Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Plans Released for a Trip to Mars

To even think of going to Mars is beyond my comfort zone. Today I read a piece in the paper about Dennis Tito, the first paying space tourist, a multi millionaire, and former NASA engineer, who has plans to send a spaceship to Mars by 2018. At the moment he doesn't have a spaceship or the financing —but I expect that is a small detail for a man who bought a flight from the Russian space agency.


His plans call for a married couple to man the 501 day trip past the red planet. The thinking behind selecting a married couple——to allay the loneliness of such a protracted excursion.

Inspiration Mars, his non-profit company, notes that in 2018 Earth and Mars would align in a manner that will require less fuel than when—I guess, they aren't aligned. Miss out on that configuration and you'll have to wait until 2031.

The cost: approximately $500,000,000 dollars. Mr. Tito according to today's Boston Globe, "may invest as much as $100,000,000."

Why am I not excited about this project? Is it that I don't think a sneak look at Mars is profound?

No, it's far simpler. If you have $100,000,000, how about looking at some of the projects you could invest in here—on earth.

According to water.org: 3.4 million people die each year from a water related disease.

According to Bread for the World: Every day, almost 16,000 children die from hunger-related diseases.

And then there's research dedicated for finding cures for "orphan diseases" —those rare afflictions that affect a small number of people and rarely get sufficient funds for research.

The list goes on and on—


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