Why is human Mars exploration so surprisingly hard? | The Space Review

By James Oberg, The Space Review, Posted 08/18/09

Link: http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1448/1

"In the heady aftermath of Apollo 11, it appeared likely humans would journey to Mars by the end of the century; 40 years later, though, such missions seem as far in the future as ever. James Oberg discusses why such missions have proven far more difficult than originally envisioned and how we’ll know that we’re finally ready to go." This valuable assessment nicely complements a CSG article titled "Spacefaring: Our Real Prospects for Homesteading Off-Earth" that also has a rich string of "comments".  A major rationale for building the International Space Station was to use it as a LEO "outpost" to do the basic R&D and pilot studies that could lead us toward off-Earth homesteading.  Now it's time to use it for that.