Darn.
David L.
A liberal is someone who feels a
great debt to his
fellow man, which debt he proposes to pay off with
your money. -- G. Gordon
Liddy
-----Original Message-----
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]On Behalf Of Charles
Sent: Wednesday, January 14, 2004 6:32 AM
To: 'The Sandbox Discussion List'
Subject: [Sndbox] What are the obstacles to a manned mission to Mars?What are the obstacles to a manned mission to Mars?
We aren't really at the point yet where we can send human beings to Mars. The first and most important reason for that hesitation is our track record -- different nations have sent more than 30 probes toward Mars, but fewer than one-third of those probes have survived the trip. The second reason is cost. It's currently costing about a million dollars per pound to design and deliver a robot to Mars, and robots don't have to worry about complicated things like life support systems. Nor do robots have to worry about coming home -- something that adds a great deal of weight to a mission. The third reason is the engineering challenges. To make a manned mission possible, one likely scenario is to produce fuel for the return flight from the Martian atmosphere when nothing like this has ever been attempted. Another big consideration is the cosmic radiation that astronauts would absorb during such a long mission, and how to block it. Much of this radiation is blocked on Earth by the Earth's magnetic field. Mars has no magnetic field. So, we will not be sending humans to Mars any time soon.Charles Mims
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