Finally, after 40 years, it look like we're ready to get back into the space exploration game, but are we running towards the wrong end zone? It appears so. This hub is all about inspiring and informing people why we need to get humans back into space beyond low earth orbit (LEO) and why Mars is the more beneficial and logical choice. A small majority thinks that neither mars nor the moon should be the next step, but rather a near earth asteroid or the Asteroid belt. Both would make for good destinations to send humans in the future, but not until after we have a permanent human presence on mars....more on that later.

1. Its easier
2. It will provide training for a Mars trip
3. We can mine minerals on the Moon for use there and to export back to Earth
4. We can launch a Mars ship (which would be much larger and heavier) easier and cheaper from the Moon because of its lower gravity and no atmosphere

Why these reasons mean nothing

First, i just want to say the following is based on FACT not opinion.

1. It is easier, but what does that help? Former President Kennedy said it best... "we choose to go to the moon, not because it's easy, but because it's hard." The more we challenge ourselves and try new things, the more we will learn. Going to Mars will be harder, but it will also teach us much more and advance us as a country and species a lot more than going back to the moon.
2. This isn't true at all. Mars is not the Moon. Going to Mars will be completely different. It will require 6-9 months of travel as opposed to 3 days. Going to Mars will require a much larger space ship, with solar radiation protection, and artificial gravity (most likely), as opposed to going to a moon on the yet to be built ares spaceship which is just an upgraded Apollo capsule. Once we get to mars, living there will be different than on the moon (for the better). So how will going back to the Moon prepare us for doing almost everything different?
3. You have to realize that getting a mining operation up and running will take decades. Going to the moon will require us to bring almost ALL of our supplies including those necessary to live, water and oxygen. There is oxygen available on the Moon but it's bound to other molecules to form oxides which makes it more difficult to extract. On mars, there is water ice only inches under the soil and can be melted and purified to drink using simple tried and true processes. The melted water can also be converted to oxygen and hydrogen via electrolysis (another simple, tried and true technology). This will provide us with oxygen to breathe and hydrogen which can be stored. Rovers and other equipment can be run off of hydrogen fuel cells, and we have the fuel (hydrogen) ready to use. We can also add hydrogen with the martian atmosphere and get Methane (rocket fuel) and more water. As for the minerals/elements available to mine on the moon...WHY? We have enough right here on Earth. Unless we actually run out, it just does not make sense and will be a huge waste of money. There are some rare metals (rare on Earth), such as Platinum group metals, that are more abundant on the Moon but we are still not going to run out anytime soon. Plus if you start bringing these "rare" metals back to earth by the shipload, they won't be so rare anymore, driving down the cost and profits to be made due to the laws of supply and demand. Even if you jump forward 50 years when we could have a mining operation up and running, we might as well have it on Mars since Mars was once like Earth and had similar geological processes happening, meaning there will most likely be more minerals/elements to mine.
4. Once you factor in all the money it costs to get the supplies from earth to the moon, build an infrastructure and start a mining operation, it will end up costing much more to launch from the moon, even with its lower gravity. By the time all that were to happen, we could have been living on mars for decades already.

• Mars is About 1/2 the size of Earth
• Mars has about 38% of Earth's gravity, meaning you would weigh about 62% less
• The Martian atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide (co2)
• Mars has similar seasons to earth, but lasting twice as long
• One Martian day is 24h 39m
• One Martian year is equal to 1.88 Earth years
• Surface temperatures on Mars range from -220 deg. F to 68 deg. F
• Mars has 2 moons, Phobos and Deimos. They are thought to be captured asteroids
• Mars is home to the largest volcano/mountain in the solar system, Olympus Mons. It is over three times the height of Mount Everest
• Mars has a canyon named Valles Marineris. It is 2485 miles long, roughly the distance from New York to Los Angeles, and up to 4.3 miles deep

• The Moon is about 1/2 the size of Mars, or 1/4 the size of Earth
• The Moon essentially has no atmosphere, which means no weather or seasons
• The Lunar day (and Lunar night) is equal to 14 Earth days long
• The Lunar orbital period is about 28 Earth days
• The Lunar temperature ranges from 225 deg. F in the day (light) to -243 deg. F at night (dark)
• The Moon has about 17% of Earth's gravity, meaning you would weight about 83% lighter
• The Moon is the 5th largest satellite in the solar system
• The moon causes Earth's Oceans' high and low tides

Whether we go back to the Moon or go to Mars the goal this time around is to establish a permanent human presence on another celestial body. We don't want to just send astronauts on the most exotic week long vacation ever, then not leave LEO for another 50 years. Going back to the Moon will delay a manned Mars mission by decades to a century. It will in fact be harder and more costly to go to Mars than it would be to go back to the Moon, but we will gain so much more from it. There is so much more science to be done on Mars. There are also more resources available.

