Aldrin: NASA Needs To Put People On Mars

WASHINGTON — Former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin says NASA should set its sights on a bigger target in the future: Mars.

Aldrin made the comments on the eve of the 40th anniversary of his landing on the moon on the Apollo 11 mission. He says the space agency was right to stop sending men to the moon back in 1972.

Aldrin says Mars is "much more suitable to earthlings, much more habitable. It's possibly the source of life."

He also recalled taking his first steps on the moon, a place that was "so desolate, so totally lifeless. It probably hadn't changed much in 100,000 years."

Aldrin, who spoke on "Fox News Sunday," was to appear Sunday evening in Washington with fellow Apollo 11 crew members Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins.

Comments

[HekmabaJuzimax]

Part Two - Virulent Rant

And they shall call the ships of the Exodus the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria (after the Sanford woman)

[MadCroation]

Only people who think going to mars is a good idea should have to pay for it. Get out your checkbook Buzz.

[HekmabaJuzimax]

I disagree with everyone who says sending humans to Mars is stoopid. But if they do it, NASA will go about it the wrong way. They should not send three, or seven, or even ten people there. They should send HUNDREDS or THOUSANDS of people, with all their own luggage, food crops, water and water-producing quipment and parts, seeds, entertainment, vehicles, police, doctors and nurses, hookers and drugs and so forth. This way they can establish a colony that is self-sufficient, were we wouldn't have to send a supply ship every six months. In the long run, it would save money and time. We would have the planet explored and understood by its new inhabitants. Doesn't make sense to keep sending little drones every year to check out the same stuff.

[pogo]

We aren't going anywhere using rocket propulsion. We aren't going anywhere at less than the speed of light. And we should do a cost/benefit analysis of NASA's budget and actual real-world applications resulting from the space program.

[amitofu]

Not true at all. See Mars Direct:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Direct

[C0Y0TE2]

Part 1:
Mars is s.tupid and premature. We need to abandon this f.oolish manned-Mars focus.

Do you realize that of all the Mars explorer craft sent in the last decade, most of them failed? C.rashed. Disappeared.

Outright failed.

.....see below

[SonofLiberty1]

Coyote2,

We have two little rovers currently STILL ALIVE on the Martian surface.

[C0Y0TE2]

Indeed. Out of 10 Mars missions, only 3 succeeded.

And NONE required a take-off from Mars back to earth.

[amitofu]

Humans failed to attain flight for centuries. Obviously their attempts were in vein and they should have given up.

What use is flying anyway. Even if it works only a few rich people will benefit. We should stick to what is easy and we know how to do. We shouldn't spend any money on building flying machines until we've solved all our problems on the ground. Think of all the children that could be saved from terminal cancer with all the money spent on airplanes.

Advancements in medicine and technology come from programs that push things to their known limits. Going to Mars would be such a program. It would double the number of scientists and engineers we graduate and force us to solve problems that we wouldn't otherwise solve in order to get to Mars. And the solutions to those problems will be of enormous benefit to all of us here on Earth.

[C0Y0TE2]

absolutely a misrepresentation of my position.

see:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/07/19/aldrin-nasa-needs-to-put-_n_240211.html?show_comment_id=27360207#comment_27360207
(to use link remove the underscore from the word h_uffingtonpost)

[C0Y0TE2]

absolutely a misrepresentation of my position.

see:
http://www.h_uffingtonpost.com/2009/07/19/aldrin-nasa-needs-to-put-_n_240211.html?show_comment_id=27360207#comment_27360207
(to use link remove the underscore from the word h_uffingtonpost)

[cliffhammond]

Speilberg is too busy for the "Mars Project" right now.

[cultkicker]

Let's load Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, and a few dozen others onto the spacecraft and send them off to Mars. Great idea NASA!

[JackRusselTerrier]

I'd rather they move to Iraq since it is such a nice place to live now after being liberated. I'm sure the Iraq's would welcome them with open arms.

[nunzia]

Yeah, right.
We're just about done destroying Earth, so let's go start on another planet.

[C0Y0TE2]

THERE IS NO OTHER PLANET, sarcasm or not. This place is our only home.

[amitofu]

We were just about done destroying Europe too.

Then we opened a new branch of civilization that brought us democracy, electricity and hope for the future. Exploring the new world was the best thing that happened to Europe. Not because we shipped back cotton, but because we exported ideas.

The choice we face today is between opening a new branch of civilization that will bring us ideas and inventions, and resigning to a closed future where we war over our ever more entrenched positions and scarce resources; where there is no room to try anything new.

[C0Y0TE2]

But Mars is completely without use for our "exported ideas"

There is no creature there great or small. There is nothing to eat, no fuel for fire,no fur to exploit and no air to breathe.

It is a death trap for humans in the 21'st century. Let us exploit the moon and near space B4 sending humans so far away to their certain deaths.

