Part 7/13:
The conversation illustrated the immense costs of space travel with a striking analogy: the Moon is just 30 feet away if Earth is the size of a school globe. In contrast, traveling to Mars would be like walking a mile away—an astronomical difference in distance and complexity.
Suborbital flights by companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic are only skimming the surface—literally and figuratively—being just a few miles above Earth’s surface. Meanwhile, landing on or traveling to Mars involves traversing a vast, hostile environment, with current technology requiring billions of dollars and years of planning.