Will any of us live long enough to see a permanent settlement on Mars?

[TheRealMafoo]

hsrob said:

TheRealMafoo said:
No.

We do not yet have the technology to get a human to mars and back. In fact, if we wanted to send a man to the moon, we would have to relearn everything we did before.

The Space Shuttle is only capable of low earth orbit. Getting a man past that point and back is billions of dollars, and man years of research.

I think one day we will, but not in my lifetime (or anyone else's here)

Perhaps you are right but we are typically quite poor at predicting how fast technology will advance or in what areas.

When i started University in 1996 we were told by our lecturer who was involved in the Human Genome Project that it was going to take anywhere from 20-30 years to complete. It was done 4 years later.

 

 

I agree that we suck at predicting future technology, but this is not a technology problem. If it was not for the cold war, we still would have not landed on the moon.

Two things have to happen for us to go to Mars. One is technology that has yet to be started, needs to be completed. And two, we need a reason to go.

If we found out that in 200 years, the world was going to end and we needed to find another planet, then yes, I think we would have a colony on Mars. I don't think that's going to happen.