if you ask me i think Bush is sending all these lunar rovers up to mars because he wants to eventually explore for oil on or in mars.
also because all the countries here on earth are owned by other countries.

I think we need to send you to Mars

With my estimate of Bush's intelligence I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. :D

You guys are misunderstanding politics. Exploration of Mars is a political feather in your cap.

It's a silly idea until you come up with a productive plan associated with space exploration. For instance, there should be some sort of plan for actual colonization of and/or mineral extraction from Mars before you spend billions just to send one worthless guy there.

What about the spirit of scientific exploration?

"worthless"?

I'm sure if they managed to scrape together the initiative to send someone, they would be a top interdisciplanary qualified person, knowledgeable in geology and biology, related fields.

Originally posted by Starling
What about the spirit of scientific exploration?

"worthless"?

I'm sure if they managed to scrape together the initiative to send someone, they would be a top interdisciplanary qualified person, knowledgeable in geology and biology, related fields.

I mean worthless in the sense that it is utterly unproductive for the money spent on the project. Basically, you're paying billions of dollars and abandoning many good and potentially productive programs to send some physics nerd on a dream vacation with the hope that you will inspire the American public, right? And this is all being done for very little "scientific exploration" in return.

I would much rather see us develop the lunar environment, a much more feasible idea at this point intime.

Well, that is a valid and often cited point. IMHO space should only be researched for things that have at least a partial effect on improving the human condition. For example, we could learn a lot more about climate change by investing in more and better sattelites. The moon might offer mineral resources or a good place to set up a Hubble-like telescope, but I agree that there isn't much in the works that is worth the expenditure on space. To me much of the sensation fuels escape rather than reconciliation for earth.

It's amazing how the studies show how valuable and long lasting it is to educate a society; and yet how hard a political sell it seems to be, at least in the US, to fund something nice. It always has to be sexy, like space, or harsh, like preemptive Iraq attack on false pretenses.