Why Space Travel ?

[westwall]

Personally? I believe that there is a secret "break away civilization" space program that has used back engineered alien technology starting back even before Roswell . There has been too many advances in technology (being that I work in electronics) that leads me to believe otherwise. NASA was created to siphon off money for the Groom Lake/Area 51 projects.........IMHO. They have IC chips now that can fit inside the dimple of a golf ball that can power a laptop computer. I worked on printed circuit boards for years going from single layer "through put" boards to working on multi-layered circuit boards with transistors, caps, resistors and ICs (integrated circuits) that were so small that it required a lighted magnifying glass to remove them and soon it became cheaper to trash PCBs than spend the time to repair them.

Due to my reading and my researching, the military industrial complex is anywhere from 50 to 100 years ahead of what we are allowed to have or know about. When technology becomes obsolete, they release it to their corporate entities for profit because they no longer need it because of advanced technology. It may sound crazy but I stand by what I say being that I have worked in electronics for over 30 years.

I hope so. It doesn’t matter to me if only the richest survive this planet. I’ll be long gone and you can’t save everyone. We all got to die sometime. As long as the human species lives on

Perhaps, but I would rather have someone like you representing humanity than the rich POS that sold us out for the "golden ticket".

Thanks. But whoever carries the torch is going to have to work and be smart. And that money ain’t gonna do them any good anymore.

I would love to start over again. Half day fridays, free healthcare, retire at 50, different prison system designed to reform, higher minimum wage cap on greed, work to live not live to work, only hunting guns, no organized religion and go green!

Good luck with that. The problem with "sustainable" living, is in the event of a disaster, you die. The whole point about growing and building more than you need, is so that some of it survives whatever disaster happens. History is filled with failed sustainable civilizations.

On the contrary, history is filled with civilizations that over and ill used their environments, and when the environment collapsed, so did the civilization. Read Jared Diamonds":Collapse"

I have, and much of what he claims is probably true, but much is likewise not true. Sustainable communities ultimately fail. That is a simple fact of life. If you have no excess, you simply can't survive a catastrophe. It's simple math.

 

[rightwinger]

By all means spend on space travel

Send a Red Tesla with a dummy Astronaut to the ends of the universe
Sending a man is a waste of money

 

[westwall]

By all means spend on space travel

Send a Red Tesla with a dummy Astronaut to the ends of the universe
Sending a man is a waste of money

Only if you are anti science. Sending a dummy off into space is indeed a waste. However, building the technology that allows man to thrive in space is the one thing that can guarantee the survival of the species. Being trapped on a single rock in the Universe, when there is so much more of the Universe out there, is stupid.

 

[9thIDdoc]

We seem to have forgotten the "space race" and its' importance. Had it been a term in use when I was a child "high tech." would referred to electricity in the home, indoor plumbing, massive telephones with "party lines" and long distance (outside the county) operators to assist you (at considerable cost) to place your long distance call, jet aircraft, and 3 channeled black and white TV. I recall standing in the back yard watching the very first satellite-the USSR's Sputnik- inch its way across the night sky. That scared the crap out of Americans nation wide because any nation that can launch a satellite can launch a ballistic missile and the USSR plainly didn't like us much.
Curiosity can provide considerable incentive for R&D. Fear can provide a great deal more. The thought of massive explosive devices literally dangling over our heads aboard satellites with nothing we could do about them added all sorts of inspiration (and funding) to our space program. Control of space would include control of the planet. All of it.

 

[9thIDdoc]

I forgot about that reason. Even if all we had was a simple space station near to earth where humans could survive an asteroid or nuclear war. How long would we need to give the planet before it was safe to go back?

Or let’s say we colonized mars. We’d have back up people. These wouldn’t be rich people. They might be prisoners. Like australians

Depending on the size of the asteroid it could be decades before the planet was habitable again. Most likely it would only be a few years, but a few years of nuclear winter type weather and most life is toast. Far better to prevent the hit in the first place.

Of course. And we may not be able to last a decade in space.

I think the earth would rebound. We would have to eat greens cockroaches deep sea fish and rats

Of course the Earth would rebound. But would there be advanced life on it afterwards? That is the question.

I think the problem here is that most people simply cannot comprehend the amount of energy in an incoming impactor. Even a small one, say a kilometer in diameter, would know back civilization for at least a century. And the majority of humans presently alive would be dead within two years of impact. Especially were it an ocean hit, as it would most likely be. A relitively minor event, Tamobora, resulted in starvation on most of the continents in 1816. A minor impactor as described would be many orders of magnitudes of a greater event than Tambora.

Hard to feel sorry for us since we’ve caused so many other species to go extinct.

If everything else living could vote the human species extinct almost all animals would vote us extinct. No question about it. Only cats and dogs would vote to keep us around

Extinction is a normal and natural part of nature necessary for new species to evolve and/or a result of new species having evolved. Nothing to weep bitter tears over.

 

[rightwinger]

We seem to have forgotten the "space race" and its' importance. Had it been a term in use when I was a child "high tech." would referred to electricity in the home, indoor plumbing, massive telephones with "party lines" and long distance (outside the county) operators to assist you (at considerable cost) to place your long distance call, jet aircraft, and 3 channeled black and white TV. I recall standing in the back yard watching the very first satellite-the USSR's Sputnik- inch its way across the night sky. That scared the crap out of Americans nation wide because any nation that can launch a satellite can launch a ballistic missile and the USSR plainly didn't like us much.
Curiosity can provide considerable incentive for R&D. Fear can provide a great deal more. The thought of massive explosive devices literally dangling over our heads aboard satellites with nothing we could do about them added all sorts of inspiration (and funding) to our space program. Control of space would include control of the planet. All of it.

I remember the Space Race
It was cool...we won

Now there is nothing to be won
Send robots....nobody is racing us anymore

 

[Manonthestreet]

I have always been an opponent of sending rockets into space, especially when tax $$ are being used. I still just don't see the point,or benefit to mankind.

Can anyne cite anything worthwhile that came from the trip to the moon, that coudn't have been obtained anyway, without that space travel ? Or from any of the space endeavours since then ?

I can think of 2 results from these >> 17 dead astronauts, and Billions of $$$ wasted.

View attachment 175611 View attachment 175612

Because the vision thing.....

 

[westwall]

We seem to have forgotten the "space race" and its' importance. Had it been a term in use when I was a child "high tech." would referred to electricity in the home, indoor plumbing, massive telephones with "party lines" and long distance (outside the county) operators to assist you (at considerable cost) to place your long distance call, jet aircraft, and 3 channeled black and white TV. I recall standing in the back yard watching the very first satellite-the USSR's Sputnik- inch its way across the night sky. That scared the crap out of Americans nation wide because any nation that can launch a satellite can launch a ballistic missile and the USSR plainly didn't like us much.
Curiosity can provide considerable incentive for R&D. Fear can provide a great deal more. The thought of massive explosive devices literally dangling over our heads aboard satellites with nothing we could do about them added all sorts of inspiration (and funding) to our space program. Control of space would include control of the planet. All of it.

I remember the Space Race
It was cool...we won

Now there is nothing to be won
Send robots....nobody is racing us anymore

You remind of the anti science religious nut jobs. The "space race" isn't over until the next big rock from space hits us. Then....and only then is the space race over. You small minded people simply can't understand that the space race isn't against our fellow man, it is against a big ass rock that seeks to end us.

 

[rightwinger]

The U.S. is leading the world in space exploration. We have sent probes to all the planets, had rovers on Mars for years, sent probes out of the solar system

No need to send people

 

[westwall]

The U.S. is leading the world in space exploration. We have sent probes to all the planets, had rovers on Mars for years, sent probes out of the solar system

No need to send people

Probes don't give you the tech to stop big ass rocks. Only the technology you need to keep man alive in space does that. When the terrible day arrives when we see a rock headed our way, there simply won't be enough time to develop it. You need to have it be an off the shelf item. Your small minded way leads to the ultimate loss.

 

[protectionist]

Probes don't give you the tech to stop big ass rocks. Only the technology you need to keep man alive in space does that. When the terrible day arrives when we see a rock headed our way, there simply won't be enough time to develop it. You need to have it be an off the shelf item. Your small minded way leads to the ultimate loss.

So you're saying earthlings need to be on other planets, to stop big rocks from hitting us ?

 

[westwall]

Probes don't give you the tech to stop big ass rocks. Only the technology you need to keep man alive in space does that. When the terrible day arrives when we see a rock headed our way, there simply won't be enough time to develop it. You need to have it be an off the shelf item. Your small minded way leads to the ultimate loss.

So you're saying earthlings need to be on other planets, to stop big rocks from hitting us ?

No, what I am saying is the technology that would be used to get us to other planets within the Solar System would likewise be powerful enough to prevent a big rock from hitting us. It is a matter of time till the next rock hits us. Don't you think it would be nice to prevent that rather than looking up as it burns its way through our atmosphere and say, "well shit. We could have stopped that but decided not to..'

 

[sealybobo]

Depending on the size of the asteroid it could be decades before the planet was habitable again. Most likely it would only be a few years, but a few years of nuclear winter type weather and most life is toast. Far better to prevent the hit in the first place.

Of course. And we may not be able to last a decade in space.

I think the earth would rebound. We would have to eat greens cockroaches deep sea fish and rats

Of course the Earth would rebound. But would there be advanced life on it afterwards? That is the question.

I think the problem here is that most people simply cannot comprehend the amount of energy in an incoming impactor. Even a small one, say a kilometer in diameter, would know back civilization for at least a century. And the majority of humans presently alive would be dead within two years of impact. Especially were it an ocean hit, as it would most likely be. A relitively minor event, Tamobora, resulted in starvation on most of the continents in 1816. A minor impactor as described would be many orders of magnitudes of a greater event than Tambora.

Hard to feel sorry for us since we’ve caused so many other species to go extinct.

If everything else living could vote the human species extinct almost all animals would vote us extinct. No question about it. Only cats and dogs would vote to keep us around

Extinction is a normal and natural part of nature necessary for new species to evolve and/or a result of new species having evolved. Nothing to weep bitter tears over.

You want to avoid it though if possible or delay it I should say

 

[sealybobo]

Probes don't give you the tech to stop big ass rocks. Only the technology you need to keep man alive in space does that. When the terrible day arrives when we see a rock headed our way, there simply won't be enough time to develop it. You need to have it be an off the shelf item. Your small minded way leads to the ultimate loss.

So you're saying earthlings need to be on other planets, to stop big rocks from hitting us ?

No, what I am saying is the technology that would be used to get us to other planets within the Solar System would likewise be powerful enough to prevent a big rock from hitting us. It is a matter of time till the next rock hits us. Don't you think it would be nice to prevent that rather than looking up as it burns its way through our atmosphere and say, "well shit. We could have stopped that but decided not to..'

My favorite show right now is How the Universe Works. Fascinating.

Of course we want to travel and explore space. It would be inhuman not to

 

[protectionist]

No, what I am saying is the technology that would be used to get us to other planets within the Solar System would likewise be powerful enough to prevent a big rock from hitting us. It is a matter of time till the next rock hits us. Don't you think it would be nice to prevent that rather than looking up as it burns its way through our atmosphere and say, "well shit. We could have stopped that but decided not to..'

Somehow, I just don't get the feeling that we need a space program to address that problem (if ther eis a problem)

 

[9thIDdoc]

A space program advances all sorts of technology because research discovers many things you weren't actually looking for as well as things that may also prove useful, even vital, in other areas. Computers, solid state circuitry, all sorts of communication improvement, microwave ovens, velcro, ceramics and fabrics come to mind.
.

 

[westwall]

No, what I am saying is the technology that would be used to get us to other planets within the Solar System would likewise be powerful enough to prevent a big rock from hitting us. It is a matter of time till the next rock hits us. Don't you think it would be nice to prevent that rather than looking up as it burns its way through our atmosphere and say, "well shit. We could have stopped that but decided not to..'

Somehow, I just don't get the feeling that we need a space program to address that problem (if ther eis a problem)

This was a small one. There are THOUSANDS of these things floating around up there. Yes, it is a problem. Only a fool doesn't think it is....

 

[rightwinger]

A space program advances all sorts of technology because research discovers many things you weren't actually looking for as well as things that may also prove useful, even vital, in other areas. Computers, solid state circuitry, all sorts of communication improvement, microwave ovens, velcro, ceramics and fabrics come to mind.
.

But ALL research will do that....space research does not have a monopoly

 

[9thIDdoc]

A space program advances all sorts of technology because research discovers many things you weren't actually looking for as well as things that may also prove useful, even vital, in other areas. Computers, solid state circuitry, all sorts of communication improvement, microwave ovens, velcro, ceramics and fabrics come to mind.
.

But ALL research will do that....space research does not have a monopoly

True. To a very real degree research is research and it really doesn't matter what you call it or what your original goal for conducting it was.