A Conversation for Talking Point: Space Exploration
Our nearest neighbour.
Researcher 524695 Started conversation Jan 28, 2004
The nearest neighbour of earth is the moon.
The nearest PLANET is in fact Venus, not Mars.
This is a common misconception.
Our nearest neighbour.
Sir Auron Posted Jan 28, 2004
although presumably it could be mars at some point depending on the positions of all the planets in their various orbits...
Our nearest neighbour.
Peet (the Pedantic Punctuation Policeman, Muse of Lateral Programming Ideas, Eggcups-Spurtle-and-Spoonswinner, BBC Cheese Namer & Zaphodista) Posted Jan 29, 2004
...and of course only taking the measurements in the three coarse spacial dimensions... 
Our nearest neighbour.
Researcher 524695 Posted Jan 29, 2004
Well, obviously there are times (i.e. Mars is on the same side of the sun, Venus is on the opposite side) when Mars is closer.
The point is, "our nearest neighbour" surely by any reasonable definition means "the one that comes closest to us". And that is definitely Venus, not Mars.
Our nearest neighbour.
turvy (Fetch me my trousers Geoffrey...) Posted Jan 29, 2004
It's a moot point.
As already mentioned Mars is sometimes closer to the Earth than Venus and if you want to get picky there are Asteroids and other Near Earth Objects that come a darn sight closer to the Earth than the Moon!
More importantly, of the two Venus is far more inimical to life as we know it than Mars. It has an extremely dense atmosphere of mostly CO2, it rains Sulfuric Acid, the pressure at the surface would crush a man and it is hot enough to melt Lead. Mars is a comparative walk in the park.
turvy
Our nearest neighbour.
Nick Fel Posted Jan 29, 2004
Yeah, nobody wants to go to Venus. If Venus was really a beautiful place populated by beautiful women, we'd have headed there a long time ago?
Our nearest neighbour.
xyroth Posted Jan 29, 2004
more importantly, a long term mars exploration and colonisation plan is the gateway to the rest of the system, and all the knowledge and resources which it holds.
Unless the moon is done right, it is just as vulnerable to the progressive cancellations as the original appolo program. the same is definately not true for mars.
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Our nearest neighbour.
- 1: Researcher 524695 (Jan 28, 2004)
- 2: Sir Auron (Jan 28, 2004)
- 3: Peet (the Pedantic Punctuation Policeman, Muse of Lateral Programming Ideas, Eggcups-Spurtle-and-Spoonswinner, BBC Cheese Namer & Zaphodista) (Jan 29, 2004)
- 4: Researcher 524695 (Jan 29, 2004)
- 5: turvy (Fetch me my trousers Geoffrey...) (Jan 29, 2004)
- 6: Nick Fel (Jan 29, 2004)
- 7: xyroth (Jan 29, 2004)
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