One of my friends says that we could to Mars anytime we wanted, that all we would have to do is just build the spaceship to get there and go, i said that there is more than just building something and doing it but then he started going on about tax payers paying 20k for a toilets seat and stuff like that, but do you think with technology the way it is now that we could just go to Mars with the level of technology the way it is now?
2007-09-15 08:20:00 · 13 answers · asked by Anonymous in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
yes. we DO have the technology.
we have the ISS where astronauts live for weeks or months at a time.
we can land on another "rock" and have people dance around it -------- like the moon
we (the world) has sent like what 5 or 7 ships to Mars, with robotic probes and they've been pretty successful for the most part.
one is on its way right now as we speak, named phoenix. launched about 2 months ago and will land in April. it only has a robot passenger though.
as far as cost goes. It should be open to private companies. They tend to do things cheaper and even better if you ask me.
Google is offering 30 million to the first private company to send a robotic rover to the moon.
Spaceshipone was the first privately built ship that held cargo and 3 passengers into orbit and landed back on earth.
......not only is it cheaper for CO's like that, but they open space up to the public, like you and me (if we have $200,000)
look at what that turned into.....
Buy your ticket now at http://www.virgingalactic.com/flash.html
then for like 4 million you can spend 5 nights in space here
http://www.galacticsuite.com/
thats a private company too (not ready yet)
but yes your sorta right. it takes time to plan the "mission" and to construct the ship properly and safely and training your crew is important and time consuming
2007-09-15 09:32:36 · answer #1 · answered by Mercury 2010 7 · 2⤊ 1⤋
We have already sent several unmanned missions to Mars successfully. But a manned mission is not as simple as swapping in a person for the robotic probe.
A trip to Mars takes about 9 months. Once there, you have wait around for almost a year for a launch window to return to Earth. So a round trip is 2 1/2 years. Currently we don't have the technology to keep a person alive in space that long. Life support systems on the ISS are resupplied from Earth every couple of months; on a trip to Mars this would not be an option.
If we have a more advanced means of propulsion, something with more oomph than a chemical-fuel rocket, we could get to Mars faster and the trip duration could be shortened. Currently, we don't have that technology either.
In short, we're not ready. But IMHO, as pumped-up as people get about a manned Mars mission, I think it would be a waste of time. Money would be better spent on more unmanned probes. If, in the future, we learn that Mars has enough water and air to support permanent colonists, that's when should we start developing the technology to send people there. I see no point in doing it if it's only to leave behind a flag and few footprints.
2007-09-15 09:08:22 · answer #2 · answered by stork5100 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Hi Sarah -
I believe that the technology exists, although the extended space travel would be tough on anyone that volunteered to go. Health risk is a serious consideration. There are no hospitals out there, and the trip is long and lonely. Cost would be pretty high, but not prohibitive. I think that "anytime we wanted" is probably tempered most by the optimum launch window to achieve a crossing trajectory that would get us there in minimum time. This occurs fairly rarely, and I must admit that I do not know when the next opportunity will take place.
2007-09-15 09:03:09 · answer #3 · answered by Larry454 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It isn't the amount of money that matters... its the drive in the people. I bet there will be people that go soon, but only if it is a thing of national pride for being there first, a national race to Mars. If that were to happen we could see a huge increase in technologies that are created. And humans are only limited by the amount of drive that we have to do something.
2007-09-15 08:46:45 · answer #4 · answered by rocky 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
maybe i dont know, i think maybe you have to calculate how far is mars from here, how long it will take, and how much food supply is needed for the travel there and as there there and as they come back, also they will need to find a good spot on mars to go and explore because there could be dangers in other parts, and lastly i think they have to train the people by putting them in a fake ship and not open it until they think they would have reach mars if it would had happen, they would do this to find out results, and also they have to find a way to how to be keep healthy in the real space ship. but that is what i think.
2007-09-15 08:43:33 · answer #5 · answered by uriel 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
There really isn't too much by way of technology that would be required that we don't have. But your friend is correct. It's mostly a matter of money and how fast it can be spent. I wouldn't be looking for a manned Mars mission for at least another 10 to 20 years.
Doug
2007-09-15 08:28:47 · answer #6 · answered by doug_donaghue 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No, we is genuinely no longer colonizing Mars interior the subsequent a hundred years . it is been 35 years on account that we placed a guy on the moon, and we've not set a foot back there on account that. We lack the technologies, funds, and desire to place a guy on Mars.
2016-12-13 10:03:04 · answer #7 · answered by hokenson 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your question makes the assumption that all we have to do is decide to go and away we go...I fear it is not quite that simple.
Figure on an air supply to last one year going over and one year coming back with two weeks on the Martian surface.
Figure on enough fuel for the launch, some for the trip, some for the landing, a lot for the lift-off launch, and lastly some for the return trip home. that is a lot of rocket fuel to haul around with you.
Water...enough for two years in Space...How many did we say were going on this trip?
Food...enough for two years in Space...how many did we
say were going on this trip?
Then figure something like $100,000 per pound of payload the launcher must carry. That is a fair hunk of change any way you slice it.
My guess - no time soon..
2007-09-15 09:39:24 · answer #8 · answered by zahbudar 6 · 2⤊ 1⤋
Yes but our lifting capability is not there yet. We would need to put together a full space station in space ,which might take several hundred trips to build it .
2007-09-15 10:21:32 · answer #9 · answered by JOHNNIE B 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Definitly we have the technology and the ability.
But those space toilets are way to expensive.
It would take about two years to travel one way however.
2007-09-15 08:27:13 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