MarsDrive

Have you ever wondered why it’s taking so long to get people onto Mars or if any of us will ever get the chance to go into space ourselves any time soon? I have. The current average costs for space flights hover around the $20,000 a kg mark and for anyone other than big governments or the super wealthy space remains a locked out event. Nothing much has changed on this front in 50 years and any dreams of near term private access to space are looking less and less likely for those of us who aren't millionaires. While NASA is subjected to a continuing series of budgetary restraints and VSE hold backs it is looking like the goal of humans to Mars will remain something for a far distant future at best.

I have been looking into alternative funding scenarios that could bring human Mars missions and private space flight from the realm of science fiction to science fact and have noticed that the idea of a “consortium” of national space agencies and private sector organizations has been kicked around for some time and even promoted by NASA and the ESA in recent times. If you take a read of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty Article 1 says, “There shall be freedom of scientific investigation in outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, and States shall facilitate and encourage international co-operation in such investigation.”

So for over 40 years the idea of international cooperation in space has been not only encouraged but has been a legally binding article in a treaty that 127 nations signed on to. While the International Space Station is one of the first steps towards fulfilling this article of the treaty I believe it can be improved upon for other more ambitious goals like Mars. Sending humans to Mars also has the potential to give the nascent private space sector a strong point of focus which they can coalesce their activities around.

By sharing the financial load and sharing in the benefits from a humans to Mars program all parties, both government and private stand to enter a new phase in their progress, but it won’t happen without some commitment on their part. So for my own part I’m advocating that an international consortium of government and private sector groups be the new focus for Mars enthusiasts in our search for a funding source. We can no longer heap all of the costs onto NASA or the American tax paying public. Not with the harsh realities of high fuel costs, rising food prices, unemployment and housing market problems hitting so many today. It’s time for a new, more realistic, less selfish alternative to funding space missions. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty laid the groundwork for it, NASA and the ESA have both recently made statements and enacted policies to encourage this alternative solution and its time we took it seriously. Space programs can benefit all of humanity, but the costs need to be shared otherwise opposition and budgetary restraints will continue. This consortium approach could also benefit many other areas of space industry, especially efforts to develop lower cost space transports. But what do you think? I’d like to hear from anyone with their own views on this subject in our forums . What are the pros and cons? Vote on it here or let us know what you think in our forums.