Mars Rover Spirit lands successfully - Mars Lander Signal Successfully Detected
- Thread starter Danzig
- Start date
Hessian
Well-Known Member
Oh...but we don't hear a whisper from the Brit robot in a pile that cost a couple hundred million???? Why isn't that a headline?
How about a little fact that we lose 2 out of three we send to mars?
Why don't we just take those truckloads of cash and burn it in the homeless shelters? at least it will do some good.
we wasted three years and how many millions on a little solar go cart that drills into rocks, takes pictures, and can detect limestone.
Great.....and you know what? Now I hear that they dream of sending a probe to IO that will land, drill through the surface and then launch a mini sub to scope out all the amazing critters living in the trapped underground lakes they assume are there.
Please, somebody have the courage to say that we are idiotic and wasteful in the endless quest for dust, rocks, and ice. Look in New Jersey...you'll find a lot more for paying the Delaware River Bridge toll.
Frankly, I really hope:
a. Our little toy probe fails miserably like the brits.
b. someone digs out the accounts and publishes how much we wasted on this adventure.
c. Our astro boys take up something worthwhile like finding the nukes in North Korea or what the Chinese are up to. (Or where Bin Laden takes his daily leak.)...Now that is worthwhile.
It takes courage but: Gut the Nasa budget!...turn off the toys!
How about a little fact that we lose 2 out of three we send to mars?
Why don't we just take those truckloads of cash and burn it in the homeless shelters? at least it will do some good.
we wasted three years and how many millions on a little solar go cart that drills into rocks, takes pictures, and can detect limestone.
Great.....and you know what? Now I hear that they dream of sending a probe to IO that will land, drill through the surface and then launch a mini sub to scope out all the amazing critters living in the trapped underground lakes they assume are there.
Please, somebody have the courage to say that we are idiotic and wasteful in the endless quest for dust, rocks, and ice. Look in New Jersey...you'll find a lot more for paying the Delaware River Bridge toll.
Frankly, I really hope:
a. Our little toy probe fails miserably like the brits.
b. someone digs out the accounts and publishes how much we wasted on this adventure.
c. Our astro boys take up something worthwhile like finding the nukes in North Korea or what the Chinese are up to. (Or where Bin Laden takes his daily leak.)...Now that is worthwhile.
It takes courage but: Gut the Nasa budget!...turn off the toys!
jlabsher
Sorry about that chief.
Sorry you can't see all the direct & indirect benefits of the space program. Everytime you use a cellphone, watch TV, check your weather forecast, drive a car, swath a child in disposable diapers, go to the doctor, or use the internet you are using technology developed or perfected by the space program. Don't be a luddite.
http://www.ethicalatheist.com/docs/benefits_of_space_program.html
http://www.ethicalatheist.com/docs/benefits_of_space_program.html
Hessian
Well-Known Member
Wash Times Editorial Jan 2nd
26 missions to Mars since the 1960's...over half have been failures.
Gee, have we found water yet? No.
Gee, which astronaut will volunteer for a mission that has such a great performance record?
The space proponent who wrote the editorial dreamed of building a base on one of mars' moons (about th size of Manhattan) and proclaimed it was well within budget for the next 20 years of NASA.
What I found curious was his enthusiastic myriad of questions. Certainly exploration helps to solve questions BUT as any good scientist will tell you....the questions never end! In fact,...they multiply!!! Thus, if NASA forms a thesis and a procedure to explore & solve the question...it will only provoke more questions that "require" solving...
Can we see where NASA is going with this? Keep provoking questions...keep getting funding...to come up with more questions.
Oddly enough, the vast majority of these questions are generally inane. Debating the thickness of the crust of a moon,...arguing about the origins of dust storms...was it 4 billion or 4.5 billion years ago?
Make no mistake: I like satellites...I liked SDI, I like watching TV but...When we move from the practical to the ridiculous, its time for somebody to say ENOUGH!-NO more silly questions!!
26 missions to Mars since the 1960's...over half have been failures.
Gee, have we found water yet? No.
Gee, which astronaut will volunteer for a mission that has such a great performance record?
The space proponent who wrote the editorial dreamed of building a base on one of mars' moons (about th size of Manhattan) and proclaimed it was well within budget for the next 20 years of NASA.
What I found curious was his enthusiastic myriad of questions. Certainly exploration helps to solve questions BUT as any good scientist will tell you....the questions never end! In fact,...they multiply!!! Thus, if NASA forms a thesis and a procedure to explore & solve the question...it will only provoke more questions that "require" solving...
Can we see where NASA is going with this? Keep provoking questions...keep getting funding...to come up with more questions.
Oddly enough, the vast majority of these questions are generally inane. Debating the thickness of the crust of a moon,...arguing about the origins of dust storms...was it 4 billion or 4.5 billion years ago?
Make no mistake: I like satellites...I liked SDI, I like watching TV but...When we move from the practical to the ridiculous, its time for somebody to say ENOUGH!-NO more silly questions!!
Hessian
Well-Known Member
Trust
When the eyes of a heavily indebted nation are prowling for wasted Money, NASA has to be very careful about its costs...thus as we see in this article-
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/3/22/62932
we see NASA desperately looking for excuses for its failures. Have we crossed the line of deception?
Now, under intense scrutiny...they have a poor record of results for dollars ventured.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/03/28/deleted/main177074.shtml
Meanwhile our patient Brit friends wish us luck with our Mars robot...they are still looking for their lost Beagle II
When the eyes of a heavily indebted nation are prowling for wasted Money, NASA has to be very careful about its costs...thus as we see in this article-
http://www.newsmax.com/articles/?a=2000/3/22/62932
we see NASA desperately looking for excuses for its failures. Have we crossed the line of deception?