See my 2-part posts below on this

[RevengeIsNear]

Exactly. Compare the NASA to the NOAA budget. We know and spend virtually nothing on exploring or sustainably understanding our oceans. Sorry Buzz, we need more Jacques Cousteaus at this point in time, not Martian long shots.

[C0Y0TE2]

Underwater archeology is practically non-existent, so we know little of human pre-history.

In pre-history humankind suffered the vagrancies of climate change: excessive rainfall and wind, massive floods earthquakes and tsunamis (as the weight of mile-high ice was removed and the earth's crust “popped up”), and a 300' ocean rise.

Then, as now, human concentration would have been on riverbanks, floodplains and deltas, so historic evidence for whatever levels of civilization prehistoric humanity may have attained, was washed away. Underwater archeology is practically non-existent, and the current model of human development does not accept civilization before 6000 years ago.

[Rudyabdul]

This doesn't make any sense. Why should humans leave a planet that can be saved to a planet that is already dead?

How about we spend our financial resources on saving Earth and let Mars rest in peace.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Co-sign. Except for the Moon part of your statement.

[DeliBoy]

Global warming perhaps? Who knows what the future holds. If some catastrophic event occurs it might be a good idea to have a "safe room" on Mars.

[C0Y0TE2]

THERE IS NO SAFE ROOM ANYWHERE ELSE.

wake up!

[DatelessNerd]

The money we spend supporting brilliance is a tiny fraction of the money we spend subsidizing stupidity.

It wasn't that long ago when we wouldn't have considered maintaining scientific outposts in Antarctica. But the knowledge we've gained has been well worth the price, and the individuals who're willing to spend their lives in such inhospitable conditions deserve our thanks and support.

I can't imagine spending years confined in a tiny spacecraft, then living on a desolate planet not suited for humans, knowing I may never return home--all for the sake of scientific research.

[JackRusselTerrier]

Antarctica was difficult but clearly doable. We already had experience living in a the same environment and explored the North Pole.

Mars isn't that simple.

[C0Y0TE2]

"I can't imagine spending years confined in a tiny spacecraft, then living on a desolate planet not suited for humans, knowing I may never return home--all for the sake of scientific research."

And that is why it is impossible to achieve that this century without some major leaps in knowledge.

I am hoping for a "special" event to occur 2012 as our solar system passes through the central plane of our galaxy at 9000 MPH that will rapidly expand our quantum knowledge or something similar.

For example, if the "electric universe" theorists are correct, we will move from a "negative" field into a "positive" one. The gravitational universe theorists argue that there is nothing special about the disk-spinning shape of our galaxy, that is merely the most "efficient" form. BUT, it appears that our disk of a galaxy is also surrounded by an immense sphere of DARK MATTER and DARK ENERGY that we know little about.

And, 25,000 years ago, the last time this occurred, the ice advance ended and a 20,000 year period of intense climate change was triggered complete with massive extinctions, etc....

[amitofu]

A tiny spacecraft as far and above the comfort of a 15th century ship like the Santa Maria.

Google "Mars Direct" to see how Mars can easily be reached with existing technology and within NASA's existing budget. Historically, societies that do not challenge themselves stagnate and recede. We need to push ourselves and our knowledge and our technology. That's how we'll invent the things we need to make Earth more conducive to human existence.

[Hirnlego]

What is it with the 2012 nonsense? Sheesh.

[Matt7]

NASA should put people on Mars? Could I make some recommendations?

[JackRusselTerrier]

Foolish pride is what people describe in going to the Moon or Mars. Putting man on Mars will cost trillions and trillions of dollars. In the meantime, we have far more important priorities here on Earth. Going to the moon is no better.

Lets say we find an energy source on the Moon. What do you think will happen next? We'll mine the sh!# out of it and probably upset it's orbit or shrink it to the point it disrupts the tides here on Earth. Man's capability for creativity is matched equally if not more so by his capability for destruction.

When man can prove he can fix all the fu%# ups here on Earth that were caused by man, I'll be willing believe we wont destroy another planet or moon.

[RuinedSaint]

I'm more inclined for us to go to other planets so we can leave the people unwilling to fix those fu%# ups behind.

[JackRusselTerrier]

What's your point? You'll be one of the people left behind here on Earth.

[C0Y0TE2]

Ha ha ha ...........................hubris and foolishness to assume that we are even remotely capable of surviving (no less thriving) on inhospitable planets if we are not capable of the same here on such a friendly planet.

Folks who think like this are the reason that we are destroying what we have, because they actually believe that the world is without limits.

I have a surprising little factoid for you folks of limitless optimism: ALL previous human civilizations and societies have FAILED. All of them c.rashed. Every last one.

[FerrisValyn]

So, in otherwords, you are advocating we just get rid of humanity

[amitofu]

We need more scientists and engineers if we want to invent the technology to fix the problems we have on this planet. The engineers who are responsible for most of the technology you're using this very moment were inspired by the Apollo program. The money spent going to Mars is spent in our own economy stimulating growth in the very areas you care about most. A Mars program would easily double the number of science and engineering graduates in this country--just like Apollo did in the 60's--and that's a critical requirement in solving our problems here on Earth.

