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Asked by Aimski to Jim on 9 Mar 2016.
Question: why can`t we go to mars?
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Jim Barrett answered on 9 Mar 2016:
We could definitely go to Mars. I think that NASA have plans to send someone there in 2034!
Mars would be quite a nasty place, it doesn’t have a good atmosphere like us, so you have to worry about getting fried by radiation from the sun
Comments
Adrian commented on :
We have the technology to take robots to Mars. It could also take humans. But would the humans survive the radiation of space, the long voyage (1.5 years one way)? How much would humanity be willing to send some humans to Mars and back? There are more complex questions than just the ability to go there. Of course, if it were much safer and much cheaper, the decision would be done more easily.
Scott commented on :
Three main reasons, in order of priority:
Money: It’s awfully expensive to get a person to Mars and no-one is really willing to put much money toward it. If there were a serious need to get there soon, I’m sure money would be more forthcoming!
Time: It would take months to get to Mars (it took a week even to get to the Moon!) and even longer to get back. We’ve only really got experience of a continual year in space with people on the International Space Station, and they don’t have to deal with trajectories, complicated docking procedures, landing on a planet etc. It’s going to be hard for a couple of astronauts to keep their concentration on all that for over a year.
Life Support: Mars has no breathable air, no food, no water and no protective magnetic field. Neil Armstrong and others only spent a few hours on the Moon before coming back, but future astronauts would have to stay on Mars for months. Can they take enough food etc to last that long?
None of this impossible: as I say, we could probably go very soon if need be, it’s just we are in a money-dominated world, unfortunately.