pressure, a 120 mph sandstorm wouldn't be dangerous.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 22 2015, @01:50PM
I wouldn't expect some random dumbass to understand anything about space. Sometimes, authors who really should have researched just a little bit, invent stupid, impossible situations. Like, the ship is on it's way to Io, and suddenly it runs out of fuel. Hole in a fuel tank, or some such thing, I can't remember now. So - the ship screeches to a halt, and they have to radio for help. The fool thought he was a science fiction writer? WTF? Yet another writer had a ship rocking and shuddering from near misses from guns. Had he specified that the shells were proximity fused high explosive, he might have got away with that - debris hitting the ship. But, elsewhere he had specified that the guns fired solid projectiles. Ooooops!
So many pure stupid things are found in stories, I guess I can forgive some dumb reporter for not knowing any better.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 22 2015, @03:18PM
There's a big difference between visiting and colonizing (i.e. "living, working, thriving and dying on") Mars. We've visited the moon in 1969. We've still not even close to colonizing the moon in 2015.