[SebringMGB]

Ive been paying a lot of attention to space in genral over the past few years. not from an astronomy point of veiw, as staring at pinpricks of light through a tube isnt interesting to me. But space in general. it seems to me, people dont have enough interest in space. It blows my mind to think, Iraq is a tiny spot on earth in a desert, that mildly threatens our pretty small splotch of land. there are 10 planets in our solar system, and one star. there are ~1,000,000,000,000,000, stars in the Milky Way galaxy (a small galaxy) and an (basically) immeasurable amout of galaxies. Nasa's total space exploration budget per year is around 15 billion dollars. Now think about how much the US has spent in the past year over in Iraq. changing thier gonvernment. I could go on and on, but I'm not going to write an essay. I just want to know what others think about space. If Humans plan on living anywhere near as long as the dinosaus, we arent going to be able to stay here, and expect to have the planet stay this way. Anyone want to disagree with that? Id like to hear a valid point iin opposition.

 

[Tenchiro]

Space is much too expansive for us to really make good use of. I am sure someday when we have better technology to travel in space it will be made use of.

Think of it this way. Say we find a planet just like earth, and it is 1 million light years away. What we are seeing is the planet as it was one million years ago. Even if we left at that moment and could travel at the speed of light. We wouldn't be there for another million years.

Alot can happen in 2 million years.

 

[SebringMGB]

my point is. we arent really doing much in the way of space. we have spent HUDREDS of billions dollars in iraq in a little over a year, and 15 billion on space exploration. last time NASA got a big jolt of funding, we went from putting a man in space to landing one on the moon.

 

[valve bouncer]

Originally posted by Tenchiro


Alot can happen in 2 million years.

LOL .....deep man, real deep.

 

[LordOpie]

I love topics like these. First, to be difficult, I think there are 8-10 planets in our system. I think some don't really consider Pluto one and Sedna might just be a kidney stone.

haha, your $15mil comment for space compared to the $90mil in Iraq is good food for thought!

reminds me of the move Armagedon... "with all due respect sir, we have the budget to cover 3% of space and it's a lot of space." or something like that.

Fvck Mars, we need to go to Venus' moons. I think two of 'em are the best chance for life in this system outside of earth. In fact, rumors suggest that those moons would be a better spot for our space station than anywhere else.

 

[valve bouncer]

Wait this thread can't go any further without inserting the obligatory "Uranus" joke......

 

[SebringMGB]

while the now accepted pronunciation reminds me of the odour in my old apartment stairwell........ Urine-ous

 

[Tenchiro]

Originally posted by SebringMGB
my point is. we arent really doing much in the way of space. we have spent HUDREDS of billions dollars in iraq in a little over a year, and 15 billion on space exploration. last time NASA got a big jolt of funding, we went from putting a man in space to landing one on the moon.

When we find martians that Dubya can bomb, then I think the funding will be arranged.

 

[ito]

Originally posted by SebringMGB
If Humans plan on living anywhere near as long as the dinosaus, we arent going to be able to stay here, and expect to have the planet stay this way. Anyone want to disagree with that? Id like to hear a valid point iin opposition.

First off, the way things are going I don't think we'll be staying on Earth anywhere near that long. Second, I think space is great and all, but I don't really see how putting a man on Mars is going to help me out in my daily life. Yes it is cool, but if you are going to put large amounts of my taxes into something that isn't going to benefit me....well, screw that. There are a lot more things I'd like to see fixed before I even think about exploring space(and this is from someone who gave serious thought to being an astronaut).

As much as I have problems with it I would rather see commercial corporations going into space. They do it more efficiently(last time I checked NASA has lost how many projects?) and will move along quicker. I do think that if we commercialized space that it would need to be regulated(as it would be), but I'd rather see a corporation spending big bucks to explore than my government.

Of course this opens up a can of worms about national secrets, national pride, and all that stuff. However I've got some views of the world in which I think opening up and joining together with international groups would be better for us than sneaking around and paying big money to keep everything under wraps.

