NASA Wants Astronauts on Mars by 2010

FeloniousPunk writes "According to this article in the UK Guardian, NASA intends to send a manned mission to Mars by 2010, using nuclear propulsion. President Bush may announce this project, called Project Prometheus, at the State of the Union address." Here's good background and context; for technical background, I recommend Zubrin or Stern. The JPL will be involved in developing the nuclear propulsion tech, intended to cut the interplanetary trip from six months to two. Apparently the theory is that this proposal won't get shot down like the last Mars proposal because the shorter mission will save money. Here's hoping public response has progressed beyond "oh no! did he say nuclear?!" In related news, jkcity writes: "according to this article by the BBC, the Chinese plan to have a man in space by October 2003."

In soviet... mars?

[john_is_war]

Hey, in 2015 we can start In Soviet Mars jokes instead. We'll be ascending to the next level.

RE: "oh no! did he say nuclear?!"

[mvonballmo]

I wouldn't worry too much about that. It'll be more like:

"Oh no! Did he say nukuler?!"

The question will not be

[Ryan.Merrill]

whether or not we will send men to mars by 2010, it will be whether or not President Bush can pronounce Project Prometheus at the state of the union address.
:)

Re:Once they fail that..

[anonymous loser]

I think the dead giveaway will be when they select Ben Affleck to be on the landing team.

Re:All I have to say...

[StarTux]

Yeah perhaps, but space is very dark and having the astronaughts glow in the dark will help track them.

Jack Handy said it best

[10Ghz]

"I don't think I'm alone when I say I'd like to see more and more planets fall under the ruthless domination of our solar system."

From the article

[Xebikr]

"We've been restricted to the same speed for 40 years," Mr O'Keefe said. "With the new technology, where we go next will be limited only by our imagination."

I think what he meant was, where we go will be limited only by our imagination, and the speed of light.

Wait a minute

[BradNelson]

Mars by 2010?? Why not go to the moon first, considering we've "never been there?" Or maybe they'll fake the Mars landing too, you know, just to beat the...umm...*mumble*...

Prometheus?

[EHUDs_Rhino]

Given that Prometheus was punished by the gods with having an eagle eat his liver for all eternity, don't you think NASA could come up with a better name for the project?

Because...

[Guppy06]

Mars needs women!

Technological Gains from the Moon Landing???

[Cyno01]

I'll be looking a few decades later for another kevlar, microchip, or similar coming out of it.

We didn't get any of those things from the space program or the Moon Landings (which were faked). All those amazing technologies were reverse engineered (stolen) at the Area 51 Groom Lake USAF base from the alien space craft that crashed (was shot down) outside of Roswell NM in '49.

Re:Technological Gains from the Moon Landing???

[Talon33]

LOL. You better watch out. If Armstrong is reading this he might be trying to hunt you down as we speak. We all know what happened the last time someone questioned him about actually being on the moon. =) And personally, good for him, I'd beat that reporteres ass too!

Re:Technological Gains from the Moon Landing???

[Cyno01]

Yeah, i remember seeing an animated *.gif of him punching that guy. HI-larious. *looks around for Neil, ducks*

The astronauts will be FAT!!

[spineboy]

One proposed method to save fuel/space costs will be to send FAT astronauts! They'll live off their own body mass supplemented by onboard supplies. A pound of human fat contains approx 3500 calories which will supply the caloric requirements of an astronaut for about 1.5 days. A 6 month round trip caloric req's on a starvation diet will shed the astronauts approx 130 lbs (based on 2500 cal/day requirements)
This is essentially what stomach stapled obese people do so the medical consequences are fairly well characterized.
Obviously there will be some food, but the space/weight savings from this will be enormous.

This will be a sure bet - just wait.

Why this mission was accepted.

[Rui del-Negro]

NASA managers found a way to convince the goverment to fund this mission: they told Bush that the martians are developing weapons of mass destruction. They have reliable intelligence: a complete report from secret agent Herbert G. Wells.

RMN
~~~

They Better Spend 10 Bucks On A Calculator...

[saudadelinux]

...Because it'd be a damn shame if they forget to convert between miles and kilometers

http://www.space.com/news/orbiter_error_990930.h tml

$125 million for a botched probe is bad enough. Lives are priceless.

Re:why

[Wyatt Earp]

Redundant array of inexpensive planets

RAIP. I like it. A space RAIP.

Re:Jack Handy said it best

[sean23007]

"I can imagine a world without hatred or war, and I can imagine us attacking that world, because they'd never expect it."