bjbj Before we break, I want to quickly talk
about, did you hear about this proposed one-way
trip to Mars? Louis: No. David: This is fascinating.
I'm kind of into this type of thing and space
exploration. The moon exploration projects
have essentially been abandoned for a number
of reasons, and funding has been... I believe
Obama may have actually said it's over, we're
not even doing that anymore. I may be wrong,
don't quote me on that. So the next logical
step for many astronomers was let's go to
Mars. And the problems, obviously, are not
only that we can't currently really live there
successfully without significant modifications,
some domes where people can breathe, a lot
of equipment would need to be brought over
there. But the big holdback was to go and
come back, the amount of fuel and supplies
that would be required would just be insane.
So there was actually, in the "Journal of
Cosmology", I read this thing, it's not very
long, it's at www.journalofcosmology.com,
it's like a four-page paper by a couple of
individuals, I don't know if they're astronomers
or physicists, and the idea is let's do a
one-way mission to Mars. By doing that, if
we go to Mars without the idea of those people
coming back, as a colonization mission, we
can reduce 80% of the costs, because you don't
need supplies for the return trip, and also,
the amount of fuel that you need goes down
significantly because number one, you don't
need the fuel to come back, and number two,
you just don't need to carry as much because
there's less supplies on there. And I encourage
you to actually read through it, but a few
of my thoughts on it were, the reaction from
many people was that hey, this is a suicide
mission. You know you're not coming back,
what does that mean? You're going to die on
Mars. Think back to when the first settlers
left England to come to the United States,
or what now is the United States. They weren't...
Louis: That's a little different. David: Louis,
hold on, let me make my case please if I may
before you shut my mic off. They were not
leaving with the intention of going back to
England, they knew, we're going somewhere
and realistically, it will be our new home.
We are going to colonize somewhere new. So
that is not altogether different, this is
not a suicide mission to Mars, it is a mission
where you will live the rest of your life
working on Mars instead of working on Earth.
Louis: Assuming you'll be able to live the
rest of your life on Mars, assuming you get
there, assuming once you get there all your
equipment works... David: Right. Louis: Assuming
you can grow food, you can keep a steady flow
of oxygen. David: All of these things are
accounted for in this paper, and it talks
about that they would send two spacecraft,
each with two people, man and woman, I believe,
in each, the people to go initially would
all be over 50, because realistically, the
long-term exposure to radiation would make
it so they wouldn't be able to reproduce anyway,
so it makes sense to send people who are over
50. It would be very careful psychological
profiling. They would bring supplies for the
initial amount of time. In advance of their
arrival, there would be non-manned missions
sent to start growing food in the kind of
habitat dome, they would start doing some
terraforming and preparing the land. I mean,
it's really, it's pretty compelling. Whether
it's all 100% viable, I don't know, but what
really gets me when I read it is the timeline.
I mean, it's talking about spending 20 to
25 years if we started today preparing for
the arrival of the first people, and then
initiating the six-month trip out there, which,
in 20 years, we should be able to make the
trip in less time. There's some ion propulsion
stuff that's being investigated that would
drop it from six months to only a 40-day trip.
What do you think about this? I think it's
great. Louis: I think it's interesting. I
certainly would not sign up for it. David:
You wouldn't personally? Louis: No. David:
Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't want to be the first
guy. I really... Not that they would pick
me. I think it would be... Louis: It would
be a boring, horrible fate. David: And psychologically
taxing, for sure. Louis: It would be a terrible
fate. David: You don't like it one bit. But
you think it's worth doing? I mean, the big
thing is... Louis: Hey, I'd love to see the
pictures. David: We don't know what will happen
with global warming in this country... on
this planet, maybe it makes sense to have
a backup planet. Louis: Oh, and I believe
that makes perfect sense. I just refuse to
be one of the first ones to set foot on it.
David: All right, Louis, if they start bugging
you to go, to be the first one, you let me
know and I'll make sure they let you out of
it. Louis: Thank you. David: Let's take a
break. We'll come back with Robert Applebaum,
we'll talk about student loans, plenty coming
up on the show, and of course, the bonus show.
A lot going on. HYPERLINK "http://www.DavidPakman.com"
www.DavidPakman.com is the website. Announcer:
The David Pakman Show at HYPERLINK "http://www.DavidPakman.com"
www.DavidPakman.com Before we break, I want
to quickly talk about, did you hear about
this proposed one-way trip to Mars Guerreiro
Chavier Marisel Normal Guerreiro Chavier Marisel
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break, I want to quickly talk about, did you
hear about this proposed one-way trip to Mars
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