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Do you think humans will set foot on another planet in your lifetime?

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K

Krejlooc

Banned
When I was a kid, I did. Don't know anymore. I do think we'll see normalized, privatized space flight in my life time.
 
M

M0nochromatic

Member
It seems like there's no motivation to push scientific boundaries anymore. Personally, I'd love to think it could happen, and that there'd be a lot of new tech that would come from such a venture. I just don't see any kind of push for it coming anytime soon.
 
Q

QuicheFontaine

Member
GaimeGuy said:
The Manhattan Project cost the 2007 equivalent of $23B

The entire Apollo program cost $110 billion in today's money.
Click to expand...

Wow, that really puts things in perspective.

pa22word said:
Vastly, utterly incomparable political landscape. Iraq happened because you had a president with essentially carte blanche due to the highest approval ratings since WW2 and a congress that was willing to do whatever he wanted, and a casus belli that seemed inarguable at the time if true (lol).

Currently we have a president who both doesn't really care that much about NASA, doesn't have the political platform to make such a move, along with a congress that can't work with itself, much less with the president on getting such a thing done anyways.
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Yeah, it was kind of a tongue in cheek comment :p

Still, it's so frustrating that we (humanity) could be doing such amazing things if we could just get on with each other and work together.

Like, and I don't really want to this to happen, but I almost wish I could see an alternate reality where we discover some life ending meteorite heading towards earth, just so I could see what we could really do with a common goal like that (or am I giving us too much credit?).
 
U

Uncle_Classy

Member
It would be cool as hell if we got to Mars mid-century, no doubt. Unfortunately, there's really not much that a manned mission to mars could offer us that a manned mission to the moon couldn't. There's no way to colonize Mars en masse available for the foreseeable future, and any research can be done much more cheaply and safely with probes and rovers. As a proof of concept, human extraterrestrial habitation would make more sense on the Moon, I think.
 
P

perfectchaos007

Member
Frodo said:
I'd Kickstart the hell out of it.

LET ME SPONSOR YOU, NASA!

On topic: hopefully yes.
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That's not a bad idea. If a card game with exploding kittens can raise $5.6 million, surely a kickstarter funding the first human sent to Mars would exceed that greatly. The highest donor gets the option to take the trip if he/she wants.
 
F

Frodo

Member
Can't NASA cooperate with the Chinese and Indian space programs and instead of doing everything by itself we can maybe do it together and divide the cost? When it is time for the first step they only need a big door so the American, the Indian and the Chinese astronauts can hold hands and step together on Mars surface.

And then they take a selfie.






..........please?
 
R

RyanardoDaVinci

Member
QuicheFontaine said:
Like, and I don't really want to this to happen, but I almost wish I could see an alternate reality where we discover some life ending meteorite heading towards earth, just so I could see what we could really do with a common goal like that (or am I giving us too much credit?).
Click to expand...

An asteroid needs to hit a semi-major population center for humanity to get off its collective ass and do something.

People need dramatic examples to shake them out of apathy. We don't do shit unless staring down the barrel of a gun.
 
B

BeatResetsTheWorld

Banned
Considering I'm only in my mid 20s, I'd say there's no absolutely no chance that we don't set foot on another planet. I'm surprised at the number of people who doubt we will
 
Melon Husk

Melon Husk

Member
Oh you were talking about our solar system? Duh, yes. The fact that it's a popular topic should make it obvious.

Stay positive.

China will get there because they can handle the long-term planning. USA will get there because they don't want play second fiddle with the Chinese.

Besides, it seems like Raptor gets to be the first to tickle Mars' belly. I'm betting we'll do it in the next decade.
 
G

God Dayumm

Banned
Absolutely. Someone will step foot on mars, see that there is nothing interesting, come back and never return again. Just like the moon travel.
 
D

djplaeskool

Member
I'm set on seating myself upon a throne made of alien skulls and unobtainium before I spiral off this mortal coil.

Real talk: With a focused international effort, I think Mars is possible.
 
S

shinobi602

Member
*Assuming* I reach an 80-90 year lifespan, that'd make it anywhere from 2070-2080...

I would say most likely? I'm sure we'd probably land on Mars by then.
 
T

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Ut4DTtj.png
 
O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
M0nochromatic said:
It seems like there's no motivation to push scientific boundaries anymore. Personally, I'd love to think it could happen, and that there'd be a lot of new tech that would come from such a venture. I just don't see any kind of push for it coming anytime soon.
Click to expand...

There are very few scientific or technological boundaries that could be pushed forward by a manned mission, that could not be almost equally as advanced by a non-manned mission for a fraction of the cost.
 
O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
BeatResetsTheWorld said:
Considering I'm only in my mid 20s, I'd say there's no absolutely no chance that we don't set foot on another planet. I'm surprised at the number of people who doubt we will
Click to expand...

Probably because there's some of us here who said similar things in our teens and over 30 years later see that not only have we not moved foward, but backwards with respect to this goal.

