Should we go to Mars?

Is a manned spaceflight to Mars even possible?

If we go, could we get our astronauts back safely?

How much would it cost?

I spoke with former U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine, who was head of the Space Agency NASA during the Trump Administration about this topic.

Bridenstine, a Navy pilot, thinks America will figure out a way to make it safely to Mars and back. And he believes that America should lead the way, if not only for the scientific advancement it will foster.

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second smallest planet in the Solar System. Mercury is the smallest.

It has a thin atmosphere. It has no magnetosphere, unlike Earth, so solar win interacts with the ionosphere.

Because of this, Bridenstine said any colony on Mars would have to live underground. The atmosphere is about 96% carbon dioxide with only traces of oxygen and water.

Its crust is similar to Earth with a core made of iron and nickel. Its surface has impact craters, valleys, dunes and polar ice caps. Both polar ice caps probably are made of water.

Bridenstine said there is water on Mars and that indicates a probability of life, probably tiny creatures. There is no liquid water on the surface because of low atmospheric pressure. The lack of surface water makes Mars virtually uninhabitable.

Mars, the “red planet,” has seasons similar to Earth because they have similar rotation patterns around the Sun. It has a similar rotational tilt as the Earth. Temperatures range from -166 degrees to 95 degrees. It is farther from the Sun than Earth and has a thinner atmosphere.

It is famous for the canals on the surface.

The United States began exploring Mars with unmanned flights with the Mariner 4 in 1965. The first images from Mars were transmitted by NASA’s Viking 1 in 1976.

In 2024, there is a planned unmanned mission to go to Mars and return with soil samples.

Mars is 110.92 million miles from the Earth. It would take a manned spacecraft at least nine months to reach Mars. And because of the radiation you encounter in space, astronauts could get lethal doses of radiation on a nine-month voyage.

Bridenstine said the answer to that problem would be some sort of nuclear propulsion. That might get astronauts there in two months, significantly lowering the risk of radiation exposure.

That technology is not here yet.

In 2021, it was estimated that sending explorers to Mars would cost between $2.7-$2.9 billion.

Bridenstine foresees the United States establishing a base on our Moon. Former President Trump would have pushed for a Moon trip had he won a second term.

The idea would be to fly to the Moon and then launch the Mars shot from there.

Bridenstine said NASA would not attempt a manned flight to Mars unless there was a high probability that we could bring the crew back safely.

Should America attempt this?

I am old enough to remember when we first landed on the Moon. The entire world was riveted to their TV sets. It was a tremendous point of pride. The late President John F. Kennedy said we would be the first to the Moon and he was right.

So that would be a plus – to show the world America’s technical prowess and demonstrate that Americans can do whatever they put their minds to.

But in the age of galloping inflation, record deficits and wacky science, it is easy to forecast failure for a manned trip to Mars.

(By the way you can’t power a rocket with wind, solar power or hydro-electric.)

And there is the question of value of such a flight.

People who believe in global warming (like Biden and everyone in his administration), think Earth is doomed and maybe the only way to preserve our species is to flee to Mars.

That is not scientific.

Businessmen want to explore Mars for financial reasons. If you could safely vacation on Mars, that would be quite a trip if you could afford the fare. And what if we found gold or other precious metals on Mars? (Or the moon.) That might make it a profitable trip for mining minerals that are not on our planet.

And there is the outside chance that we discover alien life on Mars that we could communicate with. That is highly unlikely. It looks like a barren planet to me.

So, if can conquer the problems with propulsion, timing, radiation, temperature, and government miscues, it might be worth a shot if you could steer a couple of billion dollars out of Biden’s Green Agenda.

I told Bridenstine that if it was a one-way trip, I didn’t want to go but I could recommend a few people I would like to relocate to Mars.