A helo hovers above the surface of the red planet. The pilot sits at his desk back on Earth as his helicopter’s high-res camera sends back images of Martian craters, mountains and plains. It’s not a sci-fi movie, it’s the NASA mission that launched last week, and will land the Perseverance Rover on Mars in February 2021. Not only will NASA hover over the planet, but the rover will hunt water, pick up rocks to be sent to Earth, and attempt to make oxygen from Martian carbon dioxide. Space nut Bill Whittle, creator of a 4-part series on the Apollo 11 moon mission, analyzes the importance of this mission to Mars.
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Bill Whittle Network ยท Helo Bound for Mission to Mars: NASA to Hover, Hunt Water, Pick Up Rocks, Make Oxygen
9 replies on “Helo Bound for Mission to Mars: NASA to Hover, Hunt Water, Pick Up Rocks, Make Oxygen (Find Life?)”
Think about history and John carter of Mars. We would read Edgar Rice Burroughs and could still believe that canals were real. This generation saw the big budget failure of the modern movie and just thought the whole idea of canals and aliens on Mars was ridiculous. One of the problems of youth today is that they judge historical figures by modern knowledge current morality. They just don’t have any imagination.
Being a child of the late 1960’s, I actually liked the modern movie that came out about 10 years ago. At least the social Justice Warriors had not gotten a hold of that movie during its production.
I agree I very much enjoyed that movie!
I don’t understand the point of this mission as it relates to an overall plan for the exploration of the solar system or beyond. Sending a craft from earth to the surface of another planet is not the most effective or efficient method.
Yes, it will be interesting if H2O is found, in whatever form, but it doesn’t really move the ball forward.
A space station in the correct location, with fuel storage and docking for station to mars craft is more important. If mars has H2O then a station in Mars orbit with landing vehicles is important.
Or is the moon a more viable location to launch to Mars from?
These are the questions NASA should be exploring in conjunction with Space-X and others.
The Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions all built upon the last ones. What does this build upon and then enable?
Those two rovers should have been named “Motive” and “Opportunity”
A small quibble.
If we are able to return Platinum containing ore (or the refined metal) to Earth in economically viable amounts the price of Platinum will plummet. Basic supply and demand,
This isn’t an argument against doing so; merely a reminder that good bookeeping is double entry.
Yes…a notion Bill has discussed previously on this topic. It’s good to work for the brightest people on the Internet. Thanks, Alan.
Which supply would be controlled much like the supply of diamonds which are not all that rare.
But the cost of going to get it must also be calculated into the final price.
I suppose the costs could be tallied up, the amount of material measured, a little division and boom, you know the price, plus a reasonable profit percentage, and that’s that. Anyone mining the stuff here could just suspend operations for a couple years until the supply comes back down. Would not be so fun for the people laid off in the interim though.