What are your thoughts on the prospect that a Mars mission could happen as early as 2018?

Given that there have been numerous Mars missions already, it really isn’t that huge a project except it is being done by a private company.

And nothing all that new will be discovered. It would be much more meaningful if they could get the SpaceX craft back from Mars.

Theoretically, if you have a rocket that can place a satellite in Geosynchronous orbit and still have a bit of fuel left over you can reach Mars. You can’t come back of course but you can escape Earth’s gravity and let the target’s draw you in. It would take a long time but you would get there. You can speed things up by slingshotting around other objects such as the Moon.
NASA had successful flybys in 1964, 1969 (over 50 years ago!) when computers look like this and only had 64k of RAM and operated at ~50,000 instructions per second.
NASA and USSR had successful landings as early as 1971 – 45 years ago!
I think it is great that private industry is trying but I am not overly enthusiastic nor am I expecting any useful results.
What is the profit motive for private industry to accomplish this feat? Advertising? Marketing?

We aren’t ready to send people, so this is a good next-step.

Billions will be wasted and little will be learned. We still have hungry people.

Doubtful. And before we go to Mars, I’d like us to solve the Flint water crisis and about 1,000 other domestic problems first.

The great, great wall between the US and Mexico can wait, too.

@johnpowell “Billions will be wasted and little will be learned. We still have hungry people.”

And we as a nation spend many billions more feeding hungry people than we do on space exploration.

Considering the current state of the world and the outlook for the future…

I call shotgun.

Well, the Chinese are looking into a Mars mission as well and I believe the Russians are trying to get back into exploration as well.
Euro-Russian Mars Mission
As for the US, not much chance. The US government has lost interest in space (or actually functioning for that matter) NASA and most every other government program is chronically underfunded and will continue to be so for the next few decades.

2018 may be a little optimistic but it needs to happen eventually.

I’m in @johnpowell , @Pachy and @Seek ‘s camp. Mars can wait, we have more important matters to attend to.

@Coloma @johnpowell @Pachy @Seek I don’t disagree with you on priorities for the government, but this is a private enterprise effort, not a NASA effort.

Um, I’m saying I want to hitch a ride on the rocket.

@zenvelo Oops, got’cha.
@Seek,...well I might hitchhike into space myself. lol

There are always more important matters. Always. No matter what the issue is you’ll always be able to find something that’s more important. Doesn’t mean that the less important matter shouldn’t be pursued.

@Darth_Algar, yes, pursued.

Prioritized—a bigger yes.

They will discover that Mars is a barren world comprised mostly of red dust and that it has cost billions to discover what we already knew.

@zenvelo :: NASA puts a lot of money and man hours into SpaceX. They use them as a contractor and offer engineering assistance. So yeah, your tax dollars are going into a private corporation. But in the same way they go into Boeing.