Walking on Mars

[JBird]

I think that a human will walk on Mars in the next 19 years. I'm hoping to make a fun bet with someone that disagrees. Any takers?

[DTEJD1997]

I might be interested in taking you up on your offer.

 

Question:  Why select 19 years?  Why not 10, 15, 20?

 

I think the race would boil down to China or the USA.

 

Other possibilities? ESA, Russia, India, Japan?

 

What type of stakes would you like to wager?

[JBird]

Because 20 years seems far away.  :P

 

I'll PM anyone interested with wager amounts.

[beerbaron]

Isnt' there a window where a shuttle to March can be sent?

 

BeerBaron

[JBird]

I'm going to assume you meant Mars. Where did you read that?

[leftcoast]

Any manned mission to Mars would use a conjunction class trajectory, in order to get as close as possible to a minimum energy transfer and to minimize transit time. Conjunction class trajectories have regular departure windows that open about 50 days prior to Earth-Mars opposition, which is an event that occurs every 26 months.

 

Source: My undergraduate thesis entitled "Proposal for a Near-Term Manned Mission to Mars."  :)

[JBird]

Interesting, thanks.

[stahleyp]

Hey JBird,

 

You could always do http://longbets.org/ if you want a possible taker.