In other news, Earthlings are being treated to the best view of Saturn we'll get for a while. Saturn's rings are even visible through standard binoculars! V. happy to share one of our astronomer's thoughts on star gazing offering food for the soul.
I'm sure officially NASA have said they want to use the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars. The reality is different - other than vague words, NASA has no serious plan to send humans to Mars, and politicians won't pay up for it anyway. I doubt China is any different, though they at least seem to have plans to stick around on the Moon.
Musk and SpaceX are the only ones who seem in any way serious and credible about Mars. But its also pretty clear they don't need the Moon, and Starship is ill-suited for lunar operations anyway. But even then, I think SpaceX are going to find it a lot harder to get Starship successfully to Mars than they publicly admit. Whether them at least trying will be enough to spark a race is an interesting question. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
In other news, Earthlings are being treated to the best view of Saturn we'll get for a while. Saturn's rings are even visible through standard binoculars! V. happy to share one of our astronomer's thoughts on star gazing offering food for the soul.
https://unswscience.substack.com/p/you-can-see-saturn-outside-your-bedroom
I'd rather have a Mars race than a moon race, but are they connected? Is the idea to use a moon base as staging area for Mars?
I'm sure officially NASA have said they want to use the Moon as a stepping stone to Mars. The reality is different - other than vague words, NASA has no serious plan to send humans to Mars, and politicians won't pay up for it anyway. I doubt China is any different, though they at least seem to have plans to stick around on the Moon.
Musk and SpaceX are the only ones who seem in any way serious and credible about Mars. But its also pretty clear they don't need the Moon, and Starship is ill-suited for lunar operations anyway. But even then, I think SpaceX are going to find it a lot harder to get Starship successfully to Mars than they publicly admit. Whether them at least trying will be enough to spark a race is an interesting question. I guess we'll have to wait and see.