Why go where no man has gone before?
- Thread starter Mark1031
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warpus
In pork I trust
Faith?
The more time humans spend in space, the better we'll be at surviving in it (which is a must, should we ever figure out a way to GET TO other solar systems). That's my entire point
Bugfatty300
Buddha Squirrel
Heh I guess he'd be content with just living in the confines of his county or city for his entire life. Maybe on his death bed he'd shrug and say "there was no reason to leave. I got my TV right here."
Sorry but thats not much of an existence if you ask me. Not the kind I would want me or my race to live.
Sorry but thats not much of an existence if you ask me. Not the kind I would want me or my race to live.
faith?
its called mars. its right next door. should not be that hard. the only techs needed are terraforming and knowledge on how to create an atmosphere. the only problem is surviving the journey to mars, which will be perfected if we continue the space program.
its called mars. its right next door. should not be that hard. the only techs needed are terraforming and knowledge on how to create an atmosphere. the only problem is surviving the journey to mars, which will be perfected if we continue the space program.
Mr. Dictator
A Chain-Smoking Fox
who cares about money when you're going for a space victory?
The waste of money in premature attempts to put people in space simply delays the scientific progress that might make space colonization possible.
Fugitive Sisyphus
Escape Artist
"Nothing is impossible for the man who doesn't have to do it himself"
Hey, while we are building Mars' atmosphere let's build a rocket to push Mars closer to Earth so we can easily survive the journey to Mars.
Miles Teg
Nuclear Powered Mentat
Shortsightedness to the extreme. It seems to me that these pure science projects he's advocating are important, but I suspect minerals and water from our solar system have better immediate value. Mars becomes a way stop and a processing facility to that end. If nothing else having all our eggs in one basket principle is undesirable.
The values of inter-stellar flight is often unfairly dismissed as well. A generation ship is perfectly possible, the possibility of a cryogenics will proven or disproved within a century at the most.
The values of inter-stellar flight is often unfairly dismissed as well. A generation ship is perfectly possible, the possibility of a cryogenics will proven or disproved within a century at the most.
warpus
In pork I trust
That's why we need to keep sending people into space - to figure out how to survive that trip.
Yuri2356
Test Screening
Sure we can, it'll just take a really effing long time. Both to construct, and to deploy. Use of a generation, sleeper, or seedship would allow humans to be delivered over interstellar distances without running into any problems with Einstien's Killojoy theories about the speed of light. Just be ready to wait a century for them to arrive, and engage in trade based primarily on information.
History_Buff
Deity
- Joined
- Aug 12, 2001
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- 6,529
Why are humans in space? Because Humans are capable of doing things no robot can do, or will do. Take for instance the Genesis Rock. What were the odds of a robot finding that gem? Not to mention for the pure experience we'll need for putting people in space later. It is human to explore, we have pushed to every inhabitable corner of this Earth, and so long as mystery, we will have people going to do it.
And when the time comes, you will be very happy they did. Because the Earth has an extremely limited (read: no) ability of incoming spacebourne fiery death rocks. If the human race is to propagate without being reverted to a stone age at some point, we need to diversify. You wouldn't keep all your eggs in one basket, so why would you advocate the same for your humans?
And when the time comes, you will be very happy they did. Because the Earth has an extremely limited (read: no) ability of incoming spacebourne fiery death rocks. If the human race is to propagate without being reverted to a stone age at some point, we need to diversify. You wouldn't keep all your eggs in one basket, so why would you advocate the same for your humans?
This better have been sarcasm.
Perfection
The Great Head.
Well there are two kinds of scientific knowledge here: the pure scientific knowledge about the universe and the applied technological knowledge. Human space flight does provide a lot of the second but not much of the first.
Does dollar for dollar unmanned do better then manned? Probably in many cases, which is why I would like to see more unmanned missions be NASA's focus but I think manned does give us more knowledge in many too.
I will reject the notion that manned missions have no explore-the-universe value, the repair missinos to the hubble clearly show that there are cases where manned flight can be of great scientific service.
Does dollar for dollar unmanned do better then manned? Probably in many cases, which is why I would like to see more unmanned missions be NASA's focus but I think manned does give us more knowledge in many too.
I will reject the notion that manned missions have no explore-the-universe value, the repair missinos to the hubble clearly show that there are cases where manned flight can be of great scientific service.
Ziggy Stardust
Absolutely Sane
Robots can't improvise. Robots need new input when faced with unexpected problems. Distances involved make reactiontime a bit of a problem.
If you can somehow have direct immediate control over automated systems in space, than robots are the way to go. For a while. There has to be a time when we get off this planet someway, somehow if we are to survive. All we need to do is find ftl travel. And allthough it seems impossible at the moment, that doesn't mean it is
If you can somehow have direct immediate control over automated systems in space, than robots are the way to go. For a while. There has to be a time when we get off this planet someway, somehow if we are to survive. All we need to do is find ftl travel. And allthough it seems impossible at the moment, that doesn't mean it is
crabapple
I am watching
yeah with the way that Scientist think we would have never discovered America
Ziggy Stardust said:
Perfection said:
QFT.
Besides, at this rate earth alone won't cater for the entire human race unless half of us is wiped out in the near future. No. Space is the future, the final frontier. There's no escaping that. And I think Perf raised a very good point there, that the benefits of human spaceflight is not necessarily scientific knowledge but rather the skills which we (well, the cosmonauts and the people on the ground anyhow) learn in space. These skills accumulate with experience will be very useful for the future when we start colonising space in earnest (which we will have to eventually). It's not only about the glory, it's about progress and survival of human civilisation.
Izipo
Hardcore casual gamer
Interesting. A little bit surprised by the reaction of this scientist, maybe jealousy/envy is at work here.
Manned space missions are essential to our survival IMO, for reasons stated above and elsewhere.
Moreover, it looks like the ISS is useless in terms of raw science output, but nobody pointed out the engineering knowledge and experience it brought.
Manned space missions are essential to our survival IMO, for reasons stated above and elsewhere.
Moreover, it looks like the ISS is useless in terms of raw science output, but nobody pointed out the engineering knowledge and experience it brought.
