NASA Mars exploration!

[TheEaterofSouls]

Indeed, but I have a strange feeling that if humanity needed a second planet to live on, terraforming would become possible in a matter of days or weeks. Human ingenuity under pressure can be pretty amazing.

Im in agreement with this! Many people tend to doubt the determination for knowledge we have. Im sure that if something as life threatening as planet extinction were to be on the line we could survive and move ahead towards the future in ways thought impossible.

but this is just the way I see it.

[Budong]

Not sure if you got that right :P

But yeah, I remember reading weeks ago all the armchair engineers spouting senseless scepticism all over YouTube (the 7mins of terror video) and other places, and it made me so damn angry. How can some random dude sitting in his chair posting passive-aggressive YouTube comments think he's outsmarted the Curiosity team at a whim, just by watching the videos.

Glad to see they can all shut up now and slink back to their cave.

They represent dead end genetic variations of the human genome. All the scientists on the Curiosity team obviously do not Some nerds getting laid tonight!

[Paulosio]

I read somewhere that you could terraform mars to a point that makes it habitable. Not sure if this is true or not?

It's just a theory/idea. It's theoretically not an impossibility but wether it's ever something we'd be able to achieve technologically or financially is the problem. Don't bank on such things happening any time in the next 10,000 years is all i'm going to say.

[Grizzly Willy]

I'll admit, I was a bit uncertain when I saw the skycrane portion of the presentation video.

[Mythricia]

I'll admit, I was a bit uncertain when I saw the skycrane portion of the presentation video.

I think the MSL team was probably uncertain about the whole thing too. They've been driving that point home pretty strongly in the past day or two during the conferences and panels; "We can't, and do not, guarantee success. We will know on Monday."

[Krekko]

I don't get it. We're getting images from Mars, but I can't get a cellphone signal 20 feet down in my basement? Bah, humbug!

[Splenda]

Watched it live here in the UK. I've been counting down the days and constantly watching the countdown timer on space.com for the past month.... I really wasn't expecting it to get down on the surface in a functional state. Amazing job by NASA. I got as good a feeling when the rover landed in 1 piece as I got from any of Great Britains gold medals at the Olympics, but unlike a gold medal moment, the Rover will keep giving us good moments for years (hopefully).

I just wish people would stop using achievements like this as ways to score points against other countries... It was kind of disappointing that someone started a thread on this amazing achievment with "US 1 EU 0". I'm excited by this achievement as an Englishman and i'd be just as excited if the Chinese, Japanese or even North Koreans were behind it. It's an amazing feat for mankind. Kind of pathetic if what excites you most is that it gives you a chance to post nationalistic rubbish and point score against other people.

Yeah I agree :/ +1 for mankind.

[TheEaterofSouls]

It's just a theory/idea. It's theoretically not an impossibility but wether it's ever something we'd be able to achieve technologically or financially is the problem. Don't bank on such things happening any time in the next 10,000 years is all i'm going to say.

I'd give us more credit than 10,000 yrs! I think it could be achieved in under 5,000. i mean 30 years ago we didn't even have forums like this one! NOW we can use said forums on touchscreen devices through satellite connections!

Look at our advancements over the last 50 yrs.

[Decagon]

Maybe one day technological advancements will give us the ability to kickstart planet cores to get them going? And im sure it will happen long after im dead. Assuming we have a need to research a field like that.

1000-5000 yrs is my guess

I don't know, look back at technology 200 years ago. The technology we'll have will be unfathomable to us 200 years in the future. I think you're too pessimistic regarding terraforming. Also relevant:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_to_Stay

Maybe if we don't terraform it, we'll just live in self-sustained houses until we develop more technology.

[Mythricia]

I'd give us more credit than 10,000 yrs! I think it could be achieved in under 5,000. i mean 30 years ago we didn't even have forums like this one! NOW we can use said forums on touchscreen devices through satellite connections!

Look at our advancements over the last 50 yrs.

