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January 09, 2004

Bush's Mars Initiative

I admit it. I'm a total sucker for things like this. If the Bush Administration commits to sending a manned mission to Mars, or even just putting a permanent base on the Moon, it would definitely be a point in their favor in my mind. I really think space exploration is one of the most important things the human race can do. If they are willing to go out on a limb and fund this it would be something I would support. Of course there are big problems on Earth that could also use the money that would otherwise go towards Mars development, but I think in the long-term -- if we take a 1000 year view of things -- spending money on colonizing Mars has greater potential benefit for greater numbers of people in the future than almost anything we can do on Earth -- as long as we don't destroy our species before we manage to colonize Mars. Spreading to another world dramatically increases the odds that humanity will survive in the universe. Staying only on Earth is far too risky in the long-term. Therefore, spending money on Mars is a long-term investment in the future evolution of humanity, and other lifeforms from Earth -- by getting them off of this one ecological niche that is our planet. Furthermore it could have profound economic benefits -- the fact is, Earth is getting pretty saturated. The world economy is powered by growth -- and colonizing New Worlds is certainly one way to open up new economic vistas. After all, America was once a "New World" too.

Posted on January 09, 2004 at 04:09 PM in Environment, Government, Philosophy, Science, Society, Space, The Future, Travel |

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Kevin Rankin

I am in full support of a manned mission to mars. Bush is working his way off my shit list after the whole Iraqi freedom campaign. He may still be working on Daddy's to-do list, but after the Columbia disaster, the space agenda needs a swift kick in the ass. I believe that if Bush is serious at all about this space mission, he will show enthusiasm toward it before the upcoming election. Following this information, Bush holds my favor over Dean.

Posted by: Kevin Rankin | January 17, 2004 at 11:41 AM

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    In 1999 I flew to the edge of space with the Russian air force, with Space Adventures. I made it to an altitude of just under 100,000 feet and flew at Mach 3 in a Mig-25 piloted by one of Russia's best test-pilots. These pics were taken by Space Adventures from similar flights to mine. I didn't take digital stills -- I got the whole flight on digital video, which was featured on the Discovery Channel.

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    In 1999 I was invited to Russia as a guest of the Russian Space Agency to participate in zero-gravity training on an Ilyushin-76 parabolic flight training aircraft. It was really fun!!!! Among other people on that adventure were Peter Diamandis (founder of the X-Prize and Zero-G Corporation), Bijal Trivedi (a good friend of mine, science journalist), and "Lord British" (creator of the Ultima games). Here are some pictures from that trip...

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