The Moon and Mars
Everything in my Rome's Revolution series is about far away worlds and the future. But every so often I like to take a survey of where we are in this world and what's coming down the pike. In this article, specifically, I'd like to highlight man's return to space for worlds both near and far.
The first and easiest place to visit would be going back to the Moon. NASA is planning on sending a crew looping around the moon in 2021. This would mostly be a shakedown cruise of the new Orion spacecraft. It appears that they want to build a construction station in lunar orbit so they can assemble ships that can go to Mars and get them there without always fighting Earth gravity.
Meanwhile, the Japanese have stated that they want to put a man on the Moon by 2030, the same year NASA is aiming for Mars. China landed an unmanned rover on the Moon in 2013, the third country to do so. They have also stated that they want to put a man on the Moon but they are shooting for 2036 which is a ways off. India held a contest for a private group to land a craft on the Moon but have not announced plans to send a human there as yet. Finally, we get to Russia. They, too, have announced they want to put a man on the Moon in 2030. It's going to be a busy place that year!
Between the Moon and Mars, it appears that NASA wants to land a man on an asteroid for science and practice. The unmanned probe Dawn was launched in 2007 and stopped by an asteroid called Vesta and it arrived in 2011. It stayed there for 14 months then exited and made its way to Ceres in late 2012. It has been there ever since. The spacecraft is still functioning and NASA is going to decide in the next month or so as to whether they are going to send it to a third asteroid called Adeona or keep it in orbit around Ceres until it fails. President Obama announced he wanted to send a human to one of the asteroids by 2025 but who knows if that will happen?
This leads us to Mars. Everybody wants to go there. NASA is currently developing the Orion spacecraft for just this purpose. As mentioned above, the target date is 2030 but that could slip. In the mean time, it is possible that when they get to the Red Planet, there will already be people there. Shades of Rome's Revolution! Who will these people be? If Elon Musk has his way, it will be SpaceX. He is planning on landing an unmanned craft in 2020. Originally it was going to be next year but got delayed because of "other priorities" which means Tesla, SolarRoof, etc.
If you don't want to wait for SpaceX, you can sign up for Mars One's Mission to Mars. You pay them money and they put you on a list and if things go well, you'll get selected to go. When they launch is anybody's guess but be forewarned, they are only planning on one-way trips. You can't come home again. Their web site indicates they are shooting for the early 2030's. I wonder what is so magical about that decade? It seems to be everybody's target. China says they are going to land a man on Mars by the "late 2020s" so it's pretty close to everyone else.
The one thing that everyone is forgetting is that there has already been a human on Mars. His name is John Carter and Edgar Rice Burroughs had him projecting himself there in 1912. I wonder if he is still there?
The first and easiest place to visit would be going back to the Moon. NASA is planning on sending a crew looping around the moon in 2021. This would mostly be a shakedown cruise of the new Orion spacecraft. It appears that they want to build a construction station in lunar orbit so they can assemble ships that can go to Mars and get them there without always fighting Earth gravity.
Meanwhile, the Japanese have stated that they want to put a man on the Moon by 2030, the same year NASA is aiming for Mars. China landed an unmanned rover on the Moon in 2013, the third country to do so. They have also stated that they want to put a man on the Moon but they are shooting for 2036 which is a ways off. India held a contest for a private group to land a craft on the Moon but have not announced plans to send a human there as yet. Finally, we get to Russia. They, too, have announced they want to put a man on the Moon in 2030. It's going to be a busy place that year!
Between the Moon and Mars, it appears that NASA wants to land a man on an asteroid for science and practice. The unmanned probe Dawn was launched in 2007 and stopped by an asteroid called Vesta and it arrived in 2011. It stayed there for 14 months then exited and made its way to Ceres in late 2012. It has been there ever since. The spacecraft is still functioning and NASA is going to decide in the next month or so as to whether they are going to send it to a third asteroid called Adeona or keep it in orbit around Ceres until it fails. President Obama announced he wanted to send a human to one of the asteroids by 2025 but who knows if that will happen?
This leads us to Mars. Everybody wants to go there. NASA is currently developing the Orion spacecraft for just this purpose. As mentioned above, the target date is 2030 but that could slip. In the mean time, it is possible that when they get to the Red Planet, there will already be people there. Shades of Rome's Revolution! Who will these people be? If Elon Musk has his way, it will be SpaceX. He is planning on landing an unmanned craft in 2020. Originally it was going to be next year but got delayed because of "other priorities" which means Tesla, SolarRoof, etc.
If you don't want to wait for SpaceX, you can sign up for Mars One's Mission to Mars. You pay them money and they put you on a list and if things go well, you'll get selected to go. When they launch is anybody's guess but be forewarned, they are only planning on one-way trips. You can't come home again. Their web site indicates they are shooting for the early 2030's. I wonder what is so magical about that decade? It seems to be everybody's target. China says they are going to land a man on Mars by the "late 2020s" so it's pretty close to everyone else.
The one thing that everyone is forgetting is that there has already been a human on Mars. His name is John Carter and Edgar Rice Burroughs had him projecting himself there in 1912. I wonder if he is still there?
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Tales of the Vuduri
Tidbits and insights into the 35th century world of the Vuduri.
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