12.04.2007
Just say no humans
Want to really ban humans from Mars? In response to the anti-human provision in NASA funding bill HR 3093 ("Provided, That none of the funds under this heading shall be used for any research, development, or demonstration activities related exclusively to the human exploration of Mars...."), Michael Huang, for one, has some advice: "If the anti-human-spaceflight community is serious about eliminating humans in space, it should write a better law. And no messing around this time:Provided, That no funds shall be used for anything that has, does or will directly result in humans, human-derived beings or human-like objects existing at an altitude higher than 100 kilometers above sea level on planet Earth."
Short of that, Michael, thinking like a pro-human space lawyer, suggests some clever ways to beat the ban of humans on Mars, should it become law (The Space Review).
(And of course, human space explorers funded by, for example, China, or other nations, as well as non-NASA funded humans from the US and anywhere else, would remian free to go.)
Meanwhile, I warn Michael, he's gonna get a lot of e-mail on this from some seriously irate robots.
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IMAGE: Courtesy Firstscience.com.
