Does it look like we will manage to get to Mars by 2020?

Question

I really don't see how we could because there are obstacles that abound just in survival, let alone getting there and back.

Answer 1

Certainly not by 2020. You are mixing that up with plans to land on the moon by 2018. Mars will be around 2030 if the money will be available. I kind of doubt the latter.

I would guess we will do a couple of near Earth mission first, instead. The science and engineering return would be enormous without the cost and risk of a Mars landing.

It's really not the flight there and it wouldn't be the landing either... it is the manned Mars-orbit ascent that goes far beyond any imaginable technological step we can make.

We haven't been able to pull an unmanned Mars orbit ascent off, so far. This would be an absolute must before we attempt a manned one. Unlike the public, aerospace engineers have very little faith in humans repairing a rocket on the surface of Mars. It either works the way we brought it all the way from Earth or people will die. But if it works out of the box, we don't need humans to ride it the first time.

Answer 2

Very doubtful. NASA is planning to return to the Moon by 2020. They plan to build a permanently base there and the idea is to develop the ability to live off the Earth as "practice" for an eventual trip to Mars by perhaps 2050. .
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Mars is so far away from Earth that a minimum round trip time is three "years". A problem or medical emergency could mean certain death to the astronauts and other problems such as survivability and radiation protection need to be overcome.
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The Moon on the other hand is only three "days" travel from Earth.
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Answer 3

if you are talking a unmanned trip sure we will send more rovers and such back to mars. if you mean a manned trip then no way, even if the space shuttle could land on mars (no runways, all rocky and not smooth) how would they get it ready to take off from mars when it takes a crew of hundreds of people here on earth just to prep it. the costs of developing a new vehicle and testing it in time to do a manned trip would require much more time than 2020.

Answer 4

No chance at all. Think of what is needed to get humans off the Earth - an enormous rocket, huge infrastructure... we got people back from the Moon OK, because the Moon is tiny and gravity there is low, but Mars is big, not much smaller than Earth, so gravity there is a substantial proportion of what it is on Earth. Getting people there would be a challenge, but getting them back again would be very much harder.

Answer 5

No. Our body is not made to survive in Mars.

Answer 6

I don't know about 2020 but hopefully we will be able to eventually