Mars (I am a big nerd)
When I was 15 I went to the second annual Mars Society convention in Boulder. It was a 2 day conference filled with scientists, astronauts, and a few nuts talking about their plans for organizing a human Mars expedition. The panels ranged from how to motivate politicians, to privately funded heavy launch vehicles, to sustainable life systems on the Martian surface. It was neat - I got to meet Buzz Lightyear (err... Aldrin) and Dr. Zubrin, the founder and Mars Society pioneer, signed two of my books.
President Bush talked recently about sending humans to Mars, but any interplanetary trip for humans is still 20 years away or more. After reading this press release about Dr. Zubrin visiting China, (not to mention NASA's misguided spending/efforts) I'm fairly sure the U.S. won't be the first ones to the Red Planet.
Zubrin will deliver a public lecture at Beihang University's School
of Astronautics on February 28, and also have a seminar with
professors and graduate students.
The topic of Zubrin's talk will be "A Plan for Achieving Near-Term
Human Mars Exploration."
Several meetings with prominent individuals associated with the
Chinese space program to discuss this subject are also planned.
Speaking about the invitation, Zubrin said; "The Mars Society
welcomes China's interest in human Mars exploration. The Chinese are
a very talented people, who have contributed numerous inventions,
from printing to rockets, that have greatly furthered human progress.
Without question, they can, and soon will, make many valuable
contributions to the exploration and development of space."
After spending time deployed in a fast-attack submarine, my motivation to go to Mars pretty much vanished. Spending that much time locked in a steel tube just isn't fun. I guess if there is a new planet instead of the Persian Gulf for a destination, it might change things...
posted by c_peligroso @ 11:41 AM
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