Also, as we've got older, we better understand the economical arguments against doing so, when non-manned missions make more sense, offer 95% of the benefit at a smaller cost and lesser risk,
 
T

The Albatross

Member
I don't think that we'll get to another planet in my lifetime. It's not just the extreme cost, but also the risk. As the aero programs have matured, the tolerance for risk has gone down dramatically, and if there is a single (or god forbid multiple) high profile deaths caused by the pursuit of trying to reach another planet, it will stall the program for a solid ~10 years. Eliminating the chance for risk slows down the effectiveness of the program. I've only got about ~50 years left being modest, so I doubt that we'll get to another planet in my lifetime.

Perhaps another country will be less risk averse, but it's difficult to justify. India has made remarkable strides on a shoe-string budget over the last 10 years, but those strides simply wouldn't be possible if it weren't for the work done by countries with massive space budgets in the last 70 years. The US has a reasonable aversion to the cost of the space program, but countries like India and China -- very capable of continuing development of their programs -- should have an even greater aversion to those costs. When the job you are hired for is to protect your citizens and provide a happy, stable life, it is difficult to justify spending $100b on space program, when $100m could go to preventing hunger and disease (very real problems in the developing world).

For a country like the US, or any European country, somebody could say "Why not both?" But, for a country like India, it's a tougher sell. Nevertheless, the strides that India has made on that very small budget over the last 10, 20 years, has been great for the space community in general.

Randolph Freelander said:
I don't believe so. What's the phrase, "it's not the destination, it's the journey?" The scientific discovery that the journey would require would be most beneficial and would certainly have tangible benefits for us here at home. The destination, not so much. Either way, I don't think myopic political leaders would ever want to pay* for that journey.



*with fiat currency we can create from thin air, meaning it practically costs us nothing other than slight inflationary pressure.
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I'm just going to assume you know more about space travel than you do economics. Or do you think that dogecoin will get us to the moon?
 
F

Fusion Pizza

Member
I think that we will, but I also expect human lifespans to be greatly extended (100 - 200 years). So I think that there's a good chance that one of my descendants will colonize Mars or the Moon.

You know, if we don't blow ourselves to the stone age over oil or water first.
 
HUELEN10

HUELEN10

Member
I kinda hope not; I really wanted the first man o the moon to shake hands with the first man on mars.

That will sadly never, ever happen. ; _ ;
 
A

Angry Grimace

Two cannibals are eating a clown. One turns to the other and says "does something taste funny to you?"
Nope, politics will stop it even if its physically possible.
 
O

Ophelion

Member
It's funny because several people have said that they believed they'd see it when they were little, but have no faith in it anymore. I'm just the opposite. When I was a kid, it felt hopeless, completely hopeless that humans would ever bring themselves to move beyond Earth, but these last few years I dunno...there's something in the wind. I feel like this is going to be like internet technology in some ways, where only hardcore nerds care about it and push for it until something happens that makes its value clear to the public and then the deluge of space tech begins.

Human experience has this funny quirk of moving incredibly slowly and then all at once. I think maybe the time for the space tech renaissance might be coming. Maybe I will live to see humanity sail out into the void after all. I just wish I could go with them. I'll probably be too old when it finally happens.
 
W

Wreav

Banned
There will be privatized boots on Mars in 15 years. I have no doubts about this. I almost hope it's NOT a NASA mission, too.
 
G

Gemüsepizza

Member
But why? I think it's too dangerous. I think we can achieve similar scientific progress by using robots instead of humans for space travel in the near future. It's just not worth it to risk a human life.

How would you even find suitable candidates for such missions? I guess it was easier in the 60ies/70ies for the US and the UDSSR, because the amount of patriotic bullshit which was used to brainwash people was probably astronomical. I assume it's harder today. It also doesn't help that the current plans for travelling to Mars are mostly shit. Just take a look at the Mars One project. A one-way trip to Mars? What the hell? In my opinion, every person who applies to that project, is a psychopath. And therefore completely unsuitable for space travel.

I also don't think that this is the best way to spend the already extremely limited budget of space agencies. Sending people to Mars seems to be more about prestige than about scientific advancement. We know it is achievable. We have the technology to do it. But maybe it's wiser to focus on other projects. For the same money we could probably send a dozen space probes to interesting locations in our solar system, for example to moons like Titan. Maybe we could even build a true interstellar space probe. All without endangering human life.
 
Sub_Level

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
Chichikov said:
I think politics might be an issue, but if there's one thing us human proved throughout history (and even before it) - if it's possible for us to go somewhere, we will
and probably wreck that place.
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That's so metal.
 
B

bionic77

Member
It will only happen if said planet has riches and/or bitches.

Otherwise human beings suck and you won't be able to motivate the populace or our leadership to commit the kind of resources it will take to get this done.
 
O

Osiris

I permanently banned my 6 year old daughter from using the PS4 for mistakenly sending grief reports as it's too hard to watch or talk to her
Wreav said:
There will be privatized boots on Mars in 15 years. I have no doubts about this. I almost hope it's NOT a NASA mission, too.
Click to expand...

Where is the commercial incentive or likely return on investment?

That's the problem with suggesting their will be a privatized effort behind a manned mission, there is no commercial incentive to do so, unlike the push towards privatized orbital launches.

Even if we were to talk about it being a tech billionaires pet project (aka Folly) the costs involved take all of them out of the running, there is quite literally no-one with the capital to fund it, and no-one else would invest without a promise of some sort of return on that investment, a promise that can't be made because there is no hope for a financial return on that investment.
 
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