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05/15/2009 12:11:28 AM · #26 |
Anton
I have studied Mars Direct in significant detail, and although there are elements of it that may have some merit, the overall program, including his publication and promotion of it, in no way helps any plans to get man to mars. His unrealistic costing means that people get an unrealistic expectation of the cost of a mission. The risks he is willing to have people take and the conditions the people will be subjected to mean that they will not ever return to earth. This is not something I think the public will ever accept. I stand by my labelling of it as crap.......
It all though puts forward the question. Why should we go? Man went to the Moon for purely political reasons. Why should we now go back. The cost is large, the benifits questionable. Now don't get me wrong, I want Man to walk on the Moon again, and on Mars in my life, however, the question always put to me, and one I don't have a great answer for, is Why?
.......except of course, as explorers, because it is there..............so why not |
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05/15/2009 12:36:43 AM · #27 |
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05/15/2009 01:07:16 AM · #28 |
Thanks Paul. Yes, space based research and possibly manufacture is a growing field and one where work is still going on (ISS for example). And also, hubble is going to be replaced, unfortunately at this stage, not like for like.
The big question though is for going to the moon or mars. A possible source of rare materials, people argue that you can send a robot there, and not a man, and its cheeper, at least until you know what you got. However, ask Harrison Schmitt, and he will tell you otherwise. The only Geologist to walk on the moon, will tell you about the Orange Coloured Soil they found, and sampled, just because it looked different.
As for the advances, yes, it has given us so much, and things back then they would never have imagined would effect our lives so much.........I support Space Travel, but the Why question will always be the hardest to overcome. You want to spend How Much, to put Man on Mars..............
Remember, I am one of the converted, but also a realist.
And don't knock sliderules. One of the most amazing aircraft ever built, the SR-71, was designed using a sliderule. This aircraft leaks fuel while on the ground, and only seals up when supersonic. The panels could not be made to seal ont he ground as the aerodynamic heating would then cause them to ripple while at Supersonic Cruise, causing a loss of lift............. |
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05/15/2009 01:22:45 AM · #29 |
Hey, I paid good money for that sliderule at a math conference (I was attending with my dad, a teacher) around the late 1960s. I'm not knocking them at all, just noting that a Cray (or your telephone) is faster and accurate to more decimal places. I do think "legacy technology" has an important place, even in our current high-tech times ... 
There are plenty of things in the US budget which cost many times more than the space program which I consider to be of less value ... |
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05/15/2009 05:05:34 AM · #30 |
| Our technology today is definitely behind the times; at least the toys are like LCDs and cell phones which were used by military and astronauts. We're advanced with our toys, some necessary like our cameras, others used only for sake of convenience. But I can say that space travel is not a want, but can become a necessity even. perhaps the only solution for avoiding starvation, overpopulation, pollution, (atomospheric and terrain)and/or extinction is to relocate to another celestial body with the ability to re-colonize. |
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05/15/2009 08:50:29 AM · #31 |
The new wide field cam is in ! Were gonna get images someday, Woo Hoo!
I like Mars too, but can't see any reason to go there at this time. I was in high school at the time of the race to the moon, and I vividly remember how much interest it generated about space and the associated science advances. I understand that a lot of the motivation was political, but the fallout of awareness of the need for scientific exploration was the big payoff. Saturn 5's were awesome to see launched at night, even from 100 miles away. The exhaust flame was about 3X the size of the one with the shuttle. I don't see why they would not resurrect that launch system for some of today's heavy lifting. They were designed to put a big payload to the moon and back, so would be able to lift more load than that into low or medium Earth orbit. I don't know if the internal structure would hold up to a heavier payload though at max G.
ETA,
The early hand calculators used a handful of AA batteries, and had micro neon alphanumeric displays. The display was a beautiful shimmering blue green.
Message edited by author 2009-05-15 08:54:28.
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05/15/2009 02:17:18 PM · #32 |
| I knew about NASA's planned Webb space telescope, but I hadn't heard about the launch of Europe's Herschel Space Telescope before. |
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05/16/2009 03:18:10 PM · #33 |
| Quick update... The repairs to the ACS went off without a hitch, and over an hour ahead of scheduled completion. Amazing, since this repair was never intended to be performed in space. I watched it on the live NASA feed, it was awesome. |
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05/16/2009 04:12:43 PM · #34 |
Originally posted by kaiser_chief:
And I find your comment regarding the German Rocket Engineers interesting, for without this team, lead by Wernher von Braun, NASA would never have made the moon............. |
That's because you automatically polarize yourself against every comment I make. My comments are my opinions and that comment was not disparaging to the German Rocket personnel. It indicated that NASA fell back to what they knew would work. If those Germans wanted to strap rockets to a six million pound ball of concrete they'd have made it work too! And basically that was almost what they did considering the average shuttle take off weight of 6.8 million pounds. I respect von Braun and his people. Especially since they were the only German unit to strike targets in the US with their V2 rockets! LOL (although it was after the war)
Message edited by author 2009-05-16 16:20:04. |
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05/16/2009 04:13:52 PM · #35 |
Originally posted by kirbic:
Quick update... The repairs to the ACS went off without a hitch, and over an hour ahead of scheduled completion. Amazing, since this repair was never intended to be performed in space. I watched it on the live NASA feed, it was awesome. |
I watched it too and was amazed. We sure have some good peeps up there. |
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05/16/2009 04:19:23 PM · #36 |
Originally posted by kaiser_chief:
What is the point of launching man into space if you are launching nothing with him. The shuttle needs a significant payload, and any Manned launch vehicle, in the future, will need to maintain the ability to launch a payload with them.
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Launch the men on an expensive "man rated" rocket and spacecraft and launch their heavy supplies on a much less expensive rocket that doesn't have to be man rated. Considering the niggardly budgets NASA usually has to deal with it may be the best option. |
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