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Originally Posted by Speedyer
 What exactly is appropriate effort exactly? Sending a manned crew to Mars as soon as possible without learning anything about the planet first? |
Of course we shouldn't be unreasonable about it, but in 1961 Kennedy said that within ten years we'd put a man on the moon.
Forty three years later Bush said that within sixteen years we'd put a man on... the moon.
This is not progress.
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Uh huh, but first you know, you have to spend a couple of years pipping potentially billions of dollars in getting everything ready for such a resort. You have after all the spacecraft to get lots of people there, satellites in orbit, high cost employee's, and you have to learn how to build on Mars to weather dust storms and other dangers. Then once you've had your share of accidents, deaths, cost overruns, you've got to recoup those costs and hope it is profitable enough to do so.
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This really doesn't seem unreasonable considering the history of American corporations. I fully acknowledge that it'll take more than a couple eccentric billionaires to make commercial space flight compare to that of NASA and the ESA but once those few get it there it'll be destined to go beyond the national programs.
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Oh, you mean Spaceship 1/2? Hardly impressive, the feathered wing is the only idea that wasn't recycled. Otherwise your talking about a concept that's been around since the 60's as the X-15 program. It made sense that the winning designed used was something that was already proven but Spaceship 1/2 could hardly reach the ISS.
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So your problem is that they fell back on a design shown to be superior (economically) to what NASA uses?
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Oh, and speaking of the ISS. Whenever the next private spacecraft comes around with such capability to reach the station, they shouldn't. Unless of course they wish to contribute to the cost of maintaining the ISS. Which so far the tourist who've visited haven't.
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I could see docking fees comparable to the cost of the activity. Nothing more though.
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Anyway, I think space tourism has a long way to go in just getting to orbit before we even begin to talk about Mars. Besides I don't see space exploration and space tourism at odds, indeed I think space tourism can only benefit from the knowledge that space exploration uncovers. After all, somebody has to set the groundwork, and I doubt private industry wants to pour money into a program that doesn't make them any money.
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I'm not saying commercial space flight should just up and set course for Mars. Just that they should look to it as an ultimate goal (until they find the next location) and take steps to reach it. I agree that space tourism, once it's off the ground (I specifically avoided two puns before this one and finally gave in), but the problem is that government organizations aren't doing enough exploration.