Why Mars? Sunday afternoon discussion at Andrea's 130 pm gate code #6087

I've updated this event with additional information:

The first Mars probe to send images of the planet was NASA’s Mariner 4 in 1964. Six earlier attempts to explore Mars by Soviet and American spacecraft had failed in 1960, 1962, and 1964. Altogether there have been 50 Mars missions, including flybys, orbiters, landers, robotic rovers, and (most recently) a rotorcraft. 22 missions were successful. The Soviet Union’s first successes were an orbiter and lander in 1971, after 10 prior attempts to reach Mars. The first successful landings by the U.S. were Vikings 1 and 2 in 1975. Other countries have more recently sent orbiters and landers to Mars: the European Space Agency, Japan, China, India, and the United Arab Emirates. It was not easy to get to Mars and it’s not easy now.
Humans have not yet attempted to set foot on Mars, but a new space race is under way. We will discuss what the objectives are, who the competitors are, and whether the potential benefits are worth the costs and risks.
Elon Musk wants to build a colony on Mars with at least one million people. He thinks this is necessary to save human consciousness. While this might sound like an exciting and worthwhile goal, many prominent voices in science are skeptical about it. What does Musk want to do, what are the problems, and why is he facing criticism? Sabine Hossenfelder, a German theoretical physicist, philosopher of science, author, science communicator tries to answer these questions in a video on her YouTube channel: “Why Musk Is Wrong About Mars.” The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8HNgIJqeyDw. (It runs 18 minutes.)
NASA is more focused on sending humans back to the moon, developing new technologies, and studying the long-term effects of human space exposure before attempting a manned Mars landing. For NASA, the Mars priority is a mission to bring back samples of rocks and soil in collaboration with ESA and Japan. China is competing independently to bring back Mars samples, and they appear to be ahead in this race. Scientists throughout the world are hopeful that a detailed study of Mars samples will confirm the existence of microbial life on Mars. See the article by “Can NASA Win the Mars Space Race?” by Clayton Swope, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies: The link is https://www.csis.org/analysis/can-nasa-win-mars-space-race#:~:text=In%20early%20September%202024%2C%20China,to%20Earth%20from%20another%20planet.
Also see a video “The Very Real Possibility of Life on Mars” by John Michael Godier, a science fiction author and futurist who presents news about space in weekly space science documentaries on his YouTube channel. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGdOMI6kE-w. (It runs 17 minutes.)
Another video explores Elon Musk’s role in the Mars space race. Watch “Elon Musk Reveals NEW Mars Timeline” on the Space Race Youtube channel. The link is https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUflhvyP9NA. (It runs 11 minutes.)
Some questions to ponder:

• Why is there a race to Mars?
• Are the costs justified?
• Are humans on Mars necessary to gather scientific information and samples?
• Should there be a permanent base on Mars (manned or unmanned)?
• Should humans be colonizing Mars? Are there scientific, economic, or military benefits?
• What do you think of Musk’s proposed Martian city to preserve human consciousness if the earth becomes unhabitable?

In this discussion we will talk aboit the future of space exploration for the US, which right now looks to be about Mars, especially with Elon Musk being so close to the president. It's possible that maybe space exploration will provide a unifying force for the US, a common goal instead of a common enemy.

The topic choice is partially because my Philly discussion group has had a discussion aboit it but also because I've been reading a book called Space Barons which discusses Musk from SpaceX and Bezos of Blue Origin as well as earlier players like Beal Aerospace and Richard Brandon's Virgin Galactic.