Help save planetary exploration

[Garamonde]

That is kinda true actually. Maybe if we do get to Mars we can make some discoveries that will aid us here on Earth.

[Gaia]

That said, we'd still be killing each other for power by the time we even reach mars in the first place. We have abused the resources to the point some of the resources have gotten scarce enough for us to start fighting for it.

I mean, we DID steal good 'ol USA from the indians when we first got here, did we? We also had to drive off other settlers too before we made our mark on the world.. Right? I mean we can't just un-do the damage we done to the world overnight. Exploring is in human nature, we've done this for thousands of years, and exploring is the reason why we moved out of our caves in the first place too.

And for some idiotic reason, we decided to bomb japan (well, part of it) and didin't realize it had natives of it's own. Look who's laughing now, america? You created a powerful H-Bomb, and dropped it on an island still inhabited by fellow man. Japan in turn made business the way it is now. This is because it's like a double-edged sword, you don't know the end result until it's too late.

[Helmo]

I mean, we DID steal good 'ol USA from the indians when we first got here, did we?

India never owned the USA actually.

[Sol]

Wow, I'm surprised so many people here think planetary exploration is a waste of time and resources. Take a look at this article:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dre...cheap.html

Curiosity had a total cost of 2.5 billion dollars, yes, but it’s not like NASA went over to the Rover Depot, plucked the glamor model off the shelf and whipped out Uncle Sam’s credit card.

No, NASA spread the cost of this mission out over eight years. The money spent went into salaries of highly-skilled engineers, programmers, managers, and independent contractors in over twenty states across the country. Things like the cost of rocket to launch it to Mars are included in that total, too, which accounts for nearly a fifth of the amount.

If you you just divide the total cost by the number of years NASA has saved for it, you come out with about $312 million per year. This works about to approximately 1.8% of NASA’s yearly budget and approximately diddly-squat of the total federal budget. That’s about $1 per year for every American, aka, nothing. Think of it this way: say you lose one dime every month this year. Whoops! You’ve lost more money than you spent on Curiosity.

If you live in the U.S., you paid $8 to explore Mars, to help determine if life ever existed or could've existed or does exist on Mars and to determine if humanity could ever live there themselves. Most of you spend $60 on one video game, so you can probably afford it.

And for those thinking that going to other planets would just "screw things there up too," at this point, the people in the best position to even touch Mars are some of the world's smartest and most skilled scientists, who just sent a rover to check if life even exists there at all. If they find ANYTHING, I'm sure they'll be doing an insane amount of research before sending half the Earth's population over and ruining the planet.

And for people wondering what the point of colonizing other planets would be, here's a really easy example:

A giant asteroid hits the Earth, on par with the one that erased the dinosaurs. No one on the planet would survive. But if we have people on Mars? Humanity continues, at least in some form. And that's a really simple example. That seems worth it, to me anyway.

[Helmo]

sol baby I love ya

guys if we found life on Mars that would be huge

also who says we'd ruin mars? what would we ruin it's empty and barren

also yeah asteroid

[Thumbtacks]

"Hurr we shud fix earf before mess up another planet"

I hate this excuse. Incase you hadn't realized, Theres nothing on any other planets anyways.
What are you going to destroy? Mars trees?

The worst we could do is literally remove it from the universe all together.

I think everyone in the first-world should just leave earth all together to build up from the dirt on mars, and left all the nature and what not back down on Earth, we don't need to worry. Earth will forever stand as the homeland where life originated, And after time will seem relatively untouched.

That way all the people ruining earth are gone, and mankind gets to branch out into the universe.

[Helmo]

Like I just said WHAT CAN WE RUIN ON MARS

its all rust and dust

[Thumbtacks]

Martian Ecosystem and sheeyit

[Zadaben]

Here is my theory,
Once we get to Mars, we can start to colonize it.
Once we colonize Mars, we can move on to other parts of the universe.
Once we get to other parts of the universe, we can escape the pending self-destruction of the sun, and destruction of the Solar System.
If we do not move off of Earth in the next five billion years (yes it does sound like a long time now, but still, it will happen eventually), the human race will go extinct.
If we do not want to go extinct, we have to colonize other planets, that starts with Mars.

[Helmo]

MAKE SURE YOU GUYS SEND IN A LETTER TO SAVE THE PROGRAM

https://secure3.convio.net/planet/site/A...ion&id=139

[Sengir]

No but it's wise to buy a new car when your family gets too big for it.

Because we are getting too big for Earth...

[Phaze]

Here is my theory,
Once we get to Mars, we can start to colonize it.
Once we colonize Mars, we can move on to other parts of the universe.
Once we get to other parts of the universe, we can escape the pending self-destruction of the sun, and destruction of the Solar System.
If we do not move off of Earth in the next five billion years (yes it does sound like a long time now, but still, it will happen eventually), the human race will go extinct.
If we do not want to go extinct, we have to colonize other planets, that starts with Mars.

We've made great leaps and bounds within a few hundred years. Unless an Asteroid comes by, we're not in any danger of extinction, much less from the sun going out quite yet. Heck I think we'd have leisurely time in a couple thousand, assuming we don't WWIII our asses back to the dark ages.

However, I do think exploring planets ('specially Mars, maybe Europa [I know it's a moon, shh]) is a thing we should be doing even now. The Aerospace industry has indirectly led to great benefits to mankind with all sorts of neat creations made initially to deal with problems about space.

[Helmo]

No but it's wise to buy a new car when your family gets too big for it.

Because we are getting too big for Earth...

China has more than twice the population of Europe and the USA combined

India is going to pass them in like 12-13 years


If China's population continues to grow at the rate it has then they would need a second Earth's worth of resources

[Previous]

Can't we just give me a gun and some ammo

[greatspaceadventure]

we must stimulate GREAT SPACE EXPLORATION!!!!!!!

it is our DUTY as the most advanced species in the GALAXY!