Friday, September 11th, 2009

A One-Way Trip To Mars?

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The landing pad of the Phoenix lander resting on the surface of Mars. NASA/JPL-Caltech/U Arizona

Writing in the New York Times recently, cosmologist Lawrence Krauss argued that a human expedition to Mars should not necessarily involve a return ticket to Earth. "Human space travel is so expensive and so dangerous that we are going to need novel, even extreme solutions if we really want to expand the range of human civilization beyond our own planet," he wrote. "To boldly go where no one has gone before does not require coming home again." In this segment, Ira talks with Krauss about that idea. Would you sign on for a one-way ticket to the Red Planet?

Guests

Lawrence Krauss
Foundation Professor, School of Earth and Space Exploration and Physics Department
Inaugural Director, Origins Initiative
Arizona State University
Tempe, Arizona

Related Links

Segment produced by:Flora Lichtman

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