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I really hope Perseverance got a fitting name and it will persevere in its mission for a very long time. How amazing would it be if it keeps going for like 2 decades, or longer, up until the first manned mission to Mars.
@alyx I hope the first manned missions to Mars will be a lot earlier than that, but yeah, 20 years out of that rover would be nice...
@der_bluthund
A mission was basically supposed to happen these last few years. A decade ago they thought humans on Mars was possible by 2020. And nothing happened. I think Musk currently targets 2030s, but I doubt we'll see any concrete plans until 2040s at the very least.
@der_bluthund
The issue with China is that they are very secretive. Apparently they currently have a rover in orbit around Mars which is planned to land in a month or so, but it's not known of they'll do any kind of livestream event like NASA does.
@alyx I suspect we will have to do a moon base first to be able to build the rocket in NEO to take the team to Mars, so yeah, at this rate probably the 2040s or even the 2050s... But it would be nice if say, the Chinese, did a USA to the moon thing and just did it by 2030 anyway...