Space Exploration?

[EpsilonX]

So I just read an interesting post on the amazon forums, saying that we shouldn't explore space.

What is everybody here's opinions on space exploration? Is it worth the money? Certainly there are better things to spend the money on, like medical research and alternative energy sources. And honestly right now I can't think of any good reason to explore space, because by the time we need to evacuate the planet, technology will probably be much much better, and it would be easier to explore.

[Jokersvirus]

Space exploration is needed let us see what is beyond our own galaxy. Hell I would sign up for it right away if it was possible right now.

But right now ya, its kinda unneeded because we've only been to mars and that was with a robot. If we were on mars as humans I would agree to continue it, but till we can get something to move space ships faster we need to give that money to others, give nasa money to research only and enough for R&D.

[LiNuX]

I think it's necessary. Feeds my curiosity.

And you're right that in the future, technology will be much better but without money going into NASA or other similar agencies, we probably won't make any advancements when it comes to space travel or space explorations.

And medical research is mostly in the private fields where as space stuff is government based (mostly).

And right now, I'm an advocate for colonizing the moon. Imagine solar power all day long (if placed properly) and it could be a station to go to other planets such as Mars and moons such as Titan for further exploration. It would be cheaper to use the moon as a kind of port so you can use the rest of the money looking for cures to moon cancer.

I can go on for hours but I'm gonna stop now. Let's just say, I like Space, Outer.

[Jokersvirus]

Didnt they say mars was the best choice yet it has those damn 500 mph tornados and crap

[EpsilonX]

I mean, I suppose they could do what they do in Total Recall, and make some kind of like atmosphere generator to supply air to like an enclosed building, but really, is it worth it? Yes, we would get another planet's worth of resources AND biomes to research (even though they probably won't be as diverse as ours)

[BocReaper]

Well look at the space program. It produced so much. Advances in microwaves, freezing, tang, ballpoint pens, a lot of powdered and TV dinner style foods. There is so much technology that has come as a direct result of the space program that it's amazing. I think we have a lot of issues we need to work out here, but I think we need to push into space. At the very least we'll get some cool new tech from it.

[BobTD]

Im also up for figuring out what happened with mars, at one point it should have had an atmosphere. If its possible for an entire planet to essentially be destroyed by a loss of ozone then we are in trouble.

[thedeparted]

I vote for it, i wanna know whats out there in every nook and cranny. the sooner we start the beter :)

[Jokersvirus]

Im also up for figuring out what happened with mars, at one point it should have had an atmosphere. If its possible for an entire planet to essentially be destroyed by a loss of ozone then we are in trouble.

ya but iwill be dead when it happens so ehh

[Jaykub]

I'd love to see space exploration. We truly have no idea whats out there so why not find out :D

[Charlotte]

Space exploration is need to be done though. Just imagine this, if there was no space exploration, will human know about greenhouse effect?
Greenhouse effect is first discovered during the exploration in the planet called... I forgot. :P

[LiNuX]

Didnt they say mars was the best choice yet it has those damn 500 mph tornados and crap

Mars barely has an atmosphere so even if the wind gusted to a 1000mph, you won't feel it as you would on Earth. It may give you a little push but definitely won't have the atmospheric strength to knock you down. And scientists are trying to figure out a way to put more air in there, perhaps take them from earth (greenhouse gases) which would be great but it won't be permanent. Mars' magnetic field is messed up and the solar winds evaporate the atmosphere with ease and that's probably what happened over the past billion years. They have to find a way to protect the planet first from the sun.

Venus on the other hand is the opposite. A 5mph gust could throw you a couple feet because the atmosphere there is very heavy and very compact. And this is assuming you survive the atmosphere, pressure, and heat first.

And like on Mars, Venus doesn't have a magnetic field (not a good one at least) so the sun is evaporating the atmosphere every second of every day. Some people think that if this continues, in the very far future, enough atmosphere may be evaporated away where the pressure drops, heat decreases, and the planet is able to sustain some form of life. So if humans can live long enough past their self destructive nature, we might one day occupy 3 planets in this solar system alone.

Interesting stuff. That's why I vote for more space exploration.

[Diligence109]

What is stopping us from colonizing the moon? I mean... how would we produce... air... to breathe? Is that possible?

I'm tempted to start googling this because of how interesting it is. It's wild how the concept of space and the great beyond will pique curiosity like nothing else...

[EpsilonX]

Well that, prehistoric times, and the depths of the ocean are all mostly unknown to us. Most other things that people could be curious about are easy to obtain information on. Not so much Space, especially considering how large it is compared to how small we are.

[thedeparted]

i say we heat up that moon of jupiter and terraform it :P

[LiNuX]

What is stopping us from colonizing the moon? I mean... how would we produce... air... to breathe? Is that possible?


Lots of stuff stopping us. First, it's the distance. It's about 240,000 something miles away from us and even with our best spacecrafts, it takes a while to get there.

Next is the fact that the moon has no atmosphere and no magnetic field. If you spend too much time in the sun there, you'll develop cancer and maybe some other bad stuff (not fantastic 4 kind of stuff) from the exposure to solar radiation.

And to produce air, it's possible. Most efficient way is to set up bases (domes) with some air released in there including oxygen and carbon dioxide and then planting some trees. Doubt they'll grow on moon soil so we'd need to bring our own but if you can plant enough trees and you give them enough food, you could set up an artificial ecosystem there.