Whatever nation puts humans on Mars first will be the leaders in space. I am an American and we've always been the leaders in space, but if we choose to go back to the moon it will leave the Chinese and Russians plenty of time to get to Mars before us, surpassing us as the leaders in space. We need to go to Mars and secure our position as the leaders in space, and to better our nation and all of mankind. If we do go back to the moon it will be one of biggest mistakes our country has ever made. In order for us to advance as a space nation, we need to continue doing new, cutting edge things, not redoing what we did 40 years ago. We should leave the Moon to the international community and Private industry.

Constellation program

For those of you who don't know, the space shuttle will be retired next year. The Constellation program will be the space shuttles successor and is supposed to come online in 2015. In my opinion (and many others) it is very disappointing. It is essentially nothing more than an upgraded version of the of the Apollo program that took us to the moon 40 years ago. As I said above, we need to move forward, not in place. One problem with the constellation program is its far to specific. Its good for going to LEO and the moon only. If we were to go to mars, we would have to design yet another new ship. It would be much more beneficial to design and build a Mars ship. A Mars ship, would be much more flexible, allowing us not only to go to mars but also further out into the solar system. Other places of interest including Europa (6th moon of Jupiter) and Titan (largest moon of Saturn), could both be reached with the same ship designed to go to mars. President Obama, put together a team to evaluate the constellation program to determine it's fate. It could proceed as planned, be modified, or be scrapped entirely. Reports are due back soon (Aug. 2009).

Asteroid Belt and Near Earth Asteroids

As I said at the top of this hub, both of these would make fine choices for humans to visit in the future. But the asteroid belt and some of the near earth asteroids are closer to Mars than to the Moon. Since the main advantage of going to either of these is for a mining operation, which won't be needed for quite some time, it makes more sense to go to Mars. Asteroids are essentially really big rocks floating around in space, they have no human consumable resources available and everything will have to be brought with us. It makes more sense to create an infrastructure on Mars first, then when we actually need to mine them, we can launch Missions FROM Mars to the asteroid belt. By carrying all that equipment a shorter distance, it will cost a lot less.

Economy

Going to Mars will create many jobs, which will lead to boosting the economy. Why was the economy so good during WW2? because the military needed lots and lots of supplies. This lead to tons of manufacturing jobs that couldn't find enough people to work them. We had an all time low unemployment rate. Going to Mars and starting a colony will have a similar effect. First we will need many supplies from Earth. Ultimately a Mars colony will be self sufficient, and will offer the chance for anyone to go work and live on mars. What ever nation gets there first will have a majority control of its economy.

Wisdom of the experienced

No scientist or proof can deny that Mars has much more to offer than the moon. Even Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, two of the very few men to go to the moon, think that it would be foolish to return to the moon when we are capable of going to mars. Christopher Kraft Jr, who founded and directed Mission Control Houston also agrees.

Terraforming

This is perhaps the best reason of all to go to Mars rather than back to the Moon. For those of you who don't know, terraforming is the transformation of a whole planet. Terraforming Mars will create a thicker atmosphere, warm up the planet, and melt the subterranean water-ice resulting in a planet much like earth with liquid water on the surface. Ultimately humans will be able to live on mars without a spacesuit just as here on Earth. The Moon however will most likely never be able to be terraformed and even if it could it still wouldn't offer the stable climate and liquid water, like Mars. Unfortunately, even if we started to terraform Mars today, no one living would ever see it, because it will take around 2 centuries. Some scientists believe we can terraform Mars with technology we already have (I agree), it's just a matter of doing it.

If you want to see humans on Mars and want to see us advance as a nation and as a species, then take a few minutes and help out. Below are 2 links. Take 5 or 10 minutes and write a letter to some of the powers that be, telling them that you want to see humans on mars. if enough people contact them, maybe they will actually get it.

USA GOV- this is a site where you can contact elected officials including President Obama, vice president Biden, and senators, representatives, legislators, and governors for all 50 states. they list email, phone, and fax numbers.

NASA- Obviously this leads to the NASA website. This link will take you directly to the form you can use to contact NASA.

Space - This is a website all about space. They have daily news articles and forums.