Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
#1
Boris Johnson writes in the Telegraph today about the moon landings and the prospects of going to Mars.
""The whole thing was so touch and go that it simply wouldn't be allowed today. The insurers wouldn't go near it. The risk assessments would be fatal to any such venture. The rockets would remain on the launch pad, choked and smothered by the lianas of health and safety. The tragedy of our age is that the lawyer-ridden western world is 100 times more phobic and more paranoid than the generation that flew to the Moon.""
The full article is here:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/columnists/borisjohnson/5865346/We-are-now-so-spineless-I-will-never-see-a-man-walk-on-Mars.html
He does not think that we will land on and explore Mars, thanks to out lawyer dominated safety first society.
It an interesting article and I fear he is right. What do you think?
Guest 640- Registered: 21 Apr 2007
- Posts: 7,819
#2
Yes I heard a little piece about this on the radio this morning. There is a great deal of cynicism in the feature but nevertheless I think there is some truth in the notion that we are all much more scared than ever. We all have the jitters about swine flu for example on a scale unheard of. Dave1 in another thread talked about a whole new section in a local hospital been set up to deal with it...like never seen before. Today the government are setting up new phonelines and a website...so with all this misery megatalk of widespread predicted death on TV last night and on the radio this morning, the upshot is that if you werent scared before you are now.
The latest scary story is that British Airways and Virgin are refusing to take sick looking people onboard their aircraft. You look sick you dont fly.Is this the black death I ask myself.
We dont let kids play outdoors anymore for fear of accidents or abductions and so on so on...we live in fear. Its the George Orwell society.
However having said all that. I believe the space race will re-commence. The Russians have been talking about Mars and so have the Chinese..and I believe even the newly wealthy Indian nation is talking space travel. So I think the ball game is about to re-awaken.
We dont want the Chinese to get to Mars first do we?? No sirreeee bob..get them western stars and stripes on there and its always nice knowing that us Brits supplied the teabags for the kitchen and maybe a bit of glue for the wings of the craft extraordinaire!
"This is ground control to Major Tom!"
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
#3
Good point PaulB - that is the one thing that will make us in the West sit up and get on with it, the thought that China and the Indians might get to mars in the same way the cold war was a spur to the moon.
Maybe, just maybe, we will wake up more generally to the damage that is being caused to society by these risk adverse attitudes and clip the wings of the health and safety brigade, and lawyers....
#4
In today's HSE-driven world, I am surprised you're even allowed to say the word "explore". The "X" sound leads straight into a hard "PL" sound followed by the open vowel sound of "ORE". You could, possibly, cut your lip while saying this nasty word and a full risk assessment and method statement should be compiled before speaking it.
But seriously, I don't think such exploration will be possible again until some form of threat is identified, much like the Cold War threats of the 1950s and 1960s gave rise to the space race and rocket development. Only during a possible threat will we start to even consider bunging trillions of dollars into this type of interstellar showmanship. Shame really. I'd love to witness a mission to Mars, assuming the aliens are friendly of course. Have you seen War of the Worlds?
Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
#5
It's a good point. Today's Risk Assessments would have stopped the Apollo project in it's tracks. Did you know the skin of the Lunar Module was so thin it was equivalent to three sheets of tin foil? One micro-meteoroid the size of a piece of dust at sufficient velocity could have potentially killed the crew, such a risk would be unthinkable today. It's a pity, but I think Boris is bang on the nose. If any of us ever see a successful manned mission to Mars, we will be so lucky - as a child I always wanted to see it, but alas, I now fear it never will.
Sid Pollitt
#6
I dont understand this point of view. Are there officials stopping people climbing Everest? Or diving? Or stuff? Of course not. What if us amateur divers went off with out being told [or not listening] about the [H&S] rules and stuff, wouldnt we be putting ourselves and maybe others at risk?
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,709
#7
PaulB why not the Chinese or Russians?
I do however, think we will see a manned mission to Mars in my lifetime, however it will most likely be an international co-operative mission between NASA, ESA and the Russians
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
#8
I think it can only be done through International co-operation - too expensive for one country for a start.
Roger
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
#9
Im sure it will happen, but as roger and others have said its so costly one country wont do it alone.
On the question of Health and safety sadly like a lot of fings this legislation just goes to far, but at times you can understand why.
People working on building sites working totally unsafe, how many times do you see that?
The one that i feel that they have got completely wrong in the 1 on youths.
Instead of TV etc filming natural child play etc, they now NEVER show faces instead they show the lower parts of bodies.
Isnt that even worse?
When on the council I was wif the local newspaper reporter we were near some youths and I said wouldnt it be gd to get a few of these youths,
He said, oh i cant get a picture of them without every single parent agreeing to the picture being taken, and can interview them only with parents present
HAS THE WORLD GONE MAD?