Humans to Mars Summit (H2M)
Humans to Mars Summit (H2M)
“How can we land humans on Mars by 2030? Join us at the Humans to Mars Summit (H2M) to learn ways in which this can happen. Co-sponsored by Explore Mars and the George Washington University Space Policy Institute, H2M will be held on May 6-8, 2013 at the Lisner Auditorium at George Washington University in Washington, DC. H2M will be a comprehensive Mars exploration conference to address the major technical, scientific, and policy related challenges that need to be overcome to send humans to Mars by 2030.”
Agenda
Watch H2M live at Mars.TV
Folks:
What? No representation from fringe commercial space companies like Bigelow Aerospace & SpaceX?
tinker
Tink,
They have no time for talking about it. They’re too busy working to make it happen.
Steve
If they get the money.
Steve:
I figured that but it would have been a good time for SpaceX to ‘drop’ their long range plans…
Huh? Just heard the moderator thank their two top sponsors “Boeing and Lockheed Martin”.
That explains it!
tinker
2030 for Martian Surface is not impossible although it is challenging. As always, the key phrase is ‘show me the money’ and the money is waiting upon there being a commercial crew system available. Once Dragonrider or CST-100 are flying, I think that the paradigm might shift somewhat.
Folks:
This last session (2pm) is an advertisement for SLS architecture and ‘feet & flag’ missions, Orion finishing off with a high speed entry. Ditto!
First questioner asked why spinning the ship in transit wasn’t even considered. Answer: “…wasn’t necessary because there was time for the crew to acclimatize once they land.”. Then he started talking about centripetal motion and the questioner says “a few hundred meters would take care or that…”. Answer: “Well, if the moment arm is big enough…”. Aaarrrgh!
Ha! Over ten minutes early! #Fail!
Doug Cook on the 3pm panel. Where have I heard that name before…?
tinker
I see no sign of any appetite on either side of the aisle for any true exploration plan for the solar system that isn’t calculated in multiples of decades. Successive waves of political leadership in this country has had our program going around in circles now for 40 years, and I see no sign of any changes in the foreseeable future. The current budgeting plan reeks of ambivalence to anybody but the most myopic. We are currently building a heavy lift vehicle with just enough money to keep it barely chugging along on life support, and keep enough constituents at work, while maximizing the cost of development, to make the politicians happy. Maybe, Space X will eventually give us the vehicle we need to help us explore the solar system, call it Dragon XXX or whatever, but everyone reading this website will be on the wrong side of the grass before that happens. If we are for going to explore the solar system, and utilize its resources to any great extent, we’re going to have to learn to be able to pat the top of our head while rubbing our tummy and still not trip over our feet. In other words my friends, we need is a society to be willing to develop more than one large project at once. I don’t see the political will to do that. Remember, approximately 20 to 25% of the country believes in witches.
I think most of us accept, even though we don’t like it, that nothing in the way of a Mars landing is going to come of this. However, I don’t consider the effort a total waste because, even if we could magically produce the perfect ship, etc. right now, there are still a whole lot of essential things to be thought about, researched, decided, designed, etc., before we go, no matter when we go. Get-togethers like this sometimes bring some of these issues out into the open and get people thinking about them, which is good, because a lot of this necessary precursor work can be done now, even if it has to be revised later. Every little bit helps and we need to take whatever we can get.
Is it just me, or does the title picture look like a long torsoed robot with little legs and solar panel arms sticking out? 😉
I see it too. It almost looks like it’s dancing.