NASA To Team Up With Russia For Future Mars Flight 318
xp65 writes "NASA has invited Russia to carry out a joint manned flight to Mars, the head of NASA's Moscow office said on Tuesday. Russia is currently planning to send its own expedition to Mars some time in the future. Marc Bowman told an international aviation and space conference in Moscow that the Mars mission should take advantage of the achievements made by the International Space Station and use a multinational crew."
Re:Understanding (Score:4, Interesting)
I think your underestimating the importance of competition.
Russia going to Mars alone could motivate a second space race. The end result is someone standing on Mars in 10 years instead of 20. NASA is more likely to get funding and motivation if they are competing.
We've really come a long way (Score:1, Interesting)
Imagine how ridiculous the phrase "NASA's Moscow office" would have sounded just a couple of decades ago. It sounds like something a cold-war sci-fi writer could have used.
Re:Understanding (Score:1, Interesting)
I'd much rather a unified nation with no competition and still having drive to get to space than separated nations at war.
you cant have your cake and launch it too.
Future Conflict? (Score:3, Interesting)
What if a new cold-war-style conflict arises during the mission? Or even a "hot" war? Nations may grow nationalistic and petty, harming the mission. Once it leaves the ground, a smooth divorce is not possible.
Re:Understanding (Score:2, Interesting)
We team up with Russia to get to Mars, meanwhile India and China work to do the same.
It's OK to not have to compete with EVERY other country out there. We don't always have to be THAT GUY.
Re:I hope this happens in my lifetime. (Score:3, Interesting)
Growing up in the 20th century the mission to mars was always just around the corner when presented in science books and media in general.
Actually, it could have been, it was within our grasp and we let it go.
Personally, I've always figured the day the US jumped the shark as a nation was 12/19/1972 - the day Apollo 17 returned to earth, and we never went back.
Somehow, I don't seriously think we ever will.
All things considered (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Understanding (Score:3, Interesting)
Considering we've had wars and genocides throughout human history and we're still here, did it ever occur to you that they might serve some biological function you're not aware of? The 20th century set a record for bloodbaths. We still started it with a world population of 1.6 billion, and ended it with a population of over 6.5 billion.
If the "biological function" you're thinking of is population control, then you're contradicting yourself: clearly, the unparalleled bloodbaths of the 20th c. didn't do much to keep the numbers down.
Anyway, it's silly to talk about "biological functions" at all in a large population. There is no biological imperative for any species to do anything except keep itself going, which humans can do pretty well with or without war. There is no abstract standard of fitness, no goal to evolution, etc. As long as H. sapiens is still here, it is by definition performing its biological function just fine.
And finally, your .sig:
Social Justice: Seeing a liberal getting slugged in the teeth.
So you don't have the guts to go out picking fights with liberals, but you want to see someone else do it? That's an unusually honest bit of conservative chickenhawk macho bullshit. Speaking as a liberal, all I can say is, you're welcome to try; afterwards, the hospital personnel will be happy to tell you more about your own personal biological functions than you ever wanted to know.
Ah those crazy Russians! (Score:4, Interesting)
Just don't have any women on board, particularly Canadian women, otherwise the the Russians will kill each other trying to kiss her.
Mars Epic Fail (Didn't last even one month):
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6955149/page/3/ [msn.com]
Mars Epic Win:
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/07/15/after-three-months-in-a-tin-can-six-men-end-simulated-mars-mission/ [discovermagazine.com]
Re:All things considered (Score:3, Interesting)
I think you are projecting things a bit too fast, but yes—China is the next superpower, unless they screw up something bad time. They have an enormous population and a very well organised state, all things considered. I would say 50 years before the US become a has-been, like the UK and France. I would guess what will crack the US will ultimately be its disproportionate defence spending (where did I see this movie already?) and too much focus on unproductive sectors like pure finance. Who knows, maybe some states rich in resources (Texas? Alaska?) will try to secede at that point.
Among the most worrying signals is that research papers I read from the US are most often authored by people with foreign names; not just surnames, but first names as well, indicating they are likely immigrants, not hyphenated Americans. These people may leave as fast as they came, when they realise employment conditions in Scandinavia are much better e.g. for graduate students.
Cheer up, 50 years ago civil rights in the US were comparable to those in China today. There's a good chance China will improve its record in the next years, maybe they'll get their own Gandhi, Rudi Dutschke or Nelson Mandela. Make sure your kids learn Mandarin though, you USians are probably not used to the world expecting you to speak a language other than English.
Re:Understanding (Score:3, Interesting)
Nah, cause Russia is no longer the "Evil, Godless Soviet Union". China, on the other hand, might motivate us.