Jasin wrote on May 31^st, 2020 at 12:51pm:


I suppose you need to get people to Earth orbit for future larger space stations, from which to build inter-planetary vehicles ...

It will be a long time down the track, but eventually big space-stations will be the launch-sites of those inter-planetary vehicles.

So, here we have the resumption of US machines, with US astronauts, from US soil ... up to the ISS ...

Great for US pride, but maybe also a necessary step in advancing space travel down the track?

"The SpaceX founder and CEO has occasionally floated his controversial plan to terraform the Red Planet by setting off thermonuclear explosions above the planet’s polar caps and evaporating the frozen carbon dioxide stored there. According to Musk, this would trigger the greenhouse effect, raising the planet’s average temperatures enough to support human life.

“We understand that one thing is hidden behind this demagogy: This is a cover for the launch of nuclear weapons into space,” Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russian state space agency Roscosmos, said in a YouTube interview with pro-Kremlin television pundit Vladimir Solovyov.

He slammed Musk’s idea as “inhumane,” saying it would “destroy” the planet.

“We see such attempts, we consider them unacceptable and we will hinder this to the greatest extent possible,” he said, adding that Russia is readying a response and that international regulations ban the deployment of any weapon into space.

Earlier this month, Roscosmos executive director for advanced programs and science Alexander Bloshenko told the state-run TASS news agency that Musk’s plan would require the detonation of more than 10,000 nuclear warheads. Musk responded with a tweet that simply said “No problem.”

Australia has offered a ship-load of prickly pear to colonise the Martian desert followed by rabbits and camels. Brazil offers forest burning skills and China will buy the lot.