Obama/McCain and space exploration

[CrackerBarrel]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

can't carry enough food? why not?

You forget we have a space station orbiting overhead that's doing just that...testing out how long we can last up there...remember?

You are getting a few things confused...the new Ares craft is designed for lunar travel not to Mars...when we get ready to go to Mars there are plans on using a larger type craft to do the job...now come on...you won't send a speedboat to do the job of a cruise ship now will you?

Think....

No... Ares isn't designed to go anywhere. It also isn't a craft. It's the rocket stage for the Constellation project. Ares I is the light lifter, Ares V is the heavy lifter. Orion is the orbiting module and Altair is the lunar lander. The plan is to modify the Orion/Altair pairing for a Mars mission later using information they get from the lunar missions. The target date to put humans on Mars is 2037 though, so it is very possible that the plan will change before then.

And you can't carry enough supplies right now. The ISS has enough power to stay in orbit, not to fly 50,000,000 miles. The Orion/Altair pairing just isn't big enough to hold everything yet and you can't power something the size of the ISS to Mars. I think the idea is to eventually boost up supply capsules that Orion can rendezvous with on the way, but that's still kind of a pie-in-the-sky idea at this point in time.

[DaemonSeid]

Originally Posted by CrackerBarrel

No... Ares isn't designed to go anywhere. It also isn't a craft. It's the rocket stage for the Constellation project. Ares I is the light lifter, Ares V is the heavy lifter. Orion is the orbiting module and Altair is the lunar lander. The plan is to modify the Orion/Altair pairing for a Mars mission later using information they get from the lunar missions. The target date to put humans on Mars is 2037 though, so it is very possible that the plan will change before then.

And you can't carry enough supplies right now. The ISS has enough power to stay in orbit, not to fly 50,000,000 miles. The Orion/Altair pairing just isn't big enough to hold everything yet and you can't power something the size of the ISS to Mars. I think the idea is to eventually boost up supply capsules that Orion can rendezvous with on the way, but that's still kind of a pie-in-the-sky idea at this point in time.

Hint: Lunar (luna) is Latin for...?

Either way, man will have to land on the moon again and establish a base there before they go to Mars...but I doubt seriously they are taking capsules..and part of that testing that you are referring to includes making something that can break from orbit and go to Mars...

So I agree and disagree with some of your points but we both can agree with all of our money going elsewhere **coff* fugging up Iraq and AIG speinding bailout money *coff* we can't afford Mars!

heh!

[cheerfulgreek]

Originally Posted by DaemonSeid

So I agree and disagree with some of your points but we both can agree with all of our money going elsewhere **coff* fugging up Iraq and AIG speinding bailout money *coff* we can't afford Mars!

heh!

omg!!!! lol lol lol the bolded made me laugh SO hard. lol.

[cheerfulgreek]

Though we have a long way to go financially, I still think after we are back on our feet and we get a president in office who isn't going to continue to waste money in Iraq, using money to look for other life would be worth the cost. We don't just have to look on Mars. Even though we're just starting out, it's still great progress in taking steps towards exploring other worlds around us. I understand that it's possible that our planet is the only Earth like planet that exist, but to me, that seems unlikely. Around 20% of the observed stars have huge hot planets orbiting them. Some are even larger than Jupiter. We're also starting to find smaller ones, some down to a few tens of Earth's mass. I think finding planets like Earth will be like looking into the past and future at the same time. I think it provides a glimpse a few million years in the future or even a few billion years into the past. Not only will it tell us about life on other planets, but I think it will also clarify some of the big unanswered questions about our own world.