Mission to the red planet

I think Musk might have a problem here. There are people in risky jobs everywhere, but at least there is an expectation (and a legal requirement) to take significant actions to ensure workplace safety. Those actions will add significant weight and cost to a Mars mission. People are going to die in this adventure. The government can get away with "workplace safety" waivers, not sure Space X can. It is going to one hell of a waiver given the extreme risk expected.

agreed, I think the time between proof of concept nd an actual manned mission will occupy several more years as heretofore unknown problems and challenges reveal themselves. SAFETY is the biggest issue .As you intimate"This aint a movie"

Maybe workplace rules don't apply on Mars.

I think that could be a real problem with commercial space flight. If workplace safety rules don't apply there will be a race to the bottom in terms of employee safety given how hard it is going to be to keep people alive. When we start saying it is ok to ensure merely 99% survival or 95% or 90% is ok because it is just so expensive to keep people safe, we will have a problem.

I would rather see space journeys and explorations being done by robotic crews and machines. It would take out a lot of the life support issues and maybe make it less expensive.

A lot of people think that it was just a loud statement from Musk and it is not likely to happen in 2026 as he said. Also, it`s not a piece of cake to travel there and the crew might die as you have mentioned. Frankly to say, I have some doubts about the crewed mission to Mars in 2026, because scientists have a lot to figure out.

IMHO it’s a fools mission. Why not spend resources to fix the environment on earth - the planet were living on? If you spend valuable resources on trying to inhabit a planet that is most likely to (at the least) quite deadly to colonization, then your ignoring your priorities.

We still live on earth and need to stop the downward damage to this planet and it’s inhabitants. Why not find ways of providing food and/or housing to those who are less fortunate instead of making a billionaire richer? If it were to succeed to fly to Mars and have someone survive the return journey, we’ll never be able move thousands or millions there successfully.

We sure as hell don’t need another political or territorial battle in space or another planet.

we will ultimately have to go beyond our planet. its our "manifest destiny"

Manifest destiny is the certain knowledge and raison d'etre that hominid settlers are destined to expand across the galaxy. There are three basic themes to manifest destiny:

1. The special virtues of anthropoids and their institutions.

2. The mission of the anthropoids to redeem and remake the star worlds in the image of the agrarian earth.

3. An irresistible destiny to accomplish this essential chauvinism.



In 500 million years time we will of course consider it more of an imperative to leave home.

That is a wonderful point. The journey to Mars costs a lot to be done. It needs a lot of investments to develop an appropriate space ship and equipment. It`s better to solve issues we have on Earth with this money or make appropriate space missions that will help us save our planet. Why we should colonize other planets where it`s impossible to live on when we have the best option ( Earth)
The only thing we must do is to preserve it.

another look will say that
"All the money spent on the program will be spent on earth"

We would still be living in caves with that type of thinking.

Yeah, it would be much safer for the crew of astronauts and less money will be spent on these space missions. Bot still, scientists want more, that is why they want to send a crewed mission.

You didn`t understand my point. I do support partially space missions. There are many space missions that have aims to preserve the Erath and Earth`s residence
https://www.skyrora.com/blog/satellites
In that article, you will be able to find the complete explanation of my statement and the space missions I really support.
I know, progress is imminent, and in some time we eventually colonize Mars, but I want that scientists will not forget about our planet.

you seem to feel that both of these activities are mutually exclusive. WHy?

I remember on the walls of Font de Gaume, some Magdelenian cavemen had written in OGUM FRANCAISE that; "we aint never gonna have television"

I don`t think so. I just assume that we have missions to do that will help to preserve our planet and not invest money to crewed missions to Mars which are very expensive and dangerous for the crew.