DUDE WTF we should be there right now if we are really that fucked right now we should be inventing right now not killing.
There is more money to be made by killing other people than to be made by colonizing space. "I'm going to the moon -- who is with me?" Watch this to the end, perhaps this will brighten your day: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/bill_stone_explores_the_earth_and_space.html
I would say priorities. Not like we can't print off enough dollar bills but when you have billions of dollars that are literally being wasted every year by federal programs that generate zero revenue (some even have major deficits), then it's hard to scrounge up enough cash to play with some high-tech toys in outer space.
Well, you mean other than the technology needed, the funding, the sheer amount of time it takes to get to mars, the problems of colonization, etc, etc? Probably the fact that WE HAVE OTHER SHIT TO DO. Let's focus on getting our shit together on Earth first, and them maybe we can tinker with outerspace. You really think spending tens, maybe hundreds of billions of dollars in a space program is a good idea right now? I think we have more pressing issues right now, like the war on drugs
Short term cost/benefit analysis which deems such a project too risky both in human and capital terms. Another factor is that thus far only government agencies have been involved. These do not think in terms of potential profit from such adventures, but rather national and political prestige under the guise of doing science. So unless the Chinese announce that they are set to go to Mars within a given deadline, you won't see NASA or ESA (or for that matter, the Russians) and their respective governments sponsoring any Mars trip soon. Private capital on the other hand... There are great riches out there in the asteroid belt just beyond Mars. Where better to process and refine the raw material from asteroid mining, than Mars? Would also require a permanent colony there. And with a viable economic motive and more efficient technology to get there and back, the long term bottom-line literal astronomical profit is sure to make some company or conglomerate of companies to soon shake loose the funds needed for the initial investment.
because we CAN i want a human walking on mars because its COOL, cmon people loosen up a bit, we spend how much money on shit that goes nowhere? lets atleast go SOMEwhere
Not to sound too geeky... but there is something almost mystical about space exploration. "To boldly go where no man has gone before..." Why should we go back to the moon? Why should we go to mars and come back? As George Mallory said about Mt. Everest, when asked "Why climb it?" "Because it's there."
i dont think we should be spending all our money on physical space exploration becuase there is so much here for us to discover and investigate...but we should definaly place much greater value on education, science, and technology advancement than we currently do. the one thing that makes us diffrent than other animals is our mental abilities, so lets develop that. A single human brain has more nuron to nuron connections than there are stars in the universe...lets explore how incredable things are here before we consern ouselves with collecting dirt from the moon or mars. I'm not saying that the universe is not incredably uncomprehendable or that there is nothing to investigate but we know so little about earth, so i say lets start here.
Because 60% of all unmanned spacecrafts that have been sent there either crashed or lost contact and are now floating endlessly through space. Because with today's technology it would take about a year to get there and back. Would you go on a year long mission with only a 40% chance you survive? Just give it time, as our technology advances the success rate will rise and the travel time will drop. We will get there when the time is right.