My boyfriend is really into space stuff. I have been watching shows on the Discovery Channel about Mars and how it is the closest thing to our Earth. In our lifetimes, do you think we will ever be able to send a crew successfully to Mars that will actually walk on the planet and check it out?

I believe it will happen after we have passed on. There is still lots of work yet to be done to get us ready for such a mission.

Yeah, I think it will happen, but after I'm gone. The aeronautics and space association are fascinated with Mars and are learning all they can, but I don't think they know enough about it and in my opinion, have been moving rather carefully in everything they do ever since the Challenger explosion in 1986, and it's understandable. I would like to see it in my lifetime and I would like to see space travels for the general public, but hey, that's wanting a bit too much! :)

We'll get there eventually. I plan on hitting the big 100 ;) so i guess it is a definate maybe.

Nope, I dont think it will ever happen. Too many things involved especially money. Mars is so far away so still unknown that its too much of a question mark.

I believe it will happen after were long gone,not anytime in my lifetime.

It will happen in our lifetime. Just have patience. Of course, I'm going to live forever, so I will see it anyway. :D I'm really into that stuff. I think we just need to stop worrying about all these new ways to run cars, and all these computers that do nothing if we ever want to get there.

... After we're LONG gone.

if you asked people at the turn of the century if we would make it to the moon, i'm sure you would have got a negative response!

eventually it will happen, though they don't really seem to be in a hurry to do so at the moment...so probably not in my lifetime, but who knows?

I think it will happen after we are gone. Things like that are always possible. And especially the way technology is progressing....why not? :alien:

Good topic, I always have been obsessed with astronomy. I beleive it will happen, just not in our life times, well maybe the younger Xchangers. :p

If I'm around for another 40 years or so, I'm optimistic we might see men on mars. My optimism is probably misplaced, but what the heck. NASA can't send out for donuts without the request going through five committees.

Why not?

It´s not a matter of technology, but of financials...in the end, I´m sure that plain curiousity and the willingness to expand the limits will overcome the questions about the money.

With the wonderful advancements of digital imagery, I'm sure they'll have us believing that they sent people to Mars within our lifetime, just like they did the moon, only this time it will be harder to see the flaws in the film footage.

Anyway, what makes you think that the martians won't come and invade Earth in our lifetime first??????? If they haven't already!!!

Technology is moving so fast, I think we will see it in our life time.

I think it will happen. I'm not sure if it will happen in my lifetime though. It sure is an awesome thought. The way this planet is headed our future generations might need to find a way to live there.:(

Being an optimist, I voted for "Yes". It's my hope that we will one day make it to the Red Planet, but with so much strife going on here at home, I'm not sure how much money and attention we can afford to spend on such an ambitious program.

It will happen, but I will not be around to see it.

I really don't think it will happen in our lifetime. It's like a 3 year round trip, I think! Imagine the amounts of food & water needed just for the trip!? Let alone the expedition on Mars...

I voted yes! With the resent discovery of ice deposits (oceans) there, the main obstacle has been overcome, I think. Bringing water to Mars would have made the trip that more troublesome and expensive. If NASA and their affiliates could find a way to use this ice in a productive way for growing plants, drinking etc. then the idea of a Mars colony isn't that far away as it has been. So I believe that within my lifetime we will see the attempt.

Yes I think so. NASA are finally getting their heads out of their posteriors and starting to make serious preparations. Werner von Braun was right; NASA should have gone to Mars in 69 rather than go to the Moon! The had the money then and the capability to do it alone!

Originally posted by Prefab Sprouter
NASA should have gone to Mars in 69 rather than go to the Moon!

we went to the moon :bigeek:

Sorry - never gets tired of Dumb & Dumber and Jim Careys discovery :lol: Was just on my mind when I read your post ;) :)

I voted Yes. I think it will happen. I'm only 29, who knows what they'll come up with in the next 60 years?

Have you ever thought about Mars? With some of the things they've discovered, did you consider that Mars may not be a new planet, but rather our old one? Maybe we ruined it's ozone a hundred thousand years ago?

I saw a show that suggested we may all be Martians, and I thought it an interesting idea. :)

Stacy already knows my view on this. I feel it will happen, but after we are gone.

Originally posted by Iluvthe80s
My boyfriend is really into space stuff. I have been watching shows on the Discovery Channel about Mars and how it is the closest thing to our Earth. In our lifetimes, do you think we will ever be able to send a crew successfully to Mars that will actually walk on the planet and check it out?

How could we! We never even walked on the moon. Look into it, Its a fact! Its impossible for us to do with our technology.

Originally posted by surfnut


How could we! We never even walked on the moon. Look into it, Its a fact! Its impossible for us to do with our technology.

Are you saying it was a hoax? Not to be impolite, but dude...c'mon. Either you're kidding or I'm dying to see your sources. :lol: And don't believe that "the Earth is round" rumor either. ;)

I tend to take a rather callous view of the current state of space travel. We need to privatize NASA and get it away from the government. If you let people make money at it, regular space travel will be a reality in a decade, much less a lifetime. On the subject of Mars specifically, if you can find something there that can be used to make a buck, they'll be a flag planted there by the time my 13 year old graduates high school. May sound sad, but I believe it's true.

I think it will happen, just not in my lifetime...:(

It will happen in our lifetime. Then again, my husband is a planetary geologist who specializes in Mars, so I'm a little biased ;) (Mars studies will be feeding & clothing my family for the next several decades!) It's all a question of how much commitment NASA & the federal govt. have to seeing the project through. The multiple failures in the past few years have made people gun-shy, understandably so, but we can do it if we really want to-- look at the Apollo program, for example. The technology is there, or can be there in a few years, given the proper amount of time & work.

Chris is involved in studying soil formation & historical climate on Mars, hopefully to understand why all the water that is there in frozen form isn't flowing on the surface anymore. That will help us eventually go there, if not to live permanently. Chris doesn't want to go to Mars himself, but he does want to help plan the mission. I'm glad he doesn't want to go, he'd have to be gone an awfully long time! but I wouldn't stand in his way if he did want to.

If you're a Mars buff, or know someone who is ;) here are some cool websites:

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/ Mars Global Surveyor - where most of Chris's work comes from right now.

http://themis.asu.edu/ Where Chris will be working when he finishes his Ph.D... sometime this fall... everybody pray to the Thesis Gods for me! :vibrator:

edit: ...Homepage removed at request of slacker, who says he'll update it soon :lol: .... we've heard that before...

I think astronauts will successfully land on Mars looooong after we die.

I truly think it will happen within our lifetime. And that would be awesome. The pictures I've seen of the surface look incredible. I would be envious of the Astronauts and their journey to another world.