8.09.2006
30 Seconds to Mars
There's a Marsophile in most every Earthling. Or, there should be.At the 9th International Mars Society Conference last week in Washington, DC, notable speakers included the big guy, Mike Griffin, along with Elon Musk (SpaceX), Eric Anderson (Space Adventures), Brian Chase (NASA, Associate Administrator for Legislative Affairs), George Whitesides (National Space Society), a mountain climber (Francis Slakey), and astronaut (Andy Thomas), and of course, Robert Zubrin of The Mars Society.
Rumors that lawyers will not be allowed on Mars are marginally exaggerated, however, folks who know how to lobby Congress will be among the first to earn accommodations on the Red Planet.
Here is a transcript of the NASA administrator's keynote which Jeff Foust graciously summarizes. When does Mike think the first human missions to Mars will take place? "My own personal best guess would be the late 2020s."
Visit Music of the Spheres postings, August 1 through Aug. 8 for highlights of the conference. Also, a conference debrief at MountEverest.net. (Links collected at HobbySpace, of course.)
And Dwayne A. Day has an indepth review of the cool new documentary screened at the conference, The Mars Underground. Looking forward to seeing this.
Finally, in response to the question, "Are we there yet?" -- SLP can only say, well, no, but we are closer every microsecond.
(Aren't we?)
Provehito in altum.
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Note: 30 Seconds to Mars received a nomination for best rock video at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. The band's motto, provehito in altum, translated from Latin, means launch forth into the deep.
