Why is NASA Always so Focused on Mars? Why not Explore Other Planets

[ODBM]

You guys realize that the US government does not allow private funding of NASA, right?

[ScienceBro]

1. Close to the earth
2. Far enough from the sun to have life but not too far that it'd be too cold.
3. Evidence of water formed structures.

This. The most likely locations in the solar system for microbial life (that we know of) are currently thought to be Europa, Titan, and Enceladus. Transit time to the Jovian system is 6 years and transit to Saturn is roughly 7 years. Compare that with 8 months to Mars. Additional, it looks increasingly likely that Mars may still hold the potential building blocks for microbial life in certain regions. Add on top of all of this that Mars missions serve as fact finding/experience for the forthcoming manned missions to Mars. It makes it a very appealing sell to NASA and Congress.

[inchamery]

you realize russia has sent probes that have landed and taken pictures of the surface of venus right?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera_13

wow thats intense

[azstrengthcoach]

All the other planets are either inhospitable, or too far away.

[bambarby]

Op you're a retard. Think before you speak.

[Spill512]

It is the closest planet to earth, and we don't have the technology to sustain life or even robotic life on Venus or Jupiter.

[AirForceV]

venus and jupiter are made of gas lulz.

mercury is too close to the fuarking sun -> can't send chit there because it's too hot

saturn? forget about it bro not for a while...but thinking about that is kinda dope.

edit: saturn is a gas planet too. so is uranus basically.

neptune is the next feasible planet for a rover to land onto.

Jupiter has a moon that could have a chance of life.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_%28moon%29

[mikevall]

What makes you think they aren't exploring other planets? They are finding out new things about our universe every day. The fact that they were able to launch a rover onto a planet so far away is mind boggling to me.

But they just funded more projects. One including a submarine designed to explore Jupiter's moon Europa and a robot that will landsail across the surface of Venus.

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news...ound-Submarine

its mind boggling but its not enough imo, i cant even begin to comprehend our solar system let alone the galaxy and how many other earth like planets there are, i just wish i could live long enough to see human kind setting up colonies in other solar systems in the milkyway or even other galaxies that would be hnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggggggggggggggg gggggggggggggg

[MilwaukeeBrah]

would be cool if earth had more than 1 moon srs

[jujuB]

it took 10 months for that rover to travel to mars...

[noseminer]

nasa + esa have also landed on one of Saturn's moon's
(Titan)

[crosso]

It is the closest planet to earth, and we don't have the technology to sustain life or even robotic life on Venus or Jupiter.

No, Venus is. It was very similar to earth and would have been able to support life, but its greenhouse effect ran wild, and now its pretty much a planet of hell

[Desi_guy]

dude just shut the fck upppp with this fake superiority. Its this attitude that is destroying your country. Get the fck out of this cold war attitude and move on. No you are not superior. We are all humans and we are all equal. And as far as your govt is concerned, if China stops lending you money, youll be riding a horse to your field where youd be working 12 hours a day digging carrots in the ground you douche. If Saudi Arabia decides to stop all the oil supply, we will see what you fill in your NASA rockets. Just stop this superiority complex crap. and Yes Good for NASA. and NASA isnt completely american anymore. Other countries also invest ****load of money. NASA's headquarters are only stationed in US. thats all. If you want to be superior, than go and educate your masses. Provide them with the best education in the world/

lol, this post cracks me up. I read it several times after I typed it. I think im the only retard on this forum who laughs at his own posts. funny still

[Spill512]

No, Venus is. It was very similar to earth and would have been able to support life, but its greenhouse effect ran wild, and now its pretty much a planet of hell

Yea, you're right. My bad.

[eMan0n]

I'm interested in Titan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29

[MilwaukeeBrah]

I'm interested in Titan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29

my....god....mindblown at what im reading

[ScienceBro]

I'm interested in Titan

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_%28moon%29

Well thanks to JPL and Curiosity's perfect landing, chances are this bad boy will be chosen for the next mission in the Discovery Program.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_Mare_Explorer

Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) is a proposed spacecraft lander that, if launched, would probe Titan, the largest moon of the planet Saturn, and would perform the first exploration of an extraterrestrial sea.

[randomforumname]

All the other planets besides mercury are extremely inhospitable. The russians sent a probe to venus and it was melted in 2 hours - just long enough to send a somewhat decent image back to earth. The other planets are gas giants and can't be landed upon.

The only real option besides mercury would be moons. Titan would be coool.

[MilwaukeeBrah]

All the other planets besides mercury are extremely inhospitable. The russians sent a probe to venus and it was melted in 2 hours - just long enough to send a somewhat decent image back to earth. The other planets are gas giants and can't be landed upon.

so how do we know there isn't gas based life on those planets? (srs)

[randomforumname]

so how do we know there isn't gas based life on those planets? (srs)

Because it's not just a ball of fluffy gas like what you are used to, it's extremely dense and has crushing pressure. It's unlikely/impossible anything evolved in there.

[ShangTsung]

Well, as a consolation, at least most of the really retarded post are on the first page.

[madswolebro]

enlightening discussion, especially in the first few posts

[BrosefMengele]

venus and jupiter are made of gas lulz.

mercury is too close to the fuarking sun -> can't send chit there because it's too hot

saturn? forget about it bro not for a while...but thinking about that is kinda dope.

edit: saturn is a gas planet too. so is uranus basically.

neptune is the next feasible planet for a rover to land onto.

[BobDaNob]

I'm interested in Titan

You sure you wanna go to Titan?




I hear it's pretty inhospitable.

[MidWesternRage]

Loling incredibly hard from the amount of horrible education on this thread

Pluto is too close to the sun you idiots or we'd send it there, and Saturn's rings are actually a force field that would prevent our rovers from getting on there.

Smfh Misc.

[hittman]

Beyond Mars, they're made of gas and don't have a solid surface?

lol this, OP the strong fukking idiot didn't even bother to google this question

[BobDaNob]

lol this, OP the strong fukking idiot didn't even bother to google this question

Well, Jupiter has a solid surface...but since it's composed of gas that's been bent over and fuked by Jupiter's insane gravity and atmospheric pressure until it atomically restructures itself, it probably isn't a good place to visit.

[EnglishBadTeeth]

would be cool if earth had more than 1 moon srs

at least we have one, unlike some of these other poverty planets that don't even have one

[ThePayne]

Seriously are a bunch of retards in this thread.



Astronomy, not even once.

[kkevinn6]

troll