Posted: Aug 09, 2006 02:55 am EDT
(Pythom.com) Last weeks Mars conference was pretty different from the Planetary Society Space conference in LA past May. These guys want to go to Mars and they mean it. Conference attendees raced to Capitol Hill to voice their views on NASAs future space exploration plans and in May of 2007, the Mars Society will launch its first extended duration (4 months) simulated mission on Canadas Devon Island. The entire conference turned out a very hands-on event.<cutoff>

<b>Why Mars storms don't bite</b>

Basically, we dove straight into the expedition. The National Space Society handed out Mars maps, Elon Musk briefed on different rocket designs, and various speakers presented ideas on the usual expedition topics such as what to eat and wear, what gear to choose, how long the trip, how big the budget and how to minimize the risks.

The conference agenda was packed. Morning speeches and late night events wrapped the jammed afternoons; 30 minute presentations took place in 5 different rooms on various hands-on topics such as in situ propellant production (making fuel on Mars) search for extra-terrestrial genomes, designing space suits, mining ore deposits in impact basins, magnetic radiation, and the challenges of atmospheric landing on Mars.

We learned how to make metal out of Mars atmosphere, where and when to look for water, and how to overcome hazards such as radiation, brittle bones and mars storms. The answers were comforting: Spinning our rocket softly on travel would induce gravity; a small shelter will protect us from solar flares; cosmic radiation increases our risk of cancer less than many hazards we face on earth and Mars storms are no big threat simply because in low barometric pressure (6mb on Mars compared to 1000mb on earth) winds don't bite (this effect is also known to many high altitude climbers.) The dust storms can be weathered inside the habitat.

In fact, nothing seemed terribly complicated. Griffin himself confirmed, "there's nothing fundamental in the technical aspect preventing us to go to Mars, it will just acquire an assumption risk we are not used to."

<b>Good sex vs. educated minds</b>

"Griffin is one of us," Zubrin, the Mars society founder, said. "He wants to go to Mars." Yet while Griffin did sign the 1998 founding of Mars Society, he now repeatedly stated that he is an administrator - nothing more - merely there to distribute the budget according to directives from the president.

There are many to please and tough questions to answer. Isn't humanity's greatest mission to reproduce? What good will space travels do us? Shouldn't we solve our own problems first?

The Universe seem to favor usefulness and being great in bed might not be valid enough (just ask the Dinosaurs). Zubrin pointed out that as for solving earth problems; Spain had lots of problems in the 1500s - and still do. According to this engineer, the biggest spin-off of the space program is educated minds. The biggest risk of the space program lies in not doing it.

<b>Death by exploration</b>

As explorers, we know that there is a positive side to "death-by-exploration." Just as there is a positive twist to terrible events such as firefighters dying in 9/11. Heroic deaths display the amazing courage and spirituality hidden deep within our souls.

To explorers, risk assessment made out as a percentage is of little value when it comes to uncharted territory such as a Mars mission. To us, as once to Columbus, the correct approach is to work out a set of "worst-case-scenarios." Each scenario is then solved, avoided or covered with a back-up until the threat feels manageable.

The Mars Society conference showed that this is very much doable in a Mars mission - we have the tools. So why are we not going?

"We must do it not because it's easy - but because it's difficult" Kennedy said. This resolve put us on the moon. Today - rather than choosing the road less traveled - survival, comfort and reproduction are on top of our list. Dads or (worse) mothers who die on exploration are considered reckless and selfish. We want a safe summit so we choose to be guided in commercial outfits, rather than risk failure (or heaven forbid - death!) in independent expeditions.

<b>The spirit of Mount Everest</b>

"We must do it not because it's easy - but because it's difficult" Kennedy said and we nod our heads in approval, while we grab another donut and hope our kids will become smart and good looking rather than courageous and visionary. Cleverness and sharp looks won't be enough to go to Mars though. Stats show that in spite of our best intentions, we are turning into real pussies:

18 different routes have been climbed on Mount Everest. While the North Col and South Col routes are similar in technical difficulty, the other 16 routes are more difficult and dangerous. In spite of the considerable evolution that has taken place in terms of gear, weather forecasting and infrastructure knowledge - the technically more challenging climbs have almost vanished - from 26% 1953-1980, down to 5% in the 90s and 1% during the millennium.

When it comes to space - the biggest buzz is putting wealthy people in low orbit and returning to the moon in 2020. The reason we don't go to Mars is much more sobering than any technological challenge. As Griffin put it, "we have confined ourselves to the lower altitude."

Although we can reach the stars, we don't try. What's the point?, we ask. The point is that in its desperate quest to survive, the human spirit is dying. Mars needs not the wealthy magnats, the smart engineers, the famous actors, or even the good Christians. Mars needs men and women to match its mountains.

<i>The International Mars Society Conference took place at the LEnfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. Featured speakers included Dr. Michael Griffin (NASA Administrator), Dr. Scott Horowitz (NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems), Elon Musk (CEO and Founder of Space X), Eric Anderson (Space Adventures), Scott Hubbard (Former Director of NASA Ames Research Center; Carl Sagan Chair at the SETI Institute), Andy Thomas (4-time Shuttle Astronaut), Brian Chase (NASA, Associate Administrator for Legislative Affairs), Chris McKay (NASA Ames Research Center), Penelope J. Boston (Complex Systems), Linda Robeck Fuhrman (Draper Laboratory), Robert D. Braun (Georgia Institute of Technology), George Whitesides (National Space Society), Colin H. Bryant (Paladin Capital Group), Matt Mountain (Director of the Space Telescope Science institute), Francis Slakey (Mountain Climber) and Robert Zubrin (Pioneer Astronautics, The Mars Society).

Draper Labs of Cambridge, Massachusetts and the National Space Society sponsored the conference. </i>



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