Geez I hope I'm around long enough to see man take his first steps on Mars.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
posted
Phoenix has discovered the greatest find in the solar system: pure Martian Flake just below the surface.
Colombia starts it's space program today.
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: I wasn't aware Olympus Mons was *that* big....
I think that picture is a bit of an optical illusion, exaggerating Olympus Mons' size *slightly*. That picture is obviously (to me, anyway) taken from a relatively low orbit. The volcano looks like it's below the equator in that pic, but it's actually 18 degrees north of it.
Registered: Jul 2002
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posted
Yeah, Olympus Mons is the biggest volcano in the solar system. Its a shield volcano (same as the Hawai'ian ones) and is unfettered by obstacles so it grew damned big.
Registered: Mar 1999
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Daniel Butler
I'm a Singapore where is my boat
Member # 1689
posted
I knew all that, but I didn't think it was an appreciable percentage of the planet's surface like that. Or perhaps I've never accurately visualized how small Mars is
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
Some of these images are probably "enhanced" and some probably aren't. Without atmosphere and smaller diameter, Olympus Mons is gonna stick out there.
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OT ... but I wish it would hurry up and snow in Colorado.
Still, it's a nice discovery for Mars. Anyway, maybe we'll go there one day. We just need some motivation, like the Soviets motivated us to get to the moon, we need some reason to actually use our space program. You think we could convince the government that Osama's on Mars? Or perhaps now that the Chinese are advancing their program, if they set their sites on Mars, maybe it will tempt us to let NASA go back to its glory days of the 60s.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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Da_bang80
A few sectors short of an Empire
Member # 528
posted
Convince the government that there's oil on Mars, we'll be there in five years or less.
-------------------- Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change. The courage to change the things I cannot accept. And the wisdom to hide the bodies of all the people I had to kill today because they pissed me off.
quote:Originally posted by Da_bang80: Convince the government that there's oil on Mars, we'll be there in five years or less.
Five weeks, tops and they'll be planting flags all over the place and awarding suspiciously lucrative construction contracts to certain corporations...but then oil would necessitate ancient life...I don't suppose the chalk market is worth the expense? If Mars had an ancient ocean that's going to be the more likely sign of former sea-life.
quote:Originally posted by HerbShrump: Hmmm... I wonder just how fast we could get there, if we absolutely HAD to.
Well, of course, you can just throw money at this problem to make it go faster, probably. But a few random thoughts:
Firstly, what is "we". If it's the US (and its close partners like ESA and others), or some kind of global effort. Whatever form it takes, China and the US are a long way from cooperating, so let's just say "we" = NASA and friends.
At the moment, the US basically only has the Shuttle, which is way past its sell-by date. Step one would be getting Project Constellation going, and specifically, the Ares V launcher. These are (very tentatively) planned for 2019, with manned missions to the Moon in the 2020s.
Apparently, Ares V and related technology would be a basis for Martian missions. So, I would guess, at the most optimistic, the 2030s. But this requires some kind of political motivation to happen. The only way I can see that happen is a new Space Race, with the Chinese. But actually taking that race to Mars is a very costly enterprise.
The pessismist in me says that China and the US will once again get to the moon, and the most we can hope for is a moonbase within the first half of this century.
posted
Let's set up a fake nasa email address and send the Chinese taunts.
That'll get them going.
-------------------- I have plenty of experience in biology. I bought a Tamagotchi in 1998... And... it's still alive.
Registered: Apr 2005
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