Yes, I agree, which is why I only expressed disappointment in the Planetary Society's recommendation. That said, I'm not confident that those in charge of the purse-strings will make terrific decisions, either. Assuming we don't kill ourselves first, I'm confident that we will get to Mars one day; it just might be 50 or 75 years from now. I even predict permanent human colonies there, and one day independant government. But that will take generations, short of a quantum leap in technological progress. We're not going to see the "2001" world in our lifetimes, fellow astronomers on the wrong side of 50, lol. On Sun, May 3, 2009 at 12:27 AM, Canopus56 <canopus56@yahoo.com> wrote:
So, it looks like a developing story that S&T and New Scientist was hyping a bit.