IMHO, a trip to Mars would start off with unmanned vehicles being sent in advance containing oxygen, water shelter etc. Some multi-function robots could be sent in the first wave to get the lie of the land.

Also, the original Lunar Rover had a guidance system to make the return to the lander easier and not rely on directions such as "third turning past the large grey boulder". How about something like a quad bike with appropriate sensing equipment? This gets sent in advance to scout round the area, then when the humans arrive, the autonomous systems are switched off and it gets used as martian transport.

[All we need to do is get Charles Kennedy* elected. We know the Scots have an engineering tradition and since his name's Kennedy, I'm sure he'll be for it]

Unfortunately, any Scots that make it into space will have to put up with the "Scotty to Bridge, ye cannae change the laws of Physics!" stereotype!

*Charles Kennedy - Leader of the UK Liberal Democrat party. For those who don't know (or care!) about UK politics.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: liglats on 2003-01-12 17:17 ]</font>