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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: 2) by scruffybeard on Wednesday September 23 2015, @12:04PM
I never said we should send people on a suicide mission, nor do I think we should launch next week. We know that with the right technology and some hard work we can make Mars survivable for months or even years at a time. There are very few things worth doing that are 100% safe. But those risks can be mitigated with some imagination and ingenuity.
(Score: 3, Informative) by frojack on Wednesday September 23 2015, @06:31PM
TFA isn't about never going to Mars, its about not going NOW.
We have hardly any of the technology needed to make Mars habitable for month or years. We need to make large habitable shelters, orders of magnitude larger than the ridiculously claustrophobic proposals for International Space Station sized habitats. Any one sent to Mars with current or near future technology is on a suicide mission no matter how many bows and bells you wrap that package in.
We should be looking at building on the moon, under ground perhaps, but even that technology isn't even remotely available for anything except a strictly short term lab smaller than the ISS. But at least return from the moon is possible.
You see people jumping on this thread talking about mining asteroids tunneling into Mars and all sorts of nonsense suggestions. People watch and read so much Science Fiction that they have lost all concept of actual capabilities. We can't even bore a tunnel under down town Seattle and people propose, with a straight face, to build underground cities on mars, and write off the lives it will cost saying "nobody said it wold be easy".
If the best we can com up with to get into space is a chemical rocket, we've got no business sending people to Mars any time soon.
Maybe in 200 years at the current rate of technological development. We need one or two MAJOR technological breakthroughs in lift and propulsion and landing capabilities to make mars anything but a suicide mission.
Imagination and ingenuity my ass.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.