Augustine Commission - D.C. - Robert Zubrin - 3 of 11

Augustine Commission meeting that took place on 08/05/2009 in Washington, D.C.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• NASA
• HSF
• Human Space Flight
• Augustine Commission
• Constellation
• Ares
• Orion
• Spacevidcast

[quantumG]

He starts badly, hits his stride, then runs out of time. Zubrin still manages to make some great points.

[spacevidcast]

I'll be frank, never been a Zubrin fan. I think his idea has a huge flaw: scale. It sounds like Apollo all over again, too costly to sustain. Great we put humans on Mars then give up 3 years later never to return. Just my $0.02

[Jaxxoff]

@spacevidcast The difference is that now we are developing technologies that can actually allow us to Gain something from being there. This isn't "Hey lets go to the moon so we can say we did" This is "going to Mars is essential to our continued growth as a species." I admit that Zubrin is rather passionate and seems unwilling to accept anything less than his ideal goals, but we have to push the ideal to see any progress.

[spacevidcast]

@Jaxxoff You're right, but the problem is that even if we do want to go to Mars or Luna, the general public finds it to be a waste. The general public doesn't realize how beneficial spaceflight is. And they won't until something huge happens, like a doomsday asteroid or some gigantic natural disaster.

[HostileRick1]

Going to mars would solve every large issue we are facing.extinctions over population wrold hunger all of it.Wtf r we not there yet is bulshit.for fucken 20years20 we have dne nthing but crcle r planet wile u hear jeopardy music playen in the bck ground.For all of us that knws this is possible we should find Robert and build the craft our fuckens selves and leave like fuck this im tired of Earth. As long as we grabe enuff plants and animals on our first trip we would have no need to come back...

[arrourasanti2]

I love Zubrin, he is inspiring me to pursue aeronautics and astronautics in college.

[Winner8501]

As for the public - I don't think it would dismiss it like the Apollo, if the programme clearly demonstrated it wasn't just about flags&footprints. Zubrin envisions Mars Direct as an essentially American programme, but it would be better if the first crew was reasonably international (Americans, Europeans, Russians, Japanese). That way much more people would feel connected to the mission. Also, I'd make the mission into a kind of a reality show and air it on prime time TV. People would dig it.

[Winner8501]

@spacevidcast

Exactly. I like his concepts and the principles upon which he bases his plan. It was certainly very innovative when he (and others) first came up with it. The problem is that his plan, if implemented, would be easily "killable" after the first two or three landings. He needs to offer some sort of a "transition plan" towards a more sustainable, permanent solution. I'd go with Mars Direct if it was just the step one in a winder, long-term Mars exploration/colonization programme.

[4A5P]

The Apollo era and the contemporary era are vastly different.

Kennedy said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." Today, it is the exact opposite, people are selfish. People are not willing to accept a wage freeze to build a component of a spacecraft, "they want their cut". Building a spacecraft today is far more expensive than the Apollo days.

[Eagle1Division2]

@spacevidcast You know what needs to happen, is there needs to be something big, like Shoemaker Levee 9 again, and the media needs to play it up. That will get us off this rock.

Or a Coronal Mass Ejection.

Or a bigger version of the Bird Flu.

Or what about North Korea or Iran getting Nukes?

In 1970 we had the Cold War.

[Weenchit]

@spacevidcast I thought that the strength of Mars Direct was that it was cheap and sustainable, especially compared to more traditional plans. Whenever he talks about it he stresses the low price tag and the emphasis of staying on Mars. Am I incorrect on this?