When will traveling to other planets be common?
8 Answers
- Stan DaloneLv 72 months agoFavorite Answer
Not within our lifetimes. The real problem is propulsion - the reason we didn't go on to Mars etc. like we all thought we would in the 60s and 70s is that there haven't been big advances in propulsion like we thought there would be.
The hard part about getting into space isn't traveling 200+ miles up. It's that, in order to stay up there you have to establish an orbit. so you also have to accelerate to 17,000mph (give or take) sideways. To go elsewhere you have to travel faster than that. Takes a lot of fuel to get up that speed.
Also you're probably unaware of the scale of distances involved. The Moon is about a quarter of a million miles away; Mars is about 50 million miles, so 400 times farther. That has its own problems: solar flares, consumables, medical emergencies (think appendicitis), and so on. Plus blasting off from Mars would take a rocket of its own--smaller than the one to launch from Earth, but still you have to get it there first.
- Chuck NorrisLv 52 months ago
I doubt it will ever be common. It will always be expensive and other planets just are not as nice as Earth. Well, unless Disney builds like Disney Mars or something. Then it will be common. So it is up to Mickey Mouse really.
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- jeffdanielkLv 42 months ago
I don't think interplanetary travel will ever be common. Its too expensive. It takes millions of dollars of fuel just to get off the earth. NASA and SpaceX will send people to others planets, but regular people can't afford it.
- ?Lv 62 months ago
Never,
And why would travelling to barren, desolate cratered rocks or giant balls of gas or ice be in any way desirable anyway?
We can already investigate other planets robotically. Going there in person would add zero value to the mission.