USA to ban Mars missions?

[Micah 16]

Well, some very sad news if it does happen. The US House of Reps. is creating a bill that will ban humans from going to Mars by banning the funding for human missions to the red planet, Mars.

For more details, click here or here.

My thoughts: I'm truly upset. I plan to keep a close eye on who bans human missions to Mars. No matter what party they are on, I may vote against those individuals in the 2008 elections. Edit: Come on, this is progress and it's ethical. It's *like were sending them there to die. Well... I've said enough. 

*not

Whoops!

[Godzillaman 21]

Why the hell would they do that? Its just...dumb...suppose they find something amazing up there. But no! The money not spent on it goes to their paychecks...probably not, but it could happen...

[Jasoncw 12,030]

That's really upsetting.

[david1314 44]

It's not like congress to be fiscally responsible....it is nice to see a curtailing of corporate welfare, even if it is in an extreamly limited capacity (edit: the curtailing is limited, not the welfare itself).

[Arthuryazhemskiy 0]

thats BS, why would they do this? to fund the war instead. well, whatever, screw NASA they are not very productive, they never put a man on the moon. Other countries will have the oportunity to do it now instead of the USA.

[JEC 101]

"never put a man on the moon", don't tell me you think the Moon landing was a hoax?

Back on topic, since the US has more than a few problems to take care of, then if Congress actually put those extra funds to good use then maybe I could see this going through (although I still somewhat disagree as I love astronomy), but we all know that is not going to happen. Another week wasted in Congress.

[BurroDiablo 222]

Thats hella dissapointing...

Oh well... if the USA won't do it... China will...

Peoples Republic of Mars? Sounds good... rofl

[The_Hutt 11]

Well, I don't think we're close to achieving human flight to Mars yet. What would be better would be a 30-year moratorium instead of an outright ban, in my opinion.

[Voar Tok 4]

This is quite stupid. Way to go Congress.

[Mr. Glamazon 9]

I think, depending on how the bill is worded (and it's not like we know, really), this might prove to be more of a good thing than a bad thing. As far as we know (and there are only two articles there), it could only mean government funding. Meaning, the private sector would still have total power to spend as much money on Mars as they wanted. It would really boost U.S. aerospace private sector. That said, this is pretty dismal for government funded sciences in general, especially when we're on the decline as it is. I guess it's a point of view difference. It could be positive or negative at this point, although I'd love to know the rationale behind it. Overall, it is very disappointing.

[fern244 1]

I dont think we really need it now, they are sending robots up to space now to explore

[Easy Bakes 253]

Another nail in the coffin of space exploration.

Although i would like to see the wording of the actual

bill.

[ILL Tonkso 1,239]

kind of pointless, and it isnt up to the US government anyway. Any country can try if they like.

[Bluebeard 0]

The problem is most Americans have lost interest in space exploration but they get really happy when a Starbucks opens another store.

[Firebird 40]

Oh come on, this is just stupid. As i would also like to see the wording of the original bill, my initial response is to be mad mad mad.

I would also really like to find out who(or what) the few billions of 'saved' dollars would go to if it were not spent on Mars Exploration.

[njdevi66 12]

This is just pathetic, everyday our suppose great country acts like complete asshats. Its no wonder that our country is going down the drain in bad fashion. If i remember correctly, back in the 30s to the mid 70s our country, the USA was all about the people and trying to create a better world for all, now... our country is all about the money and how to screw over the people.

I know not everyone here is from the USA, and i know i stated it as " OUR COUNTRY", i guess im just a patriot at heart and all man... and woman should be free and live free, but now freedom cost us all an arm and a leg no matter where we live.

IMO, i bet there is more to this then meets the eye... no pun intented , but this just does not make any sense at all to ban people from going to mars, how can they ban people from going to mars if they are in charge to begin with, what happened to a simple NO, no we cant send you to mars. And really, why would the government care if a man or woman was to be sent to mars to begin with? Is it something we dont know about? Its not like a man or woman could make billions of dollars on mars if they were sent there. It just sounds fishy and odd to do this, and foolish. Granted, lots of that money could go towards feeding the hunger, jobs and just help to create a better life for those in the USA. But im going to take a wild guess and say that the money would go into their pockets to better their own lives, b/c that is what they do best.

[Mr. Glamazon 9]

So what's really funny here is that many other programmes obtained funding that was far greater than what they requested initiallyy, which is great for them.  However, this is an excerpt from here:

The bill language also continues a moratorium prohibiting NASA from implementing a reduction in force and from funding any research, development or demonstration activity related exclusively to Human Exploration of Mars. NASA has too much on its plate already, and the President is welcome to include adequate funding for the Human Mars Initiative in a budget amendment or subsequent year funding requests.quote>

So, this is only for this budget cycle, it seems.  Also, it sounds like NASA isn't allowed to stop doing the project altogether.

Finally, the House doesn't seem to have the same version of this bill and these cuts aren't expected to be in the final bill, read on:

"It appears" and "could force"? Sorry Lou, that's not quite what I am hearing from NASA and elsewhere here in Washington. While the Senate did take $30 million out of Mars reserves, the House did not do this in their version of the bill and between subsequent conference action on this bill and inherent flexibility within NASA's Mars program, this is not expected to be present in the final Appropriations bill.quote>

When we're talking about the sums we're talking about now, what with all the billions being spent, it really doesn't make sense that these tiny, tiny areas of funding are being singled out at all.  I'm sure there's more to come.  I haven't had time to search LexisNexis for the wording of the senate bill, although you guys are more than welcome to.  Have a great day!

