Humans Will Never Colonize Mars

The people I know getting knee replacements are all grossly overweight, and their musculoskeletal systems developed on Earth.

 

Which proves nothing whatsoever.

 

Until a human is born on and raised on Mars we cannot know the effects so the logical course is to assume the worst but hope for the best. Physiologically the assumption MUST be that lessened gravitational influence will be detrimental just from our very limited experiences in low earth orbit for relatively short time spans. Considering what space station inhabitants go through for rehabilitation when returning to Earth...it is unlikely someone born on Mars would do well on this planet.

 

Actually it does lend evidence to what would happen when someone designed to carry 100 lbs. is forced to carry 200 continuously...like a Martian would.

 

Space station astronauts are subject to effectively ZERO gravity. There is a big difference between "zero" gravity and 38%.

 

Is there?...Unless you have Data I do not (unlikely) you are in the "Hope for the Best" category. It is also important to consider the great lengths our astronauts take to limit the effects of low gravity yet still require extensive rehab.

 

It would magnitudes more feasible to colonize the harshest environments on Earth than Mars, and recue would be in hours , not months, when something goes wrong. Perhaps if robots prepared a base they might be able to survive for awhile. … much longer if we had just one ship like the Enterprise. LOL

 

The only long term effect from micro gravity on astronauts is bone loss. And they are working on supplements and other measures to mitigate that. We've had many astronauts and cosmonauts fully able to perform intensive exercises immediately after returning to Earth in full gravity. I remember a couple of astronauts after spending several months in micro gravity were able to play solid games of tennis the day after they returned to Earth.

And by the way, I don't give a rats ass whether we ever "colonize" Mars or not. But I do want to see a series of manned missions landing a crew there every 26 months in perpetuity.

 

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-happens-human-body-space-180958259/

 

Once again, a manned mission to Mars would be six months outbound, 18 months on the surface, six months return flight.

And given the Mars Direct plan is to tether the habitat module away from the burnt out upper stage and then rotate the entire assembly around a common center of gravity to generate Mars normal gravity, then the Mars crew would only be in zero G for a few hours at most during the two and a half years.

Micro gravity would not be a factor in a manned mission to Mars.

 

I don't remember saying anything about atmospheric pressure or living at lower gravity.

I did say something about gestating and growing up under low gravity and then moving to a high gravity location.

 

It would seem you have access to data that others do not....please share.

 

For Mars, I would argue that we can accomplish anything anyone wants to accomplish pertaining to science without humans actual having to be there. We've sent multiple rovers that have operated on Mars for years. Rovers are planned to have analytic capability to help choose samples - something a human can't do without the same equipment. Rovers can drill into the regolith. I just don't know what a human can do that a Mars rover could not do.

For the Moon, I would argue that we've been there and done that. We have the samples. Plus, we could do all the exploring planned for unmanned Mars missions on the Moon - except scientists are that excited about it and would choose several other far more interesting places to go.

Frankly, I think the issue comes down to whether the purpose is science or whether they are merrit badge type conquests for human travel - like putting a flag on Mt. Everest, which we let anyone do who wants to pay their own way.

At some point, we surely will find a reason to have men in space somewhere. But, I don't see how to justify the tax dollars and the hit against scientific exploration that is certain to be required today.

 

Read Dr. Robert Zubrin's book "The Case for Mars". It has been out since 1996. He lays everything out. Addresses all the arguments against a manned Mars program in general and against Mars Direct in particular. He includes exhaustive cost analysis and extensive analysis of the health risks to crewmembers.

 

I see...so what happens when there is something unique on Mars....do we just hope we see it on camera?

 

You have no proof or evidence of this.

 

Opinion and editorial are not the Data I would need, nor what was requested.

 

He is an engineer. His work that he (and another engineer) did to create the Mars Direct Mission Plan is far, far from opinion or editorial. Like I said he has worked out the details exhaustively. You can get good summaries of the Mars Direct mission plan by googling it.

 

My question concerns your claim that Microgravity would not be an issue....I requested clarification and Data, not to read a book.

Unless you can summarize or at least provide a link I will assume you are just making stuff up for fun.

 

After leaving Earth orbit the habitat module for the four astronauts tethers away from the burnt out upper stage, thrusters are fired on both parts of the entire vehicle sending it rotating. It rotates up to sufficient speed to generate the same as Mars gravity in the habitat module for the astronauts.

Of course while on Mars the crew is subjected to Martian gravity (.38g).

On the return trip to Earth the crew uses the same technique they used on the outbound leg to create the same as Martian gravity.

Thus the four man crew (or six man if you want to go with NASAs preference) is only subject to zero g (micro gravity) briefly at the beginnings of their leaving Earth and leaving Mars.

 

Proving negatives is hard.

But, this issue is easy to figure out, as NASA does it all the time.

If you want a mission to Mars, you need to propose a justification.

 

For starters a single manned mission to Mars as planned (if successful) would traverse more of the Martian surface and return more samples to Earth than all the unmanned missions ever completed or proposed.

 

It may be possible to design exercise routines that may help. We will go there just because that is who we are. A colony may do better somewhere else. Don't really know. I am hoping we will branch out.

 

Neat....So IF this unproven and untested technology is developed and IF it actually works as planned and IF everything works perfectly for half a year these folks will only need deal with bone loss, muscle degradation and fluid shifts until they come back home and spend a couple years trying to regain what they lost.

Sounds like a solid plan.

 

Absolutely amazing. You completely dismiss the entire laying out of the extreme variants in conditions that humans can tolerate, then completely ignore the last paragraph that made it relevant:

So once again, you provide no evidence at all, no actual scientific basis for your claim. You simply dismiss what you do not like and ignore what you can not answer.

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