Why I Support The Space Program

Not just Australia. But Asia, Africa, North & South America. We are not anywhere near over populated yet. We just need to properly manage our resources to benefit mankind and the environment. It's kinda like balancing on a beachball in the ocean during a storm, but it can be done.

 

Isn't advanced engineering a part of (or at least inherently connected to) science? It seems to me science and engineering would not be the same without eachother.

 

I think that cemeteries are a much bigger waste of land.

I like your idea about the space program, however you do realize, don't you, that none of NASA's budget is devoted to that.

Also, I just want to say that I never said the space program was a waste of money. I just think that it's not the best use of limited research funding.

 

I agree they are.

If they have a budget available to the public, I would not trust its figures.

I know you didn't, OP did.

 

Here's the official link to the NASA budget.

http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/

 

Those are reports (Contains a lot of misinfo). I personally want to see the unadulterated itemized list. A person could pop a "freedom of information" but there would probably be a lot of things censored out with classified tags.

 

I believe that what we are doing right now is ideal for the circumstances our society is dealing with. Yes we should have another place to go. I'm more a proponent of advanced colonization of mars because everything else is a bit far away. I feel as though it would be wiser to develop methods of Mars adaption rather than throw away billions in trying to develop technology that will allow us to travel to what might be habitable, but is lightyears away. I feel that in the quest for this technology there will be barriers that we don't yet understand. We might end up spending more money developing an understanding of how limits can be circumvented, rather than the actual craft in its final form.

I feel also that even IF we develop light speed craft capable of mass transport, it will by then be so expensive that most will be excluded. Whoever leaves the poor forsaken on the doomed world will have alot of explaining to do if they eventually run into a morally sound life form. We also need to take into account ourselves. How evolved are we really? Do we have a right to thrust ourselves in our current state into a solar system that might harbor life more advanced than us? We have church leaders talking about converting martians and colonizing deep space in the name of the lord. We aren't that important. Until we have a better understanding of ourselves, our vices, and eventually the fast transportation it will take to embark upon such a journey...we should just shack up on Mars.

This all of course excludes the moon which I think shouldn't be over looked when it comes to talks of extra terrestrial refuge. I've already rambled so much though. So I'll leave it right here.

 

if russia had never launched sputnik, and america had never landed on the moon, the computer you're seeing this on, and the internet that connects you to this site, might eventually have come into existence, but might well be still a long way off into the future, and most people would still have no idea why a computer and the internet would be anything anyone would want.

 

Why do you say that? You might be right, but I don't think so. I'm not aware of connections between the space program and the birth of the microcomputer and the internet. I've read Steven Levy's great book "Hackers", which traces it back to the MIT Tech Railroad Club and the MIT Student Information Processing Board and guys like Ken Olson at DEC.

Are you sure you're not just repeating what some space booster has said?

 

Let's brainstorm: we can send solar powered robots to mars to construct inhabitable structures like greenhouses and plant some crops that create breathable oxygen in preparation for humanity's arrival.

 

i agree, overpopulation isnt the true problem. if we are going to have a chance at supporting a growing population on this planet, or anywhere really, we need new ways of doing thing in the 21st century in regards to managing resources and ensuring that everyone has what they need. There *is* enough for everyone, some people just dont seem to want us to have it.