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Published online 21 December 2007 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2007.401
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Mars mission delayed
Conflict of interest on review panel pushes launch back two years.
NASA's next "Scout" mission to Mars will miss its chance to launch in 2011 because of a conflict of interest between one of the two proposing teams and the panel set up to evaluate them, NASA said Friday.
The agency has formed a new panel to choose between the two finalists for the $475-million mission, which would be the second in the Scout series that began with the launch of Phoenix in August.
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The idea of planting a man on Mars is absurd given the ability of robotics and virtual reality hookups. The trillions of dollars to be spent on this could solve a lot of at home science. Especially how to get to space in a more cost efficient manner. The US taxpayer should not have to pay for this stupidity.
A brief visit to consider local parameters would seem a desirable prelude to potential more ambitious ventures. Life has survived continuosly for over 4 billion years, AI for a few decades with considerable back-up support. For the forseeable future, it is biologically derived life that is replicable and sustainable. Homo sapiens with over 6 billion individuals has a corresponding potential to establish parallel self-sustaining communities among the nearer globes, and this should become the clear and universal initial goal of humans regarding space.