So yeah, it's possible, but it's a longshot with the stuff we have now. We need to work a lot more on protecting our bodies first then work on colonizing.


i say we heat up that moon of jupiter and terraform it :P

Titan? That would be huge considering the average temperature is so low and the liquids there are hydrocarbon and methane and both require very low temperature to stay in liquid form. I doubt humans will be able to live there for millions of years unless we truly find a way to terraform the moon enough for survival.

I wish I could be alive for that moment though.

[thedeparted]

i dont think it'd be smart to even attempt it. it'd get destroyed a meteorite so fast and billions would be down the hole

[DirtyDMan]

I'm for it as well.... One good reason is that we can start getting resource for other planets or comets... Instead of using up all are planets resources....

[Jokersvirus]

Simple, lets make a Rapture under the sea, if they can do it in the 1960s im pretty sure we can do it today.

[RaiDae]

Space exploration = interesting
But... I can't forsee us discovering anything that's gonna be of much benefit. Why don't we all just live in a nearby spacestation... Much closer than anywhere else. And then we could spend the rest of the money on something a bit more usefull... :s

[LiNuX]

Space exploration = interesting
But... I can't forsee us discovering anything that's gonna be of much benefit. Why don't we all just live in a nearby spacestation... Much closer than anywhere else. And then we could spend the rest of the money on something a bit more usefull... :s

Well, if we can find another planet to colonize, I'm sure it would be of great help considering how quickly the human population has been growing.

And also, we can use them for resources. For example, comets are known to have a TON of fresh water ice and if we can harvest them, we may be able to provide fresh water to every corner of this planet.

[thedeparted]

We need to throw some benjamin's at how to go faster, our currents speeds are too paltry to get anywhere significant in decent about of time. Didn't it take that one satelite from from the late 70's to like 2008 to reach pluto?

[LiNuX]

We need to throw some benjamin's at how to go faster, our currents speeds are too paltry to get anywhere significant in decent about of time. Didn't it take that one satelite from from the late 70's to like 2008 to reach pluto?

Both Voyager's flew past the orbit of Pluto in 1989.

Voyager 1 is supposed to have passed into the Heliosphere which is around 11 billion miles from the sun. Don't know where voyager 2 is though. Haven't read up on it as much. It's probably not in the heliosphere yet because it's speed is slower than Voyager 1.


And you're right, we need to spend some more money to go faster. There are a ton of ideas out there such as Solar sails, antimatter, plasma rockets, etc...but not enough money to put them to test.

[thedeparted]

oh, hmm i wonder what I was thinking of.... any who yes we defiantly need to increase budgets

[BobTD]

We need to improve solar panels first. I think we only collect like 14% of the estimated energy they could be gathering but we just haven't found the right chemicals to achieve it.

If solar panels where improved enough we would have a permanent source of power for space stations and even electrical energy on earth. Right now any space station we could live on needs to many things to support large numbers.

And they need artificial gravity, meaning the have to rotate or have moving parts that could break. So rotating the entire station in space sounds like the way to go, but that requires corrections that require thrusters that require some form of fuel. I don't know if we can convert energy from solar panels alone into thrust right now.

[Jjjet1]

Well how about we just make alliances with the aliens then they can teach us their technology? :o That'd be really cool. Cold fusion technology is the answer to the energy 'problem'!! fwahahaaa

[LiNuX]

Solar power is only good up to a point. If you're planning on leaving the solar system, then you won't get as much juice from the sun. But to leave, we'd need something better. Maybe an fusion engine. But for that to work, we need fusion to work on earth first. They have so many labs trying to do it but so far, no one has reached it.

Now if t hey figured out a way to do cold fusion...we'd be set. Or we could copy Futurama and go for a Dark Matter engine!

If only.

[Jjjet1]

Ironman figured out cold fusion right? GET HIM!!!! But most scientists believe cold fusion is just a fantasy and will never come true right? I think they could do it. The should be so narrow minded. Kinda like how the earth is the center of the universe and it is flat......

[thedeparted]

Solar power is only good up to a point. If you're planning on leaving the solar system, then you won't get as much juice from the sun. But to leave, we'd need something better. Maybe an fusion engine. But for that to work, we need fusion to work on earth first. They have so many labs trying to do it but so far, no one has reached it.

Now if t hey figured out a way to do cold fusion...we'd be set. Or we could copy Futurama and go for a Dark Matter engine!

If only.

Perhaps we can develop super duty batteries that store solar power energy that would run a space ship for decades in a single battery that also has a continuous on board recharger of endless energy goodness *shrug*

[LiNuX]

Perhaps we can develop super duty batteries that store solar power energy that would run a space ship for decades in a single battery that also has a continuous on board recharger of endless energy goodness *shrug*

That might work but it would assume we could make solar panels that can absorb a 100% of the light it receives and a battery that can store a whole lot of power. But I'd assume a battery that can do something like that would have to be super huge unless someone comes up with a product that can store a lot more energy in smaller spaces.

It's not impossible.

[thedeparted]

Yeah nothing is impossible, im look how far we've come in the industry revolution to now. think another 250 years.. imagine what thats going to be

[Muffincat]

If humans are still alive to see 250 years from now :P

[LiNuX]

If humans are still alive to see 250 years from now :P

I'm sure we'll still be here. May not be the full 8 billion or so people that we have now, but we'll still exist.