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Thoughts on Mars
Image: Sameer Pawar
It’s not going to do any good to land on Mars if we’re stupid.
Ray Bradbury
If there was an observer on Mars, they would probably be amazed that we have survived this long.
Noam Chomsky
Ronald Reagan used to alarm his Soviet counterparts by saying that surely they’d both unite against an invasion from Mars.
Christopher Hitchens
Land on Mars, a round-trip ticket—half a million dollars. It can be done.
Elon Musk
I think space exploration is very important. I think there is very intelligent life on Mars. I believe that Martians are spying on us from the bottom of the ocean.
Annabella Sciorra
Mars has been flown by, orbited, smacked into, radar examined, and rocketed onto, as well as bounced upon, rolled over, shovelled, drilled into, baked and even blasted. Still to come: Mars being stepped on.
Edwin ‘Buzz’ Aldrin
It will free man from the remaining chains, the chains of gravity which still tie him to this planet.
Wernher von Braun
Perhaps the best motivation for going to Mars is political. It is obvious that no single nation currently has either the will or the resources to do it alone, but a consortium of nations and space agencies could achieve it within 20 years.
Paul Davies
A visitor from Mars could easily pick out the civilised nations. They have the best implements of war.
Herbert V Prochnow
The first colony on Mars is not going to be built by a private company. How are you going to make money? You’re not.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson
(This story appears in the 29 November, 2013 issue of Forbes India. To visit our Archives, click here.)
Comments 2
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MousseyI think a bit less of Musk for that comment. Mars is hard but not impossible to get a person TO. But FROM is another matter. Consider how much rocket would be needed to achieve escape velocity with human cargo. We were damn lucky not to have killed anyone getting them off the Moon, which is much easier. About the same amount of rocket as is needed to launch a medium-sized satellite into Earth orbit, is probably the answer. The alternate is unending, continuous resupply missions from Earth to a permanent Mars colony. IMHO we\'re not ready to deal with either alternative. Better to establish a Mars-orbiting space station that\'s off the planet\'s gravity well, and from where explorers can run real-time telepresence robotics. Remember that anyone on the surface is going to be living in a pressure suit regardless.
on Nov 25, 2013 -
Darren
It will all be very exciting until the first group start dying from radiation poisoning. accidents, equipment malfunction
on Nov 16, 2013
