Comments on: Mars is safe http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/ I am an astronomer, writer, and skeptic. I likes reality the way it is, and I aims to keep it that way. My real name is Phil Plait, and I run the Bad Astronomy blog. Sun, 05 Jul 2009 08:32:17 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.1 By: wotthe7734 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63220 wotthe7734 Sun, 27 Jan 2008 19:38:30 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63220 A miss is as good as 500,000 miles. <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31333486@N00/2223898010/in/photostream/" rel="nofollow">Ha ha, you missed us! </a> A miss is as good as 500,000 miles.
Ha ha, you missed us!

]]> By: Brent http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63219 Brent Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:53:39 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63219 Dang, why do you HATE Mars so much guys? This kind of blog could just be the sort of thing to start a war with the neighbors.... Dang, why do you HATE Mars so much guys? This kind of blog could just be the sort of thing to start a war with the neighbors….

]]> By: Schmoo http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63218 Schmoo Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:21:43 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63218 I agree that we as a species need to pull our fingers out and explore further than the end of the garden path, but we need to put our resources into fixing the central heating we've destroyed first... I agree that we as a species need to pull our fingers out and explore further than the end of the garden path, but we need to put our resources into fixing the central heating we’ve destroyed first…

]]> By: Nigel Depledge http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63217 Nigel Depledge Mon, 14 Jan 2008 13:06:22 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63217 John quoted: “NASA can and should send humans to Mars in the short term. Will you support a manned mission to Mars, or will you keep NASA’s hands tied by not giving them this mission that is worthy of the $16 billion they spend each year?” With all due respect, that's a seriously stupid question. The real question should be: "given that NASA spends $16 billion a year on science, Earth observation and maintaining the ISS White Elephant and the ageing space trucks, how much more are you prepared to vote to NASA to allow it to carry out its instructions to send men to Mars?" John quoted:
“NASA can and should send humans to Mars in the short term. Will you support a manned mission to Mars, or will you keep NASA’s hands tied by not giving them this mission that is worthy of the $16 billion they spend each year?”

With all due respect, that’s a seriously stupid question.

The real question should be: “given that NASA spends $16 billion a year on science, Earth observation and maintaining the ISS White Elephant and the ageing space trucks, how much more are you prepared to vote to NASA to allow it to carry out its instructions to send men to Mars?”

]]> By: Matt http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63216 Matt Mon, 14 Jan 2008 01:08:29 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63216 Hmm, Barton, I think there's a flaw with that logic - If we never push ourselves towards the goal of a manned mission to Mars, we'll never have enough drive to develop interplanetary-distance-traversing technology. It's like the race to the Moon - should we have waited until technology was good enough to reach the moon? I doubt it. I believe I read somewhere on this website that for every dollar invested in the Apollo program, twenty-six were made because of the development of new technologies associated with overcoming the huge obstacle of getting to the moon and back. If we made that much money (and technology) off of one little itty bitty hop to our Moon, just imagine what we could do if we went to Mars! Hmm, Barton, I think there’s a flaw with that logic - If we never push ourselves towards the goal of a manned mission to Mars, we’ll never have enough drive to develop interplanetary-distance-traversing technology. It’s like the race to the Moon - should we have waited until technology was good enough to reach the moon? I doubt it. I believe I read somewhere on this website that for every dollar invested in the Apollo program, twenty-six were made because of the development of new technologies associated with overcoming the huge obstacle of getting to the moon and back. If we made that much money (and technology) off of one little itty bitty hop to our Moon, just imagine what we could do if we went to Mars!

]]> By: MaDeR http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63215 MaDeR Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:18:10 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63215 I would ask more revelant question - directly about stance of candidates on asteroid threat, giving as example hit of Shoemaker-Ley 9 or last near-miss of 2007 WD5. Would be nice to hear "more funds, more telescopes, refund of budget-failing 'scopes"... I would ask more revelant question - directly about stance of candidates on asteroid threat, giving as example hit of Shoemaker-Ley 9 or last near-miss of 2007 WD5. Would be nice to hear “more funds, more telescopes, refund of budget-failing ’scopes”…

]]> By: Barton Paul Levenson http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63214 Barton Paul Levenson Sun, 13 Jan 2008 12:06:31 +0000 http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/01/12/mars-is-safe/#comment-63214 Forgive me if this makes me sound like an anti-space person, but I can think of a lot better things to do with $16 billion than sending a manned mission to Mars. When the technology has advanced enough that interplanetary travel is cheap -- and the serious problems solved, like the effect of solar storms on the health of interplanetary crews -- interested parties can send their own manned missions to Mars. Forgive me if this makes me sound like an anti-space person, but I can think of a lot better things to do with $16 billion than sending a manned mission to Mars.

When the technology has advanced enough that interplanetary travel is cheap — and the serious problems solved, like the effect of solar storms on the health of interplanetary crews — interested parties can send their own manned missions to Mars.

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