[DFire870 2]

I do think this is stupid that they're banning government-funded manned missions to Mars, but this is great for the private sector. Also, think about this: We're attempting to explore space instead of exploring our own oceans. In some aspects, we know more about what's in outer space than what's in the ocean, which is in our backyard.

[Boggy1 45]

I rather like the irony here; the NASA budget is about 3% of the entire USA Military Budget.

But thats sad. And stupid. And gah....bloomin American Congress, maybe the ESA will try...

[Haljackey 17,405]

Didn't Bush promise to have humans back to the moon by 2025 and on Mars in 2050? 

Also this is a HUGE hit to the International community as well.  Many nations (such as Japan, Canada, Australia, the EU (and also the ESA, or European Space Agency) contribute heavily to NASA's overall funding.  Its not fair to see these contributions to go to waste because of the U.S. government/congress.

Well, I guess my are eyes are now either looking at the ESA and the CAP, or Chinese Aerospace Program for this.  The CAP also has plans to have a manned mission to the moon by 2020, same with the ISA (India's Space Agency).

Ug..  I hope your bill does not pass.  Most of you Americans don't want that money to go Iraq anyways.

[Barbarossa 51]

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  Edited September 7, 2012 by Barbarossa  

[coolotter88 2]

http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/F?c110:4:./temp/~c110MTbzMr:e80242:

this seems to have something to do with nasa and funding though it's probably not the correct bill

[Micah 16]

Didn't Bush promise to have humans back to the moon by 2025 and on Mars in 2050?quote>

Sort of correct. Bush and NASA proposed Vision of Space Exploration which will create a colony on the moon by 2020 and send humans to Mars 17 years later on the 80th anniversery of the Space Age.

Whether it's surprising or not, Bush is the one who is against this ban because it would completely go opposite of his space exploration plans in 2004.

Well, I guess my are eyes are now either looking at the ESA and the CAP, or Chinese Aerospace Program for this. The CAP also has plans to have a manned mission to the moon by 2020, same with the ISA (India's Space Agency).quote>

Right. Almost all of the other major space agencies are proposing moon bases. It makes me wonder what ESA has up their sleeves.

[Frankie_Grove 32]

If humans can't go, let the robots continue doing it. I seriously doubt the government would pass such a thing without good reasoning.

..Or on a more sarcastic approach, maybe there were hostile aliens discovered on the red planet and they fear a "War of the Worlds"?

[Easy Bakes 253]

No they just have limited vision.

[screamingman12 30]

[sarcasm]Yes, thank you President Bush, you have done yet another grateful thing to help out the best country in the world, good 'ole US and A![/sarcasm] Although there actually may be truth to this, I heard that Mars's gravity is so strong that a rocket wouldn't be able to carry enough fuel to go to Mars and return, so it would be essentially a one way trip (seriously, Bush would be the perfect candidate for such a thing). however this could be solved by filling up from Mars's methane seas.

[2nerdy4u 1]

As many have said before me, I think this is just stupid. The United States is already falling behind in several scientific fields and along comes the House with a dumb bill to ban human Mars missions. What could they possibly be afraid of? This isn't Bush's fault either. Naturally, as a Republican, he's going to disagree with this bill proposed by a Democratic House.

If any of you have ever seen any of Robert Zubrin's plans you'll know that the man is a genius. He's been fighting Congress for years to set up a series of Mars missions. And all of his plans include using current technology, so there's no need to wait 20 or 30 years. I seriously suggest you guys read some stuff about him and his plans. Very fascinating.

I personally am a big fan of space exploration and all science in general. Something like this bill just rips my heart apart.

EDIT: In response to screamingman12's post: Fuel is not a problem in Zubrin's plans. I believe he plans on sending a few rockets before the manned rocket to take CO₂ in Mars' atmosphere and turn it into oxygen for fuel. Not only that, but since the journey to Mars is so long, he plans on sending more fuel-producing rockets with the manned rocket to make fuel while the astronauts are living on Mars. It's a several-stage mission and it's quite fascinating.

[IDS2 3,436]

And what's the point of banning us from Mars?

*house of representatives tries desperately to think of a reason but to no avail*

I thought so.

[Frankie_Grove 32]

Originally posted by: screamingman12 [sarcasm]Yes, thank you President Bush, you have done yet another grateful thing to help out the best country in the world, good 'ole US and A![/sarcasm]quote>

Actually Bush isn't really behind this one.

....Maybe this is a publicity stunt...they make a bill that no one likes, then Bush shoots it down and becomes the hero! ..Or maybe i'm thinking too much.

[beebs 129]

Originally posted by: screamingman12 I heard that Mars's gravity is so strong that a rocket wouldn't be able to carry enough fuel to go to Mars and return, so it would be essentially a one way trip quote>

Mars' gravity is weaker than ours.

And I do think this is a backward step in space exploration. First step after our moon is neighboring planets.. since Venus is one of the more inhospitable planets in the solar system... Mars, anyone?