Between SpaceX’s breakthroughs and Trump’s inaugural promise, we have a once-in-a-generation opportunity. But it can’t be realized as an eccentric’s project or a pork banquet. Here’s a science-driven program that could get astronauts on the Red Planet by 2031.
Basically all of the first “small groups of pioneers” died, and Mars is a more hazardous place by orders of magnitude. No one who makes this comparison between establishing human settlements on Mars and the colonialist expansion on Earth should be taken seriously. It’s like comparing diving to the bottom of the Mariana with going snorkeling in Hawaii.
And bluntly, Starship is a scam to extract taxpayer dollars from the government. It is not going to work. It is not intended to work. It is intended to look plausible enough to collect contract money and generate fanboyism to manipulate public opinion.
I’m sorry but if you quote thunderfoot your point is immediately invalid
Sorry I haven’t been able to watch the video you linked yet, but I thought the Wikipedia article was fascinating.
I’m curious what you mean by starship “working”. They’re seemingly close to booster reuse, upper stage recovery, going orbital, payload deployment, and propellant transfer. There’s no fundamental reason the technology wouldn’t work, right? Landing on the moon or Mars does seem like a challenge, but it’s sort-of on the horizon. Return from Mars, however, now that really would be pretty crazy. Even so, doesn’t this open-up new capabilities?