Analyst pours cold water on Trump's 'ambitious' Mars gambit
Donald Trump may believe the U.S. has a "manifest destiny" to travel to Mars before the end of his second term, but technology and timing are against him, according to analysis by MSNBC.
MSNBC editor Ryan Teague Beckwith noted that Trump's inaugural address included a promise to “pursue our manifest destiny into the stars” and “plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars,” but the president's adherence to the details needed to get there has been less than stellar.
"Trump clearly wants some kind of a space triumph," Beckwith wrote. "He created the Space Force and said he wanted to go to Mars by the end of his first term. He said at a rally...in October that America would go to Mars before the end of his second term, though he didn’t specify whether that meant an unmanned spacecraft or actual American space boots on the ground."
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Despite not currently having the technology "to keep astronauts alive on such a long ride or develop the fuel for a return trip," there's the exorbitant cost that goes against Trump's cost-cutting DOGE goals: "A 2016 estimate put the figure at half a trillion dollars."
Then there's the matter of timing.
"Because missions to Mars can only happen when the two planets are relatively close to each other, there’s basically only one chance to send a spaceship there during Trump’s second term, which would be in late 2026, which is far too soon given the technological limitations we’re already up against," Beckwith wrote.
All that aside, Trump's romantic notions of space travel resonate with American voters. A 2023 Yougov poll revealed that 57% of Americans were in favor of sending a manned-mission to the Red Planet. Beckwith noted that the Mars issue was "much more popular than Trump’s pardons for Jan. 6 participants, attempt to overturn birthright citizenship and proposal for broad-based tariffs on foreign goods, all of which majorities oppose." That fact alone may perpetuate Trump's Mars-talk well into the future, despite the obvious obstacles.