Now, under intense scrutiny...they have a poor record of results for dollars ventured.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2000/03/28/deleted/main177074.shtml
Meanwhile our patient Brit friends wish us luck with our Mars robot...they are still looking for their lost Beagle II
TWL
Kernel panic: Aiee.......
Hessian, it’s called "survival of the fittest". Although it won't happen in our lifetime (hopefully), Earth's resources will eventually run out. To ensure that the human race lives on, we need to take action now. You may see it as wasting money; I see it as planning ahead for the inevitable.
After the Earth’s resources run out, the next hurdle is the Sun’s resources running out. Hopefully by then, we’d be in some other Solar System to start the cycle over again.
After the Earth’s resources run out, the next hurdle is the Sun’s resources running out. Hopefully by then, we’d be in some other Solar System to start the cycle over again.
jlabsher
Sorry about that chief.
Hessian, off topic maybe. But how are you against NASA when you are vehemently for Bush spending over $100 BILLION in Iraq. I noticed you mentioned "heavily indebted nation" Sure don't see any direct benefits from Iraq yet either (unless you call random car searches & airplane paranoia benefits)
B
Bruzilla
Guest
I look at it this way... for several billions of dollars we have pictures of another planet; we have the capability to learn about that planet; and hopefully someday we'll have the ability to send a crew there and get them back safely.
What would we have if we spent those billions of dollars on homeless shelters, single moms, or drug treatment programs? More homeless people, more single moms, and more addicted people... and the absolute certainty that the billions spent were not enough as all those dollars didn't solve any problems... so we would need to spend billions more for more homeless, single moms, and drug addicts. I would rather have the knowledge, however useless it may be.
What would we have if we spent those billions of dollars on homeless shelters, single moms, or drug treatment programs? More homeless people, more single moms, and more addicted people... and the absolute certainty that the billions spent were not enough as all those dollars didn't solve any problems... so we would need to spend billions more for more homeless, single moms, and drug addicts. I would rather have the knowledge, however useless it may be.
Larry Gude
Strung Out
Mankind has to push technology...
...it's in our nature.
As a practical matter, this is an issue of military advantage and potential economic reward, same as most any exploration from Columbus to Apollo.
As a social matter, I'd rather pay somebody to sweep the floor at mission control than to sit around a shelter.
As to our nature, why, again, do we climb the mountain?
...it's in our nature.
As a practical matter, this is an issue of military advantage and potential economic reward, same as most any exploration from Columbus to Apollo.
As a social matter, I'd rather pay somebody to sweep the floor at mission control than to sit around a shelter.
As to our nature, why, again, do we climb the mountain?
There were probably thousands of Spaniards back in 1492 that thought spending money on the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria was frivolous.
Hessian
Well-Known Member
I thought about the Nina...Pinta St Maria argument for a bit and although that sounds like a logical defense for exploration, some factors invalidate it.
Would the Spanish pay for the 20th, 21st, or 22nd trip to the same place after they have lost over half of what was previously launched with the supreme hope of coming back with a thimble of dust?....um, nope;they have more sense than that.
Columbus lost his flagship and abandoned a crew at La Navidad that was eventually massacred. He returned with a few trinkets, parrots, hammocks and a few bewildered "indians."
The native American population plunged by an estimated 20 million from the "portmantea biota" of diseases in the next century...ask them if they think it was worth the visit
Regarding that argument that we will eventually run out of resources...thus we MUST explore...that is a seemingly logical outcome of our current growth. BUT
I just read that sperm counts have dropped by 30% in a study of several thousand men over the past decade. Numerous developed countries have a negative growth rate and the nations that seem to be growing quickly have been subject to SARS, Aids, and internal massacres (Sudan etc) that restrict growth rates.
As resources thin out...so does our population.
Launching folks on a 3 month trip to a unbearable wasteland will NOT solve our resource problems here....
WE DO NEED SPACE technology: but we need it hovering in our troposhere...not with a 55% destruction rate, millions of miles away searching for answers to questions that really don't matter.
Would the Spanish pay for the 20th, 21st, or 22nd trip to the same place after they have lost over half of what was previously launched with the supreme hope of coming back with a thimble of dust?....um, nope;they have more sense than that.
Columbus lost his flagship and abandoned a crew at La Navidad that was eventually massacred. He returned with a few trinkets, parrots, hammocks and a few bewildered "indians."
The native American population plunged by an estimated 20 million from the "portmantea biota" of diseases in the next century...ask them if they think it was worth the visit
Regarding that argument that we will eventually run out of resources...thus we MUST explore...that is a seemingly logical outcome of our current growth. BUT
I just read that sperm counts have dropped by 30% in a study of several thousand men over the past decade. Numerous developed countries have a negative growth rate and the nations that seem to be growing quickly have been subject to SARS, Aids, and internal massacres (Sudan etc) that restrict growth rates.
As resources thin out...so does our population.
Launching folks on a 3 month trip to a unbearable wasteland will NOT solve our resource problems here....
WE DO NEED SPACE technology: but we need it hovering in our troposhere...not with a 55% destruction rate, millions of miles away searching for answers to questions that really don't matter.
jlabsher
Sorry about that chief.
Well sperm counts have dropped - good! Too many mouths to feed on this planet anyway, destroying the rainforest to grow cows for McDonalds isn't a good use of land.
SARS, when I was in Singapore in July they had remote heat sensing devices to tell if you had a fever when you got off the plane, you were then taken to quarantine and checked out. Looked like a good use of space technology
SARS, when I was in Singapore in July they had remote heat sensing devices to tell if you had a fever when you got off the plane, you were then taken to quarantine and checked out. Looked like a good use of space technology