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Who do you believe will be the first to colonize mars?

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Two (un)realistic options:

1. Both the US and EU will get together to prevent China or Russia from getting there first!
2. Or maybe there will be one person from each of those (US, EU, Ch, and Ru) in the first spacecraft to land there!

Reply 21

PoliticoJames

I reckon the whole planet would probably work together on it, like with the ISS, but out of those, if forced to chose, probably the EU. Good tech, and expanding ESA. China and India aren't, to me, all that viable, they just want to beat each other...but I suppose that's all the US was doing when it got to the Moon...

Reply 22

jk1986

I was under the impression that western society was on their way to pretty much ditching manned spaceflight. Have been told it's unlikely a man will step foot on the moon again any time soon let alone mars.

In my opinion it's more likely to be China but I can't see anyone bothering in the next 100 years..

Reply 23

MSB

The chances of anything coming from Earth are a million to one, he said.

Reply 24

Wesssty

Once we ruin this planet we'll be forced else where :biggrin:

Reply 25

TI-84

Noone apart from the U.S.
It is still far off though, colonization is a long way off.

Reply 26

wilson_smith

I can only conceptualise a world coalition would have to arise, in which an international effort was made.

Reply 27

Svenjamin

If there will be colonies, it'll be a united effort I reckon. Sending rockets into space is one thing, but to build entire cities up there is going to take more than one country. Building colonies will be more about furthering the human race than glory-hunting for a single nation IMO.

One country doing it alone would screw with global politics and economics. If there's a monopoly over an entire planet there's not much hope of any other country catching up.

Reply 28

abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz

I don't think it'll happen but if it ever does, i'll have my money on the chinese. Thing is with China, if they want something, they'll spend literally everything on it

Reply 29

Casse

The USA will be economically bankrupt before the technology to colonise planets has been invented. So it'll probably be China or some other emergin nation.

Reply 30

ajtiesto

Well China is growing at a rapid rate. Do not underestimate the Chinese, they got all kinds of **** going on behind the scenes.

Reply 31

Pocket Calculator

i doubt people will even visit mars for several hundred years. the way things are going now, we won't be sending people into space at all in a couple of decades.

obviously, i hope i'm wrong...

Reply 32

GLS2010

why is EU a choice? its not a country.

Reply 33

xkatx_sb

Cows - they're clearly planning something, and it could well be the take-over of Mars.

Reply 34

Aphotic Cosmos

India: Not a chance that they'll be first, but such a large, expanding population needs more resources. Where better to get them from than the Solar System, right?
Europe: Not a chance that they'll be first either unless it's part of a joint mission with either Russia or the US [it's unclear in ESA policy as to which agency we gravitate more towards - RKA or NASA], but, depending on whether Europe federalises and whether the ESA is brought under the jurisdiction of the EU, it could happen sooner than you think
USA: If Constellation goes ahead and NASA colonises the Moon in the early 2020s, then my guess is that the national will will be there to beat the Chinese to Mars and reclaim the USA's top spot in space exploration. However, if Constellation is cancelled, and if the replacement isn't suitable for extra-orbital flight, then NASA will drop off of the face of the map faster than you can blink.
China: The other main contender, I would wager that if Constellation is cancelled, the Chinese will be the first on Mars, and the first to return to the Moon.
Russia: Despite receiving huge budget increases under the Medvedev government, and being viewed as a symbol of national pride once more, RKA isn't in any state to return to the Moon or venture to Mars just yet. However, with a joint ESA-RKA mission, it could work.

I believe that, given the huge costs of such a mission, it would simply be more prudent for the five space powers to pool their resources and set up an international colony under independent or UN jurisdiction. National efforts would be pretty meagre.

I also believe that given the incredible growth of the commercial space start-up sector over the past 5 years, where we've gone from virtually nothing to having privately owned spaceplanes under Branson and 7-man orbital capsules from SpaceX, as well as inflatable [and working] space station modules from Bigelow Aerospace, that no national body will be the first to Mars or back to the Moon. It's possible that commercial efforts could bypass this entirely.

Reply 35

Sephiroth

I believe it will be an international effort in the way the ISS is, but if it is a single country or continent effort then I'd bet China. They will soon have the #1 economy and they care less about safety and working conditions than the USA so it would probably cost them less.

I still can't see it happening in our lifetime however. But I think we will terraform Mars during this millennium. It will be the biggest and most amazing thing humanity has ever done.

Reply 36

L i b

Stalin

China isn't communist

Yes, it is.

Reply 37

Hart92

Casse

The USA will be economically bankrupt before the technology to colonise planets has been invented. So it'll probably be China or some other emergin nation.