I'm the moon.

11/2/2009 11:10:21 AM

Quote :

"space flight has already yielded some cool shit"

indeed, and it continues to do so

the field is typically very productive when it comes to advancing both knowledge and practical innovation

11/4/2009 3:09:42 PM

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8344670.stm

Robot powered photoelectrically by laser climbs kilometer long tether.

Space elevator, here we come!

11/5/2009 10:31:12 AM

The space elevator is within reach! Once it is operational, the sky is the limit... the heavens are the limit, the universe is the [has no] limit, untold discoveries await.

[Edited on November 5, 2009 at 10:56 AM. Reason : -]

11/5/2009 10:55:24 AM

top

11/16/2009 7:54:39 PM

lol@post#50

11/16/2009 8:10:00 PM

We can barely fund NASA yet we spent countless $$$$$ to give welfare queens free cell phones, conduct neo-colonial expeditions in the Middle East, busting 16 yr olds getting high eating cheetos, and for our congressman to role around in Lexus's while on "official" business.

11/16/2009 8:10:30 PM

well once we get in space, we can do all that shit on mars

11/16/2009 8:26:31 PM

The way things are going, the private sector's gonna beat NASA to the punch.

11/17/2009 9:55:18 AM

I was looking at this yesterday: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asteroid_mining

Quote :

" Even a relatively small metalic asteroid with a diameter of 1 mile can contain more than $20 trillion US dollars worth of industrial and precious metals."

Quote :

"In fact, during Earth's molten youth more than four billion years ago, the extreme temperature and gravity stripped all siderophilic (iron loving) metalic elements from the crust to the planet's core. All the gold, cobalt, iron, manganese, molybdenum, nickel, osmium, palladium, platinum, rhenium, rhodium and ruthenium that we now mine from the Earth's crust, and that are essential for our economic and technological development, came originally from the rain of asteroids and comets that hit the Earth after the crust cooled."

So, there's a lot of potential profit there for the private sector. Not saying it would be easy or cheap, but it's out there.

11/17/2009 10:04:04 AM

It follows that if all of our metallic elements come from asteroids, then most asteroids will be made up of the elements that are abundant on our planet rather than the more precious metals. So the benefit of mining asteroids is minimized when we can already mine nickel and iron here cheaply.

I can imagine a time where asteroid prospecting becomes profitable however. That would require easy transport to and from a location in space with a shit ton of asteroids in a relatively small volume. Which is further away than Mars. And even there the asteroid field isn't that dense.

Not to mention the bigger asteroids and dwarf planets (the ones most likely to have any precious metals) are covered in ice too so there's another logistical headache. The more I think about it it is more likely that we'll have gold-replicators before asteroid mining is profitable.

11/17/2009 10:20:03 AM

how about sending men to the vast majority of our own planet before we try space? a colony at the bottom of the ocean for starters. If we can't do that, we don't belong in space.

11/17/2009 11:01:11 AM

How the flying fuck is an undersea colony a prerequisite for space exploration?

You're just trolling at this point, right?

11/17/2009 3:22:32 PM

Undersea colonies would require a lot of the same life support systems but would have the benefit of actually having an economical justification by providing access to rare minerals.

Manned space flight at this juncture would be an exercise in engineering masturbation.

[Edited on November 17, 2009 at 3:25 PM. Reason : >.<]

11/17/2009 3:25:03 PM

Deep sea mining can be done remotely and would never require infrastructure along the lines of a colony. The life support systems would be completely different. The biggest concerns would be desalinizing sea water and generating oxygen from water, two things that will never be issues in manned space travel.

Regardless, we have submarines that stay submerged for months on end, so I'd say that we already tackled that without having to build some stupid shit a la SeaQuest.

11/17/2009 3:55:04 PM

Quote :

"Deep sea mining can be done remotely and would never require infrastructure along the lines of a colony. The life support systems would be completely different. The biggest concerns would be desalinizing sea water and generating oxygen from water, two things that will never be issues in manned space travel."

Can you substantiate any of this or are you just consulting Aquaman issues?

http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/3541/nasa_astronauts_simulate_space_training_in_aging_underwater_lab_off/index.html

Mining is one thing, but actual data collection, analysis and observation of the sea floor over long periods of time would not only provide amazing scientific data, but would benefit from permanent underwater laboratories. All economically justifiable.

11/17/2009 4:31:18 PM

SandSanta's aversion to manned space exploration borders on the pathological. What the fuck kind of attitude is, "Pffft, we don't need to get better at shit"?

11/17/2009 5:01:21 PM

Because we hate those fucking commies!



someone has to go up there and install it.

11/18/2009 1:15:23 AM

Quote :

"and for our congressman to role around in Lexus's"

HUR, how'd you get to be so goddamned stupid?

i hope to fuck you didnt get a state-supported degree from my university.

11/18/2009 1:32:09 AM

LOL @ this thread and people saying we don't need to go to space.

11/18/2009 2:23:26 AM

11/18/2009 8:03:39 AM

The progress of manned spaceflight (or regression?) in the last 40 years has been nothing short of a major disappointment. I thought I would have a real chance of seeing humans land on Mars in my life time but the fact is we may only return to the moon by 2020 at the earliest. I guess it will be up to private ventures to really make progress in future exploration.

11/18/2009 11:07:18 AM

Back to the undersea tangent - you realize that while a lot of the same life support systems would be in place, there is a complete fundamental difference in design, research, development and technology that would be required for men and their habitats to be able to withstand the pressures at the bottom of the ocean, versus no pressure at all in space, right?

RIGHT?

11/18/2009 11:36:12 AM

^you mean men AND WOMEN! come on now!

11/18/2009 11:44:13 AM

The Mariana Trench ain't no place for no woman!

11/18/2009 11:49:44 AM

I'll admit, the "SPACE-BASED LASER" had me lol'ing.

11/18/2009 11:49:46 AM