Perhaps the return trip will be accelerated by a slingshot. Or else, maybe some new ion drive system is (was / will be) in the works by that time. I know I first joined this list (and consequently found out about SLAS via a question I had regarding a new drive system called MORPHEUS, perhaps something along those lines is in the serious planning stages.) All speculations aside, even if it takes an extra 6 months to get the crew back to earth, wouldn't that 6 months be worth it? If not just for the crew, but for the science it could produce. Imagine actually doing scientific experiments in a true interplanetary micrograv, or measurements of the Lagrange point. The second point, about scrapping new projects, frightens the beegeebus (sic) out of me. I can't imagine that projects like HUBBLE2, or the WEBB would be scrapped, when they are in essence an essential part of the mars exploration program. (both have the capability of monitoring mars for the right conditions, etc.) Cheers, James. -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+cyanics=xmission.com@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+cyanics=xmission.com@mailman.xmission.com ] On Behalf Of Jim Gibson Sent: Saturday, January 10, 2004 6:52 AM To: Utah Astronomy Subject: Re: [Utah-astronomy] Bush OKs new moon missions Patrick Thanks for the great post. It was all very interesting. A couple of curiosity points caught my eye. My understanding of the current theory for a trip to mars would take about 2 years; six month to get there, wait a year or so for the right alignment of mars and earth and then six months to return. So this statement got me curious: The first manned Mars expeditions would attempt to orbit the red planet in advance of landings -- much as Apollo 8 and 10 orbited the moon but did not land. If they just orbit mars and then turn around to come back, the earth will be long gone. Any comments? The other thing that I am wondering comes from this statement: Bush will direct NASA to scale back or scrap all existing programs that do not support the new effort. It's sounds to me like the Webb (infra red space telescope) project may get scrapped. The first report has to be sketchy. I am sure this will all be worked out. Sounds exciting though. Jim _____ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Hotjobs: Enter <http://pa.yahoo.com/*http:/us.rd.yahoo.com/hotjobs/mail_footer_email/ev t=21482/*http:/hotjobs.sweepstakes.yahoo.com/signingbonus> the "Signing Bonus" Sweepstakes