Words alone won't get the stars and stripes to Mars
- Reference: 1737473531
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2025/01/21/usa_going_to_mars/
- Source link:
Musk's vision is to send humans to the Red Planet rather than the rovers rolling around the Martian surface. Those astronauts would then plant the American flag into the ground, much as the Apollo astronauts did on the Moon more than half a century ago.
Achieving such a feat – unlikely within President Trump's tenure but a priority thereafter – requires overcoming significant technological and logistical challenges.
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From a technological standpoint, yes – it can be done. SpaceX's Starship has yet to reach orbit, and the last launch experienced a catastrophic failure, yet with sufficient funding the rocket could be made operational and sent to Mars with a crew onboard.
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It would, however, be an unpleasant and potentially life-shortening experience for the crew. The journey to and from the planet alone would be hazardous; shielding would be required to handle the harsh environment of deep space (not forgetting the occasional solar flare), and the spacecraft would need to function reliably throughout the mission or carry sufficient spare parts and resources to address potential breakdowns.
And then there is life on the surface of Mars itself. It's a hostile place, lacking the protection of Earth. Astronauts would need to shelter from radiation, deal with the dust, and make sure the flag doesn't get turned red in the Martian storms.
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Astronauts would need a means of return – unless the mission was planned as a one-way journey.
It's challenging, but not impossible with enough financial backing. It is also not a new idea. Even before humans traveled to the Moon, there were proposals for crewed missions to Mars. The first American woman in space, Sally Ride, got in on the act with the informally named " [5]Ride Report ," which outlined how an outpost on Mars could be constructed during the 2020s.
However, all the grand plans have foundered on a combination of lack of political will and funding. In John M Logsdon's book After Apollo?, the author documents the Nixon administration's reluctance to recreate the spectacle of the Moon landings with a jaunt to Mars and instead reduce the share of discretionary spending on the space program, something that has continued regardless of the political persuasion of the US administration.
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Still, if sufficient funding flows – and unlike in the days of Apollo, billionaire oligarchs like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos both have big rockets and an interest in outer space – then it will be possible to overcome the technological obstacles. Time, however, is another thing altogether.
US President Donald Trump used his inauguration to reiterate his support for human missions to Mars, although he did not set a specific goal. Yet even the most optimistic observers doubt boots will reach the surface before Trump's second term ends.
[7]NASA has just two Mars Sample Return mission lander options left
[8]Silent NASA lander gives boffins insight into Martian dust
[9]Ingenuity helicopter's flying days cut short by featureless Martian terrain
[10]What might a second term of Trump mean for the US space program?
The next two launch windows to Mars – when the planet can be reached in the shortest time using conventional technology – are in 2026 and 2028. While the 2026 window opens at the end of the year and stretches into 2027, SpaceX's Starship is unlikely to be ready in time, not least considering the [11]explosion of the Starship vehicle during the seventh test flight.
Musk has said the plan is to send uncrewed Starships to Mars in 2026, followed by crewed vehicles in the following decade. Considering it is now 2025, time is getting short to prove Starship can be launched beyond Earth orbit, let alone come up with a landing system that will work on Mars.
The Register spoke to former Voyager scientist Dr Garry Hunt about the feasibility of the trip. Hunt noted that the dangers of such a journey were "enormous," although compared the mission to the voyages of Columbus, who was warned of the risks before setting off but did so anyway.
Hunt said he preferred robotic exploration but conceded a manned expeditions is inevitable and reckons the Chinese are more likely get a crew to Mars first. The nation is already on track to beat the US with samples returned from the Martian surface.
"Are people going to cut corners in the US to try to catch up with the Chinese?" he asked.
More powerful propulsion methods will also be needed to beat the existing Mars transfer windows and, as Hunt observed, planning for a crewed mission to Mars would have had to have begun in earnest decades ago.
NASA, for example, is still struggling to finalize a [12]Mars sample return mission that fits within its budget. Even with the assistance of a commercial provider, the US still seems set to trail the Chinese. Landing a US astronaut on Mars to plant a flag is an order of magnitude more complex.
As far as astronauts walking on foreign bodies is concerned, NASA's immediate goal is the Moon, requiring landers developed by Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. The US space agency will not want its commercial partners distracted from this goal unless its own aims are also changed.
The next few weeks and months will be interesting as space agencies and commercial companies grapple with the words and wishes of the US administration. It took seven years from President John F Kennedy's "We choose to go to the Moon" speech to the first Apollo landing. Even if funding flows freely, US astronauts planting the stars and stripes on Mars is unlikely to happen before the 2030s and will require the commitment of multiple US administrations. ®
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[7] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/08/nasa_whittles_down_mars_sample/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/17/silent_nasa_lander_gives_scientists/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/13/ingenuity_mars_helicopters_flying_days/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2024/11/12/trump_space_program/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/17/spacex_starship_explosion_booster_catch/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2025/01/08/nasa_whittles_down_mars_sample/
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I suggest that the first two explorers be ...
