Post Race!

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Originally Posted by dday9

I remember reading about that in one of the cold war era books.

It is interesting to see that the USSR focused on Venus whereas the USA focused on Mars. I'm sure there was a pissing match in there somewhere, but I wonder why after the moon they both diverged on "what is next".

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I'd say once we found out what the conditions were like on Venus we lost interest. Mars gives you the possibility to send a human, colonize, mine or maybe use as a stepping stone to more distant places. Plus who want to go even closer to the sun. lol

"The motherland is cold. Let us inch closer to the sun." - some Russian scientist probably

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Originally Posted by wes4dbt

I'd say once we found out what the conditions were like on Venus we lost interest. Mars gives you the possibility to send a human, colonize, mine or maybe use as a stepping stone to more distant places. Plus who want to go even closer to the sun. lol

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That's exactly what happened. Venus was a good choice as it has the same size than earth and at that time, they didn't know about the pressure and the atmosphere because the whole planet is cover by clouds.

in fact it look pretty much like Mars
picture of venera 9 (the first picture of venus)
Attachment 185051

picture from venera 13

Attachment 185049Attachment 185050

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Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker

Why not send a lander to Mercury? I hear the sun there is quite bright.

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Mariner 10 was the first probe going near Mercury in 1975 and has taken a few picture. the planet has no interest as it is a big rock in space. it has not atmosphere and is too close of the sun

As if that ever stopped anyone.

why bother with Mercury when you have everything you need on the Moon

Because it's there.

Better suntans?

Lower real estate prices?

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Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker

Lower real estate prices?

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That's a good point but higher price of transportation

Yeah, that will keep the real estate prices down, but I believe there might be a bus service via Amazon in the near future.

I don't think the rain forest would want to be that close to the sun.

We could rename the world, Sauna. For a while, but after all the water is evaporated I thing we should name it "The Rock".

If humans go there then I don’t think I would want to smell what The Rock is cookin'

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Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker

Yeah, that will keep the real estate prices down, but I believe there might be a bus service via Amazon in the near future.

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I think Elon already tried some autonomous car flying into space, that's maybe the solution but the travel will still take some time. I'm not sure you will be able to spend your weekend in your Summer house very often.

I wonder what Mercury smells like?

The planet, I mean, not the metal.

And certainly not the Greek god.

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Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker

I wonder what Mercury smells like?

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I've read that Mercury smells a wee bit like sodium, so it's almost odorless.

But we can change that if we can get Elon to send a volunteer there in a future flight!