Space Exploration?

[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? 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.