OK, fun discussion. But no one’s addressed my biggest question:
WHHHHYYYYYYYYYY?
Other than “inspiring people’s imaginations” (a marginally worthwhile goal at best) and giving Trump a place in the history books (utterly worthless), what’s to be gained by sending people to Mars that can’t be accomplished for a fraction of the cost and risk by sending unmanned probes?
And what essential programs would we gut to pay for this idiocy?
Sure, you can’t blame a guy for asking, and it’s not like he’s still pushing the idea. So … yay?
The unfortunate reality is that trump’s support for the concept of a Mars landing is as likely to postpone the date it actually happens. Kind of like Newt and the “moon colony”.
Decent chance of that. Crew Dragon unmanned demo flight is supposed to launch sometime in February. Assuming the demo flight doesn’t reveal problems, the manned followup would be sometime this summer.