Mars pioneers should stay there permanently, says Buzz Aldrin

http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5jGLPGHAnRCb__djbdl8Otx7ikpTA

Mars pioneers should stay there permanently, says Buzz Aldrin

PARIS (AFP) — The first astronauts sent to Mars should be prepared to spend the rest of their lives there, in the same way that European pioneers headed to America knowing they would not return home, says moonwalker Buzz Aldrin.

In an interview with AFP, the second man to set foot on the Moon said the Red Planet offered far greater potential than Earth's satellite as a place for habitation.

With what appears to be vast reserves of frozen water, Mars "is nearer terrestrial conditions, much better than the Moon and any other place," Aldrin, 78, said in a visit to Paris on Tuesday.

"It is easier to subsist, to provide the support needed for people there than on the Moon."

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:evilgrin:

n/t

Perhaps the combination of small breeding pool and low genetic diversity will actually speed up their mutation into space monkeys!

Who needs feet am I right? Right.

Pilgrims??? Or maybe use it like the Brits did OZ and send all the corporate thugs to exile there?

I think the first few visitors will return though, but eventually there could be enough of an infrastructure that individuals would just start passing on launch windows and "re-upping" for another 26 months (the interval of the windows). Most scientists would probably never want to leave if they felt that they were accomplishing meaningful work.

Water makes it so much easier. You can generate methane and water from the CO₂ atmosphere provided you have hydrogen. The presence of water negates the need to bring hydrogen from earth. It's a very simple reaction. I've seen it demonstrated.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sabatier_reaction

I would go. Seriously. I think it would be a fantastic adventure.

Now a couple of name drops: I had the pleasure of meeting Buzz at a Mars Exploration Convention a few years back in Colorado. Very cool, intelligent fellow. With only one doctorate from MIT, he doesn't quite have Story Musgrave's educational resume, but then who does?

Story Musgrave, who I got to meet in 1999 is a freak of nature, a true renaissance man. A six time shuttle astronaut (fixed the Hubble) and likes school. A lot: BS in math, BA in Chemistry, MBA in computational analysis, MD from Columbia, MS in physiology/biophysics and an MA in literature. :wow:

But yeah, Mars. Someone will be first, probably not American. I don't care at this point. I would just like to see it in my lifetime.

And it's already a red planet.

This is a strange fantasy of people that I just don't get. There is no point to sending people to Mars. They certainly won't be living there.

Scientific research is silly. What has science ever done for us? :sarcasm: