Why send humans to Mars?

Question

Don't you think robotic missions are less risky and cheapper? What's behind the goverment intentions to spend billions in something that has no apparent gain other than prestige?

Hint: Political smoke screen!

To search for life I use probes. Mars is a wasted, microwaved, sterilized planet. If life hasn't had a grasp on that rock in GOD knows how many millions years, why does anyone think we can change that?

Give me gravity, air density and a strong magnetic field and I will make you a planet

Answer 1

I'll second what everyone else said that we want to go to Mars because it's there, but unfortunately the financial demands of such a mission don't gibe with the huge deficits the U.S. has racked up this decade--making the notion of a manned mission to Mars seem very irresponsible financially. I'd be all for a manned expedition to Mars if we were in better shape financially, but I'd much rather see something done about Social Security so that everyone in my generation won't starve to death when we get to retirement age.

Answer 2

Robotic probes are less expensive and pose less risk, but they have their limits. We have sent several and we're sending more, but they cannot react to the unexpected, and Mars is too far away to operate them by remote control. (This is due to the long time lag.)

There are many reasons for going. Stephen Hawking himself is an advocate of the program, because a Mars colony would preserve the human race if a global disaster would ever befall the Earth.

For me, the most important reason is the search for life. So long as we remain on the Earth, we have exactly one eco-system to study. That's like trying to study architecture with only one set of blueprints to look at. Imagine the potential of having a completely separate ecology to examine, one that has evolved from a different origin, and may not even have DNA.

Answer 3

Because it is there, and when people try to talk me out of doing something, I get pissed and do it.

I think that in order for humanity to survive, we will need to colonize other planets, and Mars is the big step.

We live on a giant rock called Earth, that is flying randomly through space. Eventually, another large rock, an asteroid or comet will hit it. If you want a good reason to believe in God, this is it.

Additional: The earth's speed around the sun, is about 68,800 miles per hour, or over 19 miles per second. Many times faster than any bullet, and much faster than any spacecraft we have ever launched. If we hit an asteroid, it will be fast.

Answer 4

Im going to comment on some your answers and propose my own.

First, there are plans to return to the Moon. Shortly after completion of the ISS and a new shuttle is built.

Second, Minerals and all asside, Mars serves no CURRENT military purpose. Why would we send troops to Mars?

I do agree that it would take attention from Terrestrial Problems, but I will say, it would only do that for a short time.

And lastly, Mars is the closest planet in the solar system to Terra. I would say, it would be easier to land on Mars than anywhere else beside the moon. But we already did that... Thats old news.

Science wants to land on Mars because we want to see if we can do it. And considering the tenacity of humans... We would try it until we actually do. It might take years, but we would make to our close cousin.

Answer 5

I can sort of sympathize with the fantasy that humans want to explore space and all that. But the exploration and settling of the New World of the Western Hemisphere was TOTALLY a financial idea. Spain and England would never had done even a tiny fraction of what they did without the hope of serious financial gain. Hardly any of the people who came to the Americas did so for reasons other than seeking their fortunes (and that definitely includes the early settlers in Massachusetts and other religiously exclusive settlements).

At present, there is no reason to think that we will get any financial benefit whatsoever out of sending humans to Mars. And in any case, there is no way it is going to happen any time soon (i.e. within 40 or 50 years at the very soonest). When our beloved president suggested a couple years ago that we should send astronauts to Mars, you perhaps noticed that soon after the announcement, the idea was hushed up, That's because his NASA advisors reminded him that it was going to take at least $450 Billion to do the minimum trip, and the NASA doctors reminded him that given our current state of knowledge about space medicine, it is pretty likely that any astronaut would die before reaching Mars, never mind landing and returning.

We have a VERY long way to go before we get to Mars, in more ways than one. If we can get a real space station in orbit, and a real colony on the moon (which will be WAY easier than Mars because of the shorter distance) then after that we can start to think about whether we want to continue to divert funds into space.

Answer 6

It certainly seems like there is no reason to explore space and go to Mars right now when there is so much trouble going on around the globe. I think it's human nature to explore and push our boudaries. If pioneers had all waited until there was no danger of native americans or if they had the cash, they never would have headed west. There may be great discoveries to be made, such as evidence of our past, or even medical breakthroughs. Robots would be safer sure, but, sometimes more can be accomplished by a human. Probably didn't answer your question but I gave it a shot.

Answer 7

The primary reason to promote near-term human exploration of Mars appears to be a desire to divert the attention of the governed from earthly problems.

If we don't start cleaning up the Earth pretty soon, we may not have any choice but to go to Mars someday.

No human has set foot on our Moon since 1972. Perhaps a less ambitious project is in order. Mars isn't going anywhere any time soon. Mars will there for us when we are truly ready to send human explorers.

Robotic exploration of our solar system should be our focus for at least the next four decades.

Answer 8

I agree. It makes no sense with so much going on in the world, hunger, poverty, war, etc. why the US would want to try to send people to space. This last space shuttle mission, there was space junk floating aorund and they werent sure where it came from and if it came off the shuttle. If we cannot hang in orbit for a few days, how in the world do we think its possible to go to Mars and back. send robots, collect data... the end. man eventually must realize that we are not meant to be everywhere. thats why there is no air in space!

and there is a huge differnce betwen our ancesters exploring our own world, climbing mountains, crossing rivers and seas, to jutting out into space to go a planet where oyu cannot survive.

Answer 9

You must read the shape of things to come by H G Wells.
At the end one of the characters asks a similar question about going to the moon. The answer is that mankind must explore the universe or return to the dust from which he came. "It is either all the universe or nothing".

Answer 10

Because exploring Mars gives us insight into how Earth formed and Humans are more versatile than robots, a Human would be able to scrath beneath the service and see what's there, or to walk around and discover new things.