Trump and Musk. Let them take risks rather than letting others do so on their behalf.
Them leaving would also make this planet a much safer place for the rest of us. It is a shame that we will need to wait until the end of next year for the launch window.
We're twenty years away from a man on Mars
Much like we've been for the last fifty years!
I'd be very happy if Musk put himself on a Mars-bound rocket tomorrow but, when you look at it, his vehicle is minimally capable of doing what he wants it to do.
As far as I recall, his Starship rockets can't leave Mars without being refueled from automated facilities that were somehow set up and operated, before the crewed vehicle's arrival, to manufacture and store propellant and oxidizer using subsurface water ice. Seems to me a very long tent pole.
Only a bit shorter is the pole representing the requirement for Musk's vehicle to be refueled multiple time in low Earth orbit before it can go anywhere else, including to the Moon.
(I'd also like to know if his vehicle is capable of navigating to a landing next to those automated fuel depots if Mars gins up one of its long-lasting dust storms while the ship is en route.)
The Chinese!
Note that the Apollo program was a response to the Soviets beating the Americans to space. The prospects of the Chinese beating the Americans to outer space would be a strong motivation.
Except, such an endeavor requires stamina, focus, foresight, and organization. Trump's first term lacked all four. The current roster of appointees are not different, quality wise.
Also, the budget for a manned mission to Mars is enormous (~$500B and up) and is antithetical to slashing all federal funding.
And why would Trump put his weight behind a project he will never see the end of, given his age?
(although I wonder whether Trump understands the concept of a world without him)
Re: The Chinese!
'And why would Trump put his weight behind a project he will never see the end of, given his age?'
Same could be said for Musk, he is moving into the back end of the bellcurve and you don't know what is going on with his health.
All the money in the world is not going to help if your time is up. Jobs would probably attest to that if he was still around.
I'm sure I saw Musk's heels clicking together when he was 'waving' to the crowd yesterday, maybe he was wishing his way to wonderland, yeah, I'm sure that was the reason.
P.S. I do hope El Reg makes that image the default of Musky going forward, it's quite flattering....
"America is going to Mars," said Elon Musk
Well it's certainly going to Hell, that's for sure.
Re: "America is going to Mars," said Elon Musk
Well it's certainly going to Heil, that's for sure.
FTFY.
It will work... IF
Trump gets the same treatment as JFK. Then, and only then, five and a half year after that treatment, we will land on Mars.
Typical Trump – don't look there, look here
A manned mission to Mars, unlike the manned missions to the moon, makes little sense. It was only really by going to the moon did we learn just how dangerous is for human bodies. Going to another planet to put up a flag is just the most expensive photo opportunity that anyone has ever come up with. And the costs could dwarf even the Apollo programme in a time of growing deficits and tax cuts.
However, and you can see this in various documents, the US and US companies are already vying to privatise assets in space with the ownership automatically passing to the first country or first company there and it wants to establish legal precedent in the US to underline this. This is very much in the tradition of American expansion and flies in the face of all the lessons we could have learned from the wanton exploitation of resources and the tragedy of the commons. Indeed, we may learn even more about this over the next decade as space junk and debris in the upper atmosphere build up due to more and more and larger and larger launches. How long before we see court cases where attempts are made to claim ownership over certain orbits?
Re: Typical Trump – don't look there, look here
We all know that Mars orbits the _Sun_, not Earth, right?
Just checking.
O M G Particle
The 'Oh-My-God' particle* was observed recently, but remember, although only one has been seen, we've not been looking for very long.
The amount of radiation in interplanetary space is a great deal more than in near Earth orbit, courtesy of the Earth's magnetosphere. Astronauts / Cosmonauts / Taikonauts would be exposed to serious radiation for weeks if not months on the round trip and on the surface. No amount of shielding that is practicable to carry on a Mars-bound spacecraft can protect from such particles, and of course, there is the ever-present danger of CME frying the craft's electronics.
Don't get me wrong, a wo/manned landing on Mars would be a fabulous achievement, but the medical challenge of getting there and back in reasonable health seems to me greater than the technical engineering challenge. And how long would people stay there? You'd want more than a couple of hours, probably up to a week to do some serious science / geology.
Best of luck to all concerned.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh-My-God_particle
and the corruption begins
so orange hitler is going to divert money to welfare queen musktwat, figures