We Stopped Dreaming

Science, and space exploration, should have INCREASED funding if anything. The NASA budget is a crumb off of America's plate yet they just want to keep cutting it down.

It's sad sometimes to think about where we COULD be, and where we are.

I found this link regarding space debris interesting

Space debris pics

Maybe we can start a colony on Uranus and fix that planet too.

Edited by Lightningbolt - 12 March 2012 at 7:51pm

Can somebody please address the spam filter. I've just typed up a xxxxxxxxx thesis-length response and there's something in there that keeps kicking it out.

Edited by Mack - 12 March 2012 at 9:39pm

What is truly important about going to other bodies within our own solar system is that we will need to tap the resources available out there to continue our own existence and advancement. Not only will we need the room, be it off-world colonies or cities in orbit, but we will need to expand the well from which we draw our resources. We only have finite amounts of rare elements and many, many other important elements to continue to advance our technology. It is estimated that some of the asteroids in our own belt, just between us and Mars, hold more of these elements in their relatively small bodies, than our entire planet does in its crust.


It is impossible to know exactly what our future holds, but we have to remember that we actaully have a few billion years to figure out faster than light travel in some form or another to get us to other systems and other planets. This would allow us to continue on past the death of our own life-giving star. To think that we are at the top of our game in physics and technology, to be able to say that interstellar travel is "farcical" is in and of itself a farce.

Where ND-T errs in his speech is to assume that during the space race, and even after the moon landings, the general public felt that NASA and space exploration were worth funding. They almost never did. The reality is that the only time in public record that opinion swung to the side of "the funding is worth the end result" was the year that we landed on the moon for the first time. All years leading up to, and following the initial moon landing point to less than half the population of the US supporting the costs associated with such scientific strides. We've simply been sold the myth of the supportive nation wanting to beat the Ruskies to the moon. In reality, we'd probably have never had to do so if we'd simply used a Redstone missile to put a satellite into orbit far earlier than the Russians with their R7 rocket family which were (and still are) essentially modified ICBMs.

Degrasse-Tyson likes to talk about how we used to "Dream" when the reality is that he draws on commercial marketing ploys rather than scientific advances of the day. In reality, commercialization did more to fuel his idyllic "dream" than any cold, hard science from JPL or Goddard.

Also, the music is from "Una Mattina" by Ludvico Einauldi who is a fantastic pianist and composer. I own the album. It is fantastic.

Edited by tallen702 - 12 March 2012 at 7:54pm

tallen702 wrote: within the next thousand years, there simply will not be enough land, enough resources, enough of anything for the human race to continue to not only grow,

Of course there is some school of thought that something will happen before this time to thin the herd.

Yeah we're fixing it real good right now

I'm more interested in finding other planets that are habitable. Not because I think we will get there, that would take a group of people populating themselves and training children strictly how to colonize a different planet, but to find other life forms. It's not realistic to send people past our solar system. Even if man were to go into the deep part of our solar system, they would be gone for so long they would be extremely disconnected. I believe it is fully possible to go to farther planets but it would be costly. If we could find other life, it would be the biggest discovery ever. I'm sure the churches would be freaking out. As a Christian, I believe there is other life. How could we be the only ones when there are so many possibilities? We have discovered some similar Earth planets, but they are always too hot and life wouldn't be possible. We just have to keep looking. It doesn't help we can barely observe other planets until they pass I front of their host star.

I love being a physics major with an astronomy minor.

Rofl_Mao wrote: oldpbnoob wrote: * I see you edited it. Your original time was only 20 years. My point was that we have stalled it seems shortly after reaching the moon. Sorry about that, but I get what your saying for the relative short term, but I'm trying to talk long-term.

Right, and long term, we look to have stalled. There is a massive technology jump from shooting big bottle rockets up into space and being capable of warping time and space to be able to reach other planets within a matter of days/months. We may have come a long ways, but we are not even close to something on this scale. Relatively speaking, we are still using rocks to clean pelts compared to where we need to be for this type of technology.

I mean this in the best possible way, but can the Canadian contengency please stop using the term "we" when referring to money that the U.S. Taxpayers put towards NASA and space exploration?

oldpbnoob wrote: I mean this in the best possible way, but can the Canadian contengency please stop using the term "we" when referring to money that the U.S. Taxpayers put towards NASA and space exploration?

That was the Royal "We."

Edited by Mack - 13 March 2012 at 10:01am