Sometimes you just have to wonder what is going on with this government of ours? You would think that space exploration would have to be a high priority, after all we are living in a modern age and yet some people in Congress treat this subject the same way it would have been treated in the Dark Ages. They try and burn the spirit of exploration at the stake of expenditure. What I am saying here is that there are actually people in Congress right at this very instant, who are trying to pass bills that forbid us from human exploration of the planet Mars. No I have not lost my mind, what I am telling you seems to be a fact. The 110th Congress has introduced H.R. 3093. This funding bill actually has a clause in it preventing manned missions to Mars. It states "That none of the funds under this heading shall be used for any research, development, or demonstration activities related exclusively to the human exploration of Mars." Talk about a backwards society, just about every country in the world that is capable of having a space program is aiming at manned space exploration, while the good old USA is stepping back. I have to wonder what the possible reason would be for somebody to introduce a bill of this nature? Usually there is money involved, but how and where it is involved here, is hard to tell. Does someone actually think that if we do not go into space that the money we save will actually be used to benefit mankind? That would have to be the most asinine reason that there is, for not exploring. I think that we all know by now that no matter how much money is saved in Congress, we won't ever get the benefit of any of it. Could there be another reason that we are not aware of? Maybe there is something on Mars that the government does not want us to see, but that begs the question, how are they going to stop other countries from landing there and seeing these things?

Could it be that we believe that we will be so advanced by the time that other countries are able to fly manned missions to Mars that we will be able to stop them from doing this? I know that this sounds outrageous, but you have to look at our record lately. Since almost the end of World War II we have been trying to force our will on many other countries, maybe this is just an extension of that. Look at what recently came out about Iran, a report was just released by our very own CIA and its stated that Iran does not actually have a nuclear weapons program. For years we have been told that they did, while apparently the government knew they didn't. Even with this report being released we are still seeking sanctions against that country. What could be more bizarre than that. While relations with Iran have absolute nothing to do with manned space travel, they certainly do give us an inkling of the way we have been operating lately. Did you wonder why the White House would release such a report while trying to get sanctions against Iran, I know I did? About the only reason that I could come up with was that the report was going to be released and they found out about it and released it first to try and save as much face as they could. They seem to have given no thought to the fact that this makes their policies seem totally ludicrous. Have we been told anything that is true about the Middle East?

It's strange how things worked out. We are just beginning to discover ways of zipping around the solar system. Some people, including some scientists believe that we have already perfected engines capable of propelling us far faster than the speed of light, and so fast that we can actually fly between galaxies. I have no proof of any of this even though there seem to be many rumors to this effect so when I talk about new engines I can only talk about the ones that I know that are being experimented with or are ready in use. One new engine that shows plenty of promise has just been invented by an astronaut . It is a plasma engine and is said to be fast enough to allow us to reach Mars in three months instead of the current six or so. The BBC announced in late 2005 that a plasma engine was tested by the European space agency and passed with flying colors. Notice when we talk about traveling to other planets Mars is usually the planet that we talk about and it is just that planet that our own government is trying to stop us from going to. Another new engine that is being worked on is a reactor that uses biomass. Biomass can be almost anything, food that we didn't eat and any type of organic waste including human excrement. Is being said that not only can this engine be used for space travel, but it can be used on the ground on a planet to produce electricity and other byproducts. A new rocket engine is being designed that operates much like our car engines do, in that it will have a system similar to a gearbox. What this will mean is that instead of the rocket running at full exhaust for the entire trip, it will be able to be reduced in exhaust for as many as five different settings, thus saving at least 40% in fuel.

Ion Engine

The science and technology section of the Scotsman has announced that the United States is working on a new hyperspace engine and if it succeeds it will be able to propel us to Mars in under three hours. While this may still not be fast enough for traveling between distant stars, it seems to fit the bill nicely when traveling around the solar system and to closer star systems. It would still take 80 days using this engine to reach a star that was 11 light years away. Supposedly the engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that produces a gravitational field that supplies the thrust for spaceship. The idea is based on a theory by Bukhard Heim. The theory does take into account that the ship would be flying through other dimensions, which is still an alien idea to us at the moment, since we have never been able to observe another dimension and may not be capable of doing that even if they do exist. NASA has said that if they can get this theory to work, a test device will be built within the next five years. There is also the new and improved ION engine that is being tested by the European space agency. It is much more efficient than the Ion engines that are currently in use. The new engine produces many more times the thrust of the current Ion engine and it is said that it will be capable of propelling us around the solar system in a reasonable amount of time. A new type of rocket engine is also being developed by NASA. The beauty of it is that it runs on compressed liquid methane, which is not only much cheaper than conventional rocket fuel, but it is available on other planets such as Mars. This would allow astronauts that land on Mars to collect enough fuel for the return trip. Again I would like you to take notice that NASA has named Mars as a target for a manned landing. NASA seems to be working on many different types of engines at the same time and one of the more futuristic ones that they are working on is an antimatter engine. This engine is probably the furthest from development of any engine design that they are currently working on and it entails problems that have never been faced before. if it is successful however it will only require a few grams of positrons as fuel to send it to Mars .

Space Shuttle

As you can see there is no lack of imagination when designing new engines to propel us through the void of space. It seems that we are on the verge of great engine advancement and that this would certainly be the wrong time to give up on manned space exploration. We are reaching the point in our society where we are really starting to fall behind in a lot of areas. Our dollar has become very weak and it would not take a lot for us to have our economy crash as it did with the Germans before World War II. Most of our factories are gone and we are no longer a manufacturing power. Even our automobile manufacturers are in a lot of trouble. There really are no more great American brands in electronics either. Much of the world has lost respect for us because of our policies and even many of our friends are now disgusted with us. One of the last great areas where we still hold a lead is in space, but this lead is eroding very fast. .We have wasted it on things like this space shuttle and the space station, putting all of our resources into these useless objects. Some might say while the shuttle does have a use it can launch satellites, but the truth of the matter is that satellites can be launched far more cheaply using rockets and that the shuttles have merely become expensive flying coffins for some of those astronauts who take off in them.

We shuldn't be so willing to let a field that we are ahead in be destroyed. Well I guess if we listen to those boobs in Washington, we will be left with nothing. Just looking at the bill that I cited at the beginning of this article has to make you wonder whether they have any brains at all? Many years ago during the age of great exploration of the Earth, at the time when America was discovered, several great nations competed for newfound lands. Those that did not were left out in the cold . Is the same thing going to happen all over again in space, only we will be the ones left out? How can we let this happen to ourselves? If there is any sense left at all in government, they must fund manned planetary exploration to Mars and beyond.