Nowadays Mars is where it’s at. Elon Musk wants to die on it. NASA, and the aforementioned Elon Musk, wants to colonize it. There are numerous private and public parties competing to get there first. Some people are calling this the second space race. Any newsgroup that covers science/technology has coverage on it at least once a week. All this attention is being used as a catalyst for social issues such as feminism and racism. Although I have been getting very excited about it, it’s time for a reality check. No human boot has ever touched the red planet’s rocky surface. Getting there by 2030? Maybe, but let's have a look at what we're going to have to do first.
The first space race cost the U.S. alone 21.35 billion dollars. Inflation-adjusted, that’s 141 billion dollars. Although the Soviet Union never released a report detailing their spending, it can be estimated to be at around the same amount. This means that 2 counties competing against each other spent over 250 billion dollars in today’s money. Think now about all the nations and corporations in this endeavor. This means that the cost will be astronomical. This “Crab Mentality” is killing us. If the groups worked together they could get there with a lot less money, but where's the fun in that?
This presidency is making budget cuts across the board in an effort to, “Make America Great Again.” NASA is one of those affected and will be getting a minor cut back of around %0.8. This doesn't sound like a lot but consider the fact that their funding has been in a steady decline. Why does this matter? As I've mentioned before, getting to Mars will cost a lot of money. The total amount NASA is funded by is only $19.1 billion. NASA still has to attend to other projects so once again money is an overwhelming factor.
The most obvious challenge to overcome in this multi-layered project is how do we actually get people to Mars. One option is to simply pack a lot of food and ration it while we ride there. This solution was used in the novel, The Martian. The problem however is that it's an eight-month journey. I don’t even have to do the math to know that that’s a lot of food, not to mention water, for just one person. I already know what you're all saying: ”We’ll grow food and recycle water just like they do on the ISS.” That’s still a lot of weight and it would require a huge rocket to house the growing facilities.
Mars: How Close Are We?
By Benson Stockdale
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