The problem is the absolutely mind-bending amount of resources needed to do something like it. It's hard to wrap ones mind around how the Earth functions, even harder to wrap ones mind around what massive forces are at work, and lets not talk about trying to instill those forces in an already inactive planet.

Not being cynical, but the forces we're talking about here are mind bending. Going small, which is what the creation of computers and such, and nowadays quantum engineering and all that, is something we can realistically do with what we have.

[Nerph-]

I'll be happy just seeing a human set foot on Mars in my lifetime.

Chances of that are near to none I'm afraid.

[Deleted]

We've been to Mars.

In fact, we already have roaming robots up there, now we're just adding another.

What gets MY interest, is the New Horizon probe. We've never been to Pluto before.
... Or as it's starting to look like we should call it: The Pluto-Charon System.

[Paulosio]

BTW I don't think anyone would be watching the Olympics rather than the Curiosity rover.... because the rover landed at 06:30 AM which is about 3 - 4 hours before the olympics starts up for the day.

[Harry Botter]

Yeah I agree :/ +1 for mankind.

I agree as well. I recognize this as a feat for my country. But the ramifications for mankind go far beyond any national sentiment. There is nothing wrong with being proud for your country, seeing as this is an amazing feat to say teh least. But to use it to nation bash is just low.


Also i just saw their screensaver and it is XP pro. Idk why but that made me chuckle.

[Mythricia]

Chances of that are near to none I'm afraid.

I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say it's even that far away; 20-30 years.

But setting foot on Mars is, just like setting foot on the Moon was, a small step (And yes, a giant leap or man-kind).


There is a huge, enormous differences between setting foot on Mars, and doing anything worthwhile there :P

[Paulosio]

We've been to Mars.

In fact, we already have roaming robots up there, now we're just adding another.

What gets MY interest, is the New Horizon probe. We've never been to Pluto before.
... Or as it's starting to look like we should call it: The Pluto System.

Indeed but Spirit and opportunity were / are roving around on Mars for about 8 years and have barely moved 20 miles each. Mars is a big place and there is lots more to learn. There's only so much you can learn from studying the tiny areas that a single rover can cover.

[Mythricia]

We've been to Mars.

In fact, we already have roaming robots up there, now we're just adding another.

What gets MY interest, is the New Horizon probe. We've never been to Pluto before.
... Or as it's starting to look like we should call it: The Pluto-Charon System.

But likewise, getting to Pluto is just adding another distant body to our high-res image database. If you look at it at such simple terms.


New Horizons is very interesting too though, but I don't think there's any point in dismissing what MSL just accomplished just by landing safely, and what it will accomplish in the coming 2 years of mission time; hopefully it'll live a lot longer, just like certain other little rovers there.

New Horizon, just like numerous other probes currently investigating or making their way to distant targets, are also important. But they are a challenge economically (NASAs budget is small), much more so than technologically.

Pluto is not that unique either way; we just happened to have it listed as one of our planets for a long time, until we realized that it really was just one of many, many, many others like it, and in fact, larger bodies, that we discovered later.

[Itisamuh]

It is quite reassuring to know my tax dollars are funding completely useless endeavors such as space exploration, during an already fragile economy. Earth is almost certainly the only planet humans will ever inhabit without having to wear a space suit all the time. Our priorities should be here, in my opinion.

[Harry Botter]

Idk why but I keep waiting for USA USA USA chants in there lol

[Nerph-]

I wouldn't say that. I wouldn't say it's even that far away; 20-30 years.

But setting foot on Mars is, just like setting foot on the Moon was, a small step (And yes, a giant leap or man-kind).


There is a huge, enormous differences between setting foot on Mars, and doing anything worthwhile there :P

You need to get there first. You need to be able to store enough oxygen for a human to survive the trip there and back, and do something on the planet itself. You also need to combat the problems of zero gravity on the human body. If nothing was done to combat that, then the human arriving at Mars would be so weak, he/she wouldn't be able to do anything. Making artificial gravity on a shuttle to Mars is going to take a lot of research, 20-30 years seems unrealistic to me.