Space - Going where no man has gone before

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[kwd111]

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100127/NEWS02/1270332/1006/rss01

Florida is looking and hoping for more money for the space program.

Yesterday, I went to the dentist.  A new computer program working with x-rays was being utilized.  Not only did you get instant pictures of your teeth but the program actually pinpointed cavities, those existing and those in the process of becoming.  One area that just was beginning to show some de-calcification was signaled by a red line that extended to full length of possible future penetration.  (an application of flouride in this area can stop it from happening.

All of this because Northrup/Gruman invented this process for the use of and because of the space program.

Do you feel that the Space Program is worth the investment or a waste of money?
Do you think that the benefits offered to humanity today (such as the above example) has been worth it?
Or should one have waited a couple of decades more for these new inventions to be made until some other catalyst causes someone to invent it?
Or is the current catalyst important enough because of all the side applications that have been developed and used for the good of humanity?

[SteveC]

That all depends on what aspects of the space program you feel are important. I'd hate to see more people become unemployed, yet I don't think it's important that we spend money at this time on vague notions of establishing a base on the moon, or putting a human footprint on Mars. There has to be a financial reward for putting humans back on the moon. What can we bring back that will help pay the expense. There's no oil, there's no energy resources we can tap into.

The tremendous expense of the space program, goes into one thing - keeping humans alive in space. With our current state of the art in robotics, I don't know if we need a human presence in space. There is a backlog of satellites and experiments waiting in warehouses for an opportunity to get a slot in rocket cargo bay. Creating these satellites and experiments creates technology that can be transfer to the private sector also. I'd like to know about the rewards and how valuable this part of the space program is, as opposed to the technology involved with keeping humans alive in space.

It's unfortunate that the shuttle fleet was allowed to deteriorate and is being shut down If the new rocket that NASA wants to build can put humans in space more cheaply than the space shuttle, then I'm for it. All we need to do is service the space station, which will probably pay dividends in the long run also.

Basically, my opinion is to explore the universe with robots which is infinitely cheaper, and put humans on the space station to find ways to improve life on Earth. No Moon or Mars bases.

[kwd111]

Good points, Steve.

Certainly attempting to take care of the backlog of satellites and experiments could still push science to its limits without the over the top expense of going to mars.

I guess it is that frontier to go "where no man has gone before" that drives that push to Mars.

[John T Mainer]

The earth is a closed system from which our resource supply is diminishing as our resource appetite grows.  One day the earth will be scoured clean of all life, and end an irradiated cinder spinning in the icy dark.  Either our species will no longer reside only on this orb, or it will no longer exist at all.

For a long time nations wallowed in stagnation, fighting over smaller and smaller slices of the resource pie, then a few of them dared to point their prows into the open ocean where no man had gone before.  What followed generally was an explosion of technological innovation, creativity, and outlet for aggression and ambition that did not end in war.

Maybe we don't need a new frontier.  Maybe you all are happy stagnating towards the grave.  Let me know how that works out for you.  My descendants will be out in that portion of the map that has always read "here there be dragons". 

[SteveC]

Maybe we don't need a new frontier.  Maybe you all are happy stagnating towards the grave.  Let me know how that works out for you.  My descendants will be out in that portion of the map that has always read "here there be dragons". 

LOL, I just read that same analogy 15 minutes ago in Astronomy Magazine concerning Cassini's 5 year mission to explore and map Titan, Saturn's largest moon. It's a cool place if you like methane lakes, endless sand dunes, and a dense frozen nitrogen/methane astmosphere.

Should we charter cargo space on a future space mission to blast your ashes to some unknown cosmic shorelines where "here there be dragons"? 

[John T Mainer]

Wait for the scouting reports.  Settling on the first planet you see is about as wise as marrying the first girl you meet.  I prefer to play the field for a while.  Lets compare the dragons first.

[SteveC]

Uranus is out of the question, I'll assume.

[John T Mainer]

Uranus is out of the question, I'll assume.

Grade school joke:

How is the USS Enterprise (Starship not aircraft carrier) like toilet paper?  They both circle Ur-anus looking for Kling-ons.

[allthegoodnamesweretaken]

I think that people explore space for the same reason that people climb Mt. Everest.  They are there. 

Now damn the torpedoes full speed ahead!

[smoodock]

Remember “Tang”? I believe it was the first instant drink—instant coffee, tea, milk fruit drinks, all resulted from the technology to produce this drink. It was a direct by-product of the space program (if memory serves).

I think his name was Judge Green, he broke up AT&T. Does anyone believe we would have cell phones today, if AT&T remained intact? They thought it was a big service to the public when they began producing red phones!

Folks, if the money isn’t there, the technology won’t appear for a very long, long time. The government spends a lot of money on a lot worse things than the space program.

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