And going to Mars can be done within NASA's current budget. Google "Mars Direct" to see for yourself.

Our nation's ignorance of science is the biggest reason why we're not doing enough to save our planet. And judging by your statement about decaying the Moon's orbit, you are apparently part of the problem.

[C0Y0TE2]

WE NEED A GREEN REVOLUTION AND A RETHINK OF CAPITALISM, ENERGY USE, CHEMICAL POLLUTION AND THE WORLD ECONOMY .

That should use up a lot of engineers

[Hirnlego]

"When man can prove he can fix all the fu%# ups here on Earth that were caused by man"
Stop asking for the impossible.

[wadenelson1]

>Foolish pride is what people describe in going to the Moon

Ya know, when Borman and the other astronauts read from Genesis on Christmas Eve while circling the moon in Apollo 8, I would have taken out my checkbook and given NASA every penny I had.

Putting a man on the moon was mankind's greatest achievement. Nothing, even in the Bible, even comes close.

NASA may have started out as a contest to build bigger ICBMs than the USSR, but by the time we landed, we came in peace.

For all mankind.

So many things were going so horribly wrong in our country. Racism. Vietnam. Kent State. Things were almost as bad as they are today. Yet we ALL could all look up in the sky and be proud as hell to be Americans. Amazed at what we had done, I BELIEVE, with God's blessing.

The rest of the world was pretty impressed with us too. Inspired.

The "Earthrise" picture of our "blue marble" rising over the desolate lunar surface, that alone is priceless, for it reminds us we are all on this one Earth together, and we'd better not screw it up.

I think Mars is aiming too low. I think to inspire Americans once again we need to set our sights even higher.

And work like crazy to heal our environment and bring about peace on earth.

In Genesis God said it was good. And we can make it good. It's up to us.

[impatient]

Man have you ever guzzled the kool aid!

[samjung23]

You first!

The only reason we could have for going to Mars is to mine and help some dudes profit.

[C0Y0TE2]

That is why it should be an X-Prize contest.
-start with private robotic exploration where samples are gathered and sent back to earth. only when the round triop is proven by robots should we attempt a human X-prize.

[C0Y0TE2]

Part 1:
Mars is s.tupid and premature. We need to abandon this f.oolish manned-Mars focus. Do you realize that of all the Mars explorer craft sent in the last decade, most of them failed? C.rashed. Disappeared. Outright failed.

Hubble was sent up with a defective mirror: custom ground to PRECISION SPECIFICATIONS. A work around was installed to “correct” the faulty images.

Anybody who has owned a computer knows how reliable they are. We cannot even build a space station that doesn't fall from the sky.

A Russian international experiment to test the ability of astronauts to make such a long trip confined to a tin can ended in failure. The Canadian astronaut participating f.reaked when a Russian cosmonaut wanted an Xmas kiss and she was pulled from the cave psychologically crushed.

There is no way that a multi-year space adventure with a landing and take-off from Mars with humans will succeed this century without some major adjustments in our know-how.

Continued

[C0Y0TE2]

Part 2:

We need to abandon this f.oolish manned-Mars focus and focus instead on a permanent moon base. We need a base on the moon from where we can conduct gravity/magnetic field experiments and see how we can use this science as a tool to lighten the rocket fuel load.

This is the first step in space exploration: to access space without such a monstrous rocket Also, can we use moon resources to build the materials we need in space exploration?

Being on the moon will give scientists the opportunity to measure and experiment with the gravitational and magnetic field differences between the sun, the earth and the moon. If we are to succeed to develop an “antigrav” propulsion system, I would expect a moon base to be a perfect research station.

Another idea: an upper atmosphere “sky-hook” that is accessed by a high-atmosphere X-Prize like spaceship. Once attached the spacecraft is winched up the cable to the spacestation that fastens the other end of the cable in space. Cables from space to earth have been discussed and are probably impossible, but a cable from low orbit to upper atmosphere seems a more likely target.

We need to exploit near space before attempting to send humans so far from home and safety.

[BobDobbs757]

I praise NASA for their amazing technological advances they have provided humanity with.. Yet, Buzz Aldrin needs to realize his pipe dream of Mars will not happen in his (79 yrs old) lifetime. Bush is not President anymore so the Baby Boomer's are not our priority anymore. As wrong as it sounds.. why spend money on something non-productive? They consist of 25% (75 Million) of our population and just got their retirement taken from them thanks to republican economic disasters.

[FerrisValyn]

But space isn't non-productive. I will admit that we dont' always do it in a productive manner, but that doesn't mean space can't be productive. Human spaceflight, and ultimately mars missions, are very productive

[Hirnlego]

"Yet, Buzz Aldrin needs to realize his pipe dream of Mars will not happen in his (79 yrs old) lifetime."
Where does he say in his lifetime? I do think he knows that its at least a 2 decade long project...