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Of course travel to Mars, 150 million miles of hard vacuum and cosmic radiation away, is too dangerous and it will probably remain so for the foreseeable future. This question is phrased not, "should we go to Mars", or, "will we ever get to Mars", so it remains open to interpretation as to what currently constitutes "too dangerous". There is also a tendency to make assumptions that any current technological difficulties will be overcome in time somehow.

In May of 2001, Robert Zubrin, then president of Pioneer Astronautics and the Mars Society, told National Geographic Today, "We are much closer today to sending people to Mars than we were to sending people to the moon in 1961." If that were actually the case, then we would be landing on Mars sometime next summer. Enthusiasm and pragmatism are frequently at odds with each other and there are many pros and cons to the practicality of a Mars mission. But for the sake of brevity, I offer the top 5 reasons, in order of increasing importance, why going to Mars is still too dangerous at present.

5) If you think your cell phone service has dead-spots now, try Mars.
Unless we learn to exceed the speed of light in the next few years, communications are going to be a huge hurdle. Depending on the relative locations of the two planets, communication can take anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes; and that's one way. Throw in the fact that Earth would have to be above the Martian horizon to receive messages (and vice versa), windows of opportunity will further restrict the amount of information that's able to be exchanged during any particular interval of time.

Advances in laser-communications and increased bandwidth can alleviate some of the concerns by providing increased data capacity over radio waves. But even lasers have drawbacks, such as cloud cover, dust storms and the need to accurate pointing over vast distances. A series of relay satellites or even the orbiter itself might be able to intercept a signal no matter what relative positions Mars and Earth are in, but they still have to be on the same side of the planet as the Lander. And that will do nothing to shorten the lag time. While not necessarily a fatal flaw if all systems are go, in an emergency, such a delay could indeed be fatal.

4) In space no one can hear you scream, and they won't hear you scream in the Lander, either, without oxygen. The logistical problems of taking sufficient air, water and food for a round trip voyage is mind-boggling and at this point in time,

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