[ExI] future fizzle

[Stefano Vaj]

On Sun, May 31, 2009 at 9:44 PM, Dave Sill <sparge at gmail.com> wrote:
> Goal? Yes. Currently planned? I don't think so. A quick google and
> visit to nasa.gov reveals little about plans for a manned Mars
> mission.

Plan as in "what are your plans for the future?". I am the first to
maintain that they haven't the foggiest idea of the details of an
actual mission. But the point we were discussing, if I am not
mistaken, is that that agency itself considers manned missions as a
primary and worthy goal.

Now, my point is not to bring forward the rather tedious and
ultimately secondary debate manned vs unmanned space exploration. My
point is that it is *not* a matter of "strategy", it is a matter of
decadence.

>>>> And... accomplish what?
>>>
>>> Um, exploring Mars?
>>
>> To what purpose?
>
> To what purpose is a manned mission?

Ask this question to NASA. If they do not have an answer, this may
help explain, together with bureaucratisation, budget costs, PR and
security obsession, why they are thirty years late *and* still
considering it a primary, albeit comfortably far, target which has not
been replaced for any equivalently, or more, ambitious goals.

-- 
Stefano Vaj