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Space Exploration: thoughts

M

MartinS3X

macrumors member
Original poster
Just curious on everyone else's thoughts on the topic of Space exploration. Too costly? Not enough money spent? Im writing a paper about it, and just needed a fresh perspective on the topic. Thanks
 
As someone who barely remembers Apollo 17, I grew up thinking that by the time I was in my 50's (I am 43) we would have a robust space exploration program and would probably have at the very least a colony or science station as a permanent fixture on the moon.

Obviously this isn't going to happen for any number of reasons that range from cost, bad P.R., and the fact that there is not any real reason to be there except as a possible testing ground for a manned mission to Mars.

Personally I think not enough money is spent on space exploration, methods of transportation, etc.

The research that goes into space exploration also benefits earthbound humans as the discoveries generated by that science trickles down to the consumer (think Tang!).

Space is really the future of mankind. While it may not happen any time soon, eventually we are bound to render our planet uninhabitable due to pollution, resource depletion, and over-population.

Than again, I look at what we have accomplished as a species and I think that our extinction may be the best possible thing for the universe.
 
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Lets spend those Nasa $ here on Earth on the poor

I feel that we could better use the money spent on improving the lives here on Earth for the less fortunate.
 
There are plenty of ways to explore space even without sending people into space. Think of the wealth of information we've learned from projects such as Voyager, Pioneer, Hubble, Cassini, Galileo, and others.

Sure, we could just stay here on Earth and never explore space - but knowing that there's something there, I think it's the nature of humanity to be curious and want to learn more about it.
 
glocke12 said:
(think Tang!)
Click to expand...

My evening chuckle. Thanks. 🙂

Tomorrow said:
Sure, we could just stay here on Earth and never explore space - but knowing that there's something there, I think it's the nature of humanity to be curious and want to learn more about it.
Click to expand...

I could not agree more, but until, and unless, Man learns how to transcend the speed of light problem, I doubt any breakthroughs will occur, outside our own solar system.
 
I wish we would do more, and would think about going if offered. However, it is not really possible right now due to our huge debt. Like others have mentioned, it won't really happen unless we make some huge scientific discovery or things like overpopulation and resource depletion force us out there. Desire to understand and explore is good.
 
MartinS3X said:
Just curious on everyone else's thoughts on the topic of Space exploration. Too costly? Not enough money spent? Im writing a paper about it, and just needed a fresh perspective on the topic. Thanks
Click to expand...

In 1967 my team won the 8th grade history debate. The topic was manned exploration of space or unmanned exploration of space. My team had to prove that manned exploration of space was better than unmanned.

You are looking at whether we should do it at all. Some thoughts:

The human quest for knowledge... it's one of the things that make us human. After (if) we solve all our problems on earth what will feed our curiosity? We eat, we sleep, we die... do we want to be just another animal?

The science discoveries that fall out of the space program find themselves very useful here on earth.

The technology we develop to explore space also has practical uses here on earth. In 1973 I was 20... the only small electrical device we had was a transistor radio. No laptops, PCs, iPods, cell phones, play stations... in math and physics you used a sliderule (2 pieces of wood with numbers on it) to do advanced math.

It's a long way off but earth doesn't have as long as you might think. In about 800 million years the sun will start to go into an unstable situation (a part of it's normal aging process and long before it becomes a red giant) baking off all the oceans on earth.
 
glocke12 said:
Not true. Obviously you never owned one of these:

http://www.ledwatchstop.com/store/history-watch-eip-22.html


or this (ok, this was 1974):

http://www.hpmuseum.org/65.jpg
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2k was 6 months pay (I was in the Army at the time)

But in 1977 I was back in school (after the Army) to learn how to repair radios and TVs. We were using slide rules to do the math. One guy had a math phobia and for 100 dollars he bought a 4 digit Texas Instruments Calculator. Only had 4 functions and was totally useless for the kind of math we were doing. That was the first time I saw an led display.
 
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Spending on entitlements (Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Unemployment, Welfare) is around 60 percent of the US budget.

Spending on NASA is less than 1 percent.

You're not going to "fix" the poverty problem that way, you're just going to shrink the job market for lots of engineers and scientists.

Besides, how much will it help the poor if someday we can't stop a really big rock from smashing into us? Are we really as dumb as the dinosaurs?
 
PigDog said:
I feel that we could better use the money spent on improving the lives here on Earth for the less fortunate.
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A private, succesful space tourism business would do more for the poor of this country and others then any new business in years. Imagine how many bored billionaires would take vacations to a space station or the moon. How many factories would have to be built to make all the ships, stations, etc for this industry. How many brand new jobs would be created that would be funded by private, rich individuals who would have no reason to spend that much money on something else?
 
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