It’s the radiation, Stupid

They started with weightlessness as the reason, they did drop the R-word in the middle (can’t throw out all credibility), but only in passing, then reinforced the weightlessness meme again at the end.

I see it like this (because this is how it is); you can’t get the money if you aren’t offering the hope of something exciting (like a Mars colony) or something excitingly catastrophic (like the end of the world unless government has total control). Therefore you can’t come out and say that a Mars colony is a stupid idea because then you lose your funding.

In fact you’d have to live underground on Mars, or die of radiation. If you’re going to live underground, well, you can do that here on Earth much more easily and cheaply. AND…you don’t want to do that anyway, because living underground forever is boring, so forget the whole thing.

On second thought, no; I’m wrong about all of that so give me a hundred billion dollars and I’ll get you’re dumb ass to Mars. You’ll need to pay in advance.

Share

3 thoughts on “It’s the radiation, Stupid

  1. Well, by the time we’re ready to actually colonize Mars, the ozone layer will have evaporated and the geomagnetic poles will have swapped, the combination of which will having us all bathing in a nice mix of UV and cosmic rays. We’ll have already mutated our offspring by that time, so living on Mars will be a walk in the park!

  2. I’m of the generation that, during primary school classes, watched the moon landings on a relative’s B&W TV with bated breath and awe. It’s telling that the school was unable to justify spending for a television.

    I am disappointed that so little came of that stunning achievement.

    I am totally cool with people colonising Mars, and I’ll forever regret being too old to go myself.

    So, if anybody wants to spend their own hard-earned money to make the trip, who am I to say that they may not do so?
    If others wish to support them (without going themselves), who am I to say that they may not do so?

    Should the government foot the bill? My thoughts are “probably not”, but it shouldn’t get in the way either.

  3. That article also says “Last year research from the US also found that astronauts who travelled into deep space on lunar missions were five times more likely to have died from cardiovascular disease than those who went into low orbit”. No mention of the fact that the population in question is too small (27) for statistically significant results.

Comments are closed.