In conclusion...government in space? Not until they fix the **** that is happening in our country. Corporations in space? As long as I don't see a Pepsi sign while I'm out in the backcountry looking at the stars or have an asteroid crashing down on me I'm fine with it.

The Ito

 

[SebringMGB]

Im not just talking about government funded programs. and as for not benefiting you..... we dont really know how it will benefit you.. but there are many ways it could.

as for corporations in space. thats on it way too.... but slowly

http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/space/05/13/private.space.ship/index.html

 

[golgiaparatus]

One day thre will come a time (if man still exists) when the earth starts to change and can no longer support us. However, that is a LONG time from now so I dont think it should be an immediate concern. However, I think that in the future (far into the future) man will have no choice but to look for a new home.

Also, yes, I am with you on the: we pay to little attention and put too little effort into space exploration. We have this vast and seemingly endless unexplored space... we should be checking that chit out instead of waging pathetic wars against a patch of land that means jack chit in the grand scheme of things.

 

[LordOpie]

SebringMGB, so you want a discussion on space, but totally ignore the moons of Jupiter?

 

[SebringMGB]

like i said, i could go on for PAGES about possibilities, places we could go, technologies we gould make, uses for unuhabitable planets. but i was interested in where the discussion would lead. There are also way that we could live off earth, and not even live on planets. I know its distant.. but wouldnt it be better to be prepared? . My point wansnt to point out a bunch of possibilities, and have people respond, i want to hear what others think. Get an idea of the interest levels of people in this small cross section. I know im being vauge, but its intentional.

 

[LordOpie]

Originally posted by SebringMGB
like i said, i could go on for PAGES about possibilities, places we could go, technologies we gould make, uses for unuhabitable planets. but i was interested in where the discussion would lead. There are also way that we could live off earth, and not even live on planets. I know its distant.. but wouldnt it be better to be prepared? . My point wansnt to point out a bunch of possibilities, and have people respond, i want to hear what others think. Get an idea of the interest levels of people in this small cross section. I know im being vauge, but its intentional.

you sure know how to kill a thread.

Thank G-d it's almost 5pm and I'm spending the weekend in the mountains... w00t!


If you rape a prostitute, it's it violent crime or theft?

 

[SebringMGB]

i was just pointing out that i cant list all the things you could discuss, why i didnt mention Europa or any of jupiters Moons.
I agree that thats a viable option, but we are still dinking around here with verry little funding. if we setup a base on the moon, we could build ships that dont require to be lauched off earth. but that really isnt possible with the funding NASA currently has. being able to build larger "space ships" in stead of shuttles (the limiting factor now is, you cant build some massive ship, and be able to launch off earth) but our only pressence up there now is a small labratory, which we are struggling to fund, and as a result, is as minimalistic as it can.

 

[Toshi]

Originally posted by LordOpie
SebringMGB, so you want a discussion on space, but totally ignore the moons of Jupiter?

dude. think of the star child! the trippiness possibilities are boundless

 

[Skookum]

I have a really cool discontinued board game called Solarquest. Like a Space Monopoly around our solar system. If not for that game i'd have never known about all the moons surrounding all the planets.
But uhm anyways yah humanity is pretty way off base in terms of allowing future generations to inherit an uncomplicated Utopia of politically correct Star Trek geeks, happily drinking Klingon juice and having "safe space sex" in 0 gravity. My perspective on humanity as a whole is that for the most part, we do what is necessary to survive today, as we dwell hopelessly on historic non-relevant garbage ( i.e. religion), which seem to take us on a path of repeating mistakes which collectively could have been avoided. The have-not's running around trying to be the have's and the have's manipulating in whatever fashion it takes to maintain their vision and power. Only out of necessity do we change, evolving like the animals we truly are, desperately adapting only when the convenience turns to survival. Certainly taking a harsh objective view such as this may be disconcerting and may look bleak for our future, but hey at least there such things as "unexplained improbability", which may lead Homo Sapiens to the "promised land" where we are spared of the eventual and inevitable contigencies involving armeggedon, and we'll squeak by so our future family lineage can continue happy merry lives playing dumb board games with pals.