A chat with Stephen Hawking

"I hope I'm near the upper end of the (intelligence) range." – Stephen Hawking.

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What do you think of President Bush's plan to get to Mars in 10 years?

Stupid. Robots would do a better job and be much cheaper because you don't have to bring them back.



I hope he is wrong.I want to see man step foot onto Mars before I die.

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......In Space No One Can Hear You Scream......

> What do you think of President Bush's plan to get to Mars in 10 years?
>
> Stupid. Robots would do a better job and be much cheaper because you don't
> have to bring them back.
>
>
>
> I hope he is wrong.I want to see man step foot onto Mars before I die.
>------------
robots could do it sure...but where would be the adventure in that?...a manned mission to mars would not be just a quest for scientific knowledge...but also a quest for the human spirit...an inspiring event...that would fire the imaginations of future explorers of worlds farer still than mars.

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PROUD TO BE TFFE!

Dr. Hawking has to be one of the most admirable people of our life time. Here is a person in the same position at Cambridge as Sir Issac Newton, but he wants to educate the masses. He doesn't do it for fame and fortune, but because he can. If everyone could see the preciousness of life like he does, the world would be a much better place.
I propose three cheers for Dr. Hawking.

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That's what movies like Red Planet and Mission To Mars are for. Space programs have a significant co$t to them and sending people to Mars is just to damn expensive with todays technology.

> That's what movies like Red
> Planet and Mission To
> Mars are for. Space programs have a significant co$t to them and sending
> people to Mars is just to damn expensive with todays technology.
>------------
too true...at this point we can't even send a man to the moon with today's technology.

that brings to mind the saying i hear when people are complaining about something that cannot be done..."if we can send a man to the moon...we should be able to (fill in blank)...next time someone says something like that to me...i'm going to tell them...hey...we can't send a man to the moon!

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PROUD TO BE TFFE!

> > That's what movies like <a> href="http://redplanetmovie.warnerbros.com/">Red
> > Planet[/url] and Mission To
> > Mars are for. Space programs have a significant co$t to them and
> sending
> > people to Mars is just to damn expensive with todays technology.
> >------------
> too true...at this point we can't even send a man to the moon with today's
> technology.
>
> that brings to mind the saying i hear when people are complaining about
> something that cannot be done..."if we can send a man to the moon...we should
> be able to (fill in blank)...next time someone says something like that to
> me...i'm going to tell them...hey...we can't send a man to the moon!
>
We have the ISS, why can't we have the IMB (International Moon Base)? Lets go back to go forward !

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Or imagine JPL's mistakes happening with a manned mission. Something simple like mixing up inches with centimeters. Billions of dollars to make a human pancake.

> Or imagine JPL's mistakes happening with a manned mission. Something simple
> like mixing up inches with centimeters. Billions of dollars to make a human
> pancake.
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situations like that are when human pilots come in handy.

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PROUD TO BE TFFE!

> situations like that are when human pilots come in handy.
>
I bring you something from my local news. "PILOT ERROR"
No emergency crews on Mars.


Emergency crews carried the pilot from the wreckage at Gillespie Field. He was declared dead at a hospital about an hour later.

> > Or imagine JPL's mistakes happening with a manned mission. Something
> simple
> > like mixing up inches with centimeters. Billions of dollars to make a
> human
> > pancake.
> --------------------
> situations like that are when human pilots come in handy.

This is about the only real reason why the shuttles were still flying. A human can, for one, NOTICE a problem robots and cameras miss. Certainly on a Mars mission the several months in space will give the crew plenty of time to go over every excruciating detail of the equipment en route. A manned mission can compensate for the myriad things that might go wrong with deployment.

> This is about the only real reason why the shuttles were still flying. A human
> can, for one, NOTICE a problem robots and cameras miss. Certainly on a Mars
> mission the several months in space will give the crew plenty of time to go
> over every excruciating detail of the equipment en route. A manned mission can
> compensate for the myriad things that might go wrong with deployment.
>
You just brought up someting I didnt think about. The "several months" in space. Robots dont have a problem if the oxygen supply somehow becomes contaminated or depleted... same with the food and water supply. In fact none of that is needed. Plus to house people is going to require a spacecraft much larger than what a robot would need. I think its the difference between space exploration for information and space exploration for pride. The pride part comes at a much higher cost for the same information. Analogy: Why buy a shirt at a Nordstrom price when you can get the same shirt at a Mervyns price?

> > situations like that are when human pilots come in handy.
> >
> I bring you something from my local news. "PILOT ERROR"
> No emergency crews on Mars.
>
> Emergency crews carried the pilot from the wreckage at Gillespie Field. He
> was declared dead at a hospital about an hour later.[/i]
>----------------
you go with the best pilots you can get...but there are no guarantees...and there never will be...humans have died in space...and humans have died trying to get to space...and it will happen again in the future...exploring new worlds is very dangerous...but then exploring our own world can be a dangerous endeavor...when columbus sailed the ocean blue...he didn't have an emergency crew.

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PROUD TO BE TFFE!

> > This is about the only real reason why the shuttles were still flying. A
> human
> > can, for one, NOTICE a problem robots and cameras miss. Certainly on a
> Mars
> > mission the several months in space will give the crew plenty of time to
> go
> > over every excruciating detail of the equipment en route. A manned
> mission can
> > compensate for the myriad things that might go wrong with deployment.
> >
> You just brought up someting I didnt think about. The "several months" in
> space. Robots dont have a problem if the oxygen supply somehow becomes
> contaminated or depleted... same with the food and water supply. In fact none
> of that is needed. Plus to house people is going to require a spacecraft much
> larger than what a robot would need. I think its the difference between space
> exploration for information and space exploration for pride. The pride part
> comes at a much higher cost for the same information. Analogy: Why buy a
> shirt at a Nordstrom price when you
> can get the same shirt at a Mervyns
> price?
>-------------
i do agree with you...we are not ready yet for a manned mars mission...the robots
are the advance guard...i hope someday man will be able to utilize the discoveries our automated explorers have made...and visit the places only robots can go now.

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PROUD TO BE TFFE!

> when columbus sailed the ocean blue...he didn't have an emergency
> crew.
>
+1 for the rhyme.

> > when columbus sailed the ocean blue...he didn't have an emergency
> > crew.
> >
> +1 for the rhyme.
>------------
i couldn't resist it...i tried...but i just couldn't.

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PROUD TO BE TFFE!

> You just brought up someting I didnt think about. The "several months" in
> space. Robots dont have a problem if the oxygen supply somehow becomes
> contaminated or depleted... same with the food and water supply. In fact none

(snip)

I guess I should clarify my position before I continue. I don't think this is the time to be planning a manned mission to Mars either, when there are shorter steps we should be focusing on (better presence in space than the ISS, a manned moonbase, etc). In addition, I so intensely dislike the current administration that I absolutely don't want them to get any credit for doing something that will really be done by people that are by far their superiors morally and intellectually, so this further clouds my reason on this matter.

That being said, a manned mission to Mars will have the best computers and manipulator arms in existence: a human. A manned mission, despite the life support overhead, will have a huge advantage. Look at the worries we have now with maneuvering the current rovers. The robots have always been a short tumble from being completely useless, so every little move has to be done with extraordinary care by a committee of programmers. A human with a pickaxe and a few instruments back at base can get hundreds of times more data than sending the same human+life support mass in mechanical robots to Mars.

bump

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......In Space No One Can Hear You Scream......