One-Way Trip to Mars Offered by Dutch Company

On Mar 31, 2013, at 2:21 PM, Schonert Edward wrote:

>
> PEOPLE !!!!! Just check Robert Zubrin's book "The Case For Mars" for
> details on the tragedy of why we didn't do this in 1990's.
> Our NASA "experts" blew many times what it would have cost with
> their space shuttle & ISS projects never sending anyone above LEO.
>

Let me remind you of what happened after landing men on the Moon. The project was cancelled and the hardware is now museum pieces. If we spent a boatload of money to land men on Mars, what reason is there to expect a different outcome?

The key to large scale space development is to deliver products and services to paying customers, almost all of whom are on the ground. This is why the communication sat business is thriving and spends a lot more on space development than NASA.

We need to develop new space industries with the potential for substantial growth leading to development of the technology and infrastructure needed for space settlement -- particularly cheap launch, which requires high volume. Space tourism and space solar power fit the bill. If you can think of anything else capable, if all goes very well, of providing a market in the 10,000s of launches per year range, please let me know.

For details on this approach, see http://alglobus.net/NASAwork/papers/NSSJOURNAL_PathsToSpaceSettlement_2012.pdf