“If NASA is Amtrak in space, then SpaceX is the Fyre Festival with rockets, a glamorous effort led by a hype man who promises that every logistical problem will melt away if we can just get people to the destination.”

#BARS! I’m reading this piece making the case against human exploration of #Mars, and it’s crushing my childhood dreams and also making too much sense. This line above though! Have you read the piece?

https://idlewords.com/2023/1/why_not_mars.htm

#space #nasa #spaceexploration

Why Not Mars (Idle Words)

@baratunde try this on for size: (hoping this hasn't been said already) the focus on Mars is almost singularly because of a mistranslation of Italian astronomer, giovanni schiaparelli's discovery of glacial canals near the poles, much like on our planet. SpaceX focuses on Mars is complete fantasy, nature can't be bought over by fancy graphics. The reason Nasa and other space agencies focus on Mars is it's much easier to get proper scientific funding from career businessmen, and it's relatively easy to get to, compared to much more scientifically interesting places, like the moons of the outer planets, at least half a dozen of which hold subsurface water oceans.