space exploration
- Thread starter graystoke4
- Start date
Darmok
pfm Member
Mullardman
Moderately extreme...
For me.. barring remarkable advances in medical science.. it is absolutely zero.
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
They, the experts have theorized that the universe is 13+ billions years old, I theorize that time is relative.
Relative to what I do not have a theory but 13 billion is a blip in time in relation to immortality.
The "Theory" is based on measuring the recession velocities and distances of far galaxies and using that data to work our when, in the past, they'd have all been 'in the same place'. So is based on measurements.
Since the speed of light is finite, the more distant objects are being seen as they were many millions of years ago. That lets people get some idea of how the galaxies, stars, looked that long ago. Beyond a given distance/time all we see is the 3K Black Body radiation from a time that seems to have no galaxies or stars at all.
It may well be possible to form a different 'theory'. Indeed, given the current inconsistencies and puzzles, we need one. But it would still have to fit the above observations AND be testable by further observational measurements.
JensenHealey
pfm Member
The 'point' may not be just the humans on the foreign body - the 'point' will be the learning, developments and technology that is necessitated by trying it.
One challenge to get humans there in the first place. Another to keep them there for 'long enough' and another again to get them back home. Some interesting experiments to be had on stuff like ageing too...
One challenge to get humans there in the first place. Another to keep them there for 'long enough' and another again to get them back home. Some interesting experiments to be had on stuff like ageing too...
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
A few hundred years ago they might have said the same about America! ... erm, hang on, maybe they were right.
Or do you mean that if humans were meant to fly, God would never have given us the Railways?
That said, there may well be very good reasons to establish colonies on the Moon, etc. But as with many things you only know after you have done so.
I've already seen arguments to the effect that going to the Moon might yeild enough He3 / He2 to be useful as a fuel supply for fusion on Earth. i.e. worth the cost of transport given that the inter-body transfer can use some of it and Sunlight.
Harder to get *up* to the Moon than *down* again. And once established, the Moon's g-well is smaller than Earth's so can make other projects feasible.
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
Given that people get cancer now, we already need reliable and efficient DNA repair. When we do...
Jim Audiomisc
pfm Member
I'm an old fart, but despite that often making people skeptical I do get puzzled by the rise of regarding technological development and exploration as being either impossible or pointless as soon as it gets beyond what people already know.
Maybe its because I'm an old injuneer. 8-]
Maybe its because I'm an old injuneer. 8-]
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
One proposal I heard about was that the water tank for the journey could take the form of a water jacket around the habitable part of the cabin.
TalYWaun
pfm Member
I wonder if the TV series The Expanse could be prophetic? Colonise other planets and the asteroid belt and they eventually develop their own identities and then have wars on a planetary scale (“You give a monkey a stick, inevitably he’ll beat another monkey to death with it.” The Expanse, Season 2. (2001: A Space Odyssey ?)).
Additionally this exploration is, in all probability, going to be funded by private corporations who are driven by profit, so maybe a bit of Total Recall as well i.e. don’t obey corporate directives and you don’t get any of life’s little luxuries like air or water.
Maybe if there is intelligent life elsewhere we need a bit of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Someone to say behave yourselves or else, and don’t even think about leaving your crib, unless, for starters, you ensure Earth’s children don’t have to worry about war or go to bed cold and hungry.
Yes, exploration is built into our genes and acquiring knowledge is a honourable endeavour but over the medium term what is the benefit? Yes we may find ways of manufacturing small amounts of exotic materials but I think those will only benefit the rich and not the majority of the population of planet Earth.
And then we might get to the Star Trek vision of the future, but according to the canon, even that begins with a major devastating conflict.
Additionally this exploration is, in all probability, going to be funded by private corporations who are driven by profit, so maybe a bit of Total Recall as well i.e. don’t obey corporate directives and you don’t get any of life’s little luxuries like air or water.
Maybe if there is intelligent life elsewhere we need a bit of The Day the Earth Stood Still. Someone to say behave yourselves or else, and don’t even think about leaving your crib, unless, for starters, you ensure Earth’s children don’t have to worry about war or go to bed cold and hungry.
Yes, exploration is built into our genes and acquiring knowledge is a honourable endeavour but over the medium term what is the benefit? Yes we may find ways of manufacturing small amounts of exotic materials but I think those will only benefit the rich and not the majority of the population of planet Earth.
And then we might get to the Star Trek vision of the future, but according to the canon, even that begins with a major devastating conflict.
Sue Pertwee-Tyr
Accuphase all the way down
I think one convention has it that people go to war over scarce, or finite resources. Once you have the entire solar system to exploit, that risk recedes for a bit. And by the time you've milked the solar system dry, it is to be hoped that you've either developed a way to expand beyond it, or grown up a bit.
Joe Hutch
Mate of the bloke
When I was a nipper, I was really 'into' space stuff; flying about the place with a jet-pack, working on a space station exploring distant planets and discovering new life, new civilizations; what's not to like? Then, at some point in my late teens, I thought that it would actually be jolly dull in reality, and, a decade or so later, came to the conclusion that it interplanetary travel was highly unlikely to happen in my lifetime anyway.
Dozey
Air guitar member
I can think of more than enough other challenges to keep us busy and improve life on Earth.
Dozey
Air guitar member
I think it unlikely that interplanetary travel will ever happen. If it does happen it would only be to Mars or Venus, and I agree the duration of the trip would make it mind numbing. I really see no point in it. I am comfortable with the idea of humans dying out in due course.
Joe P
Memory Alpha incarnate | mod; Shatner number = 2
I'm a bit of a Trekkie (<—•) so the idea of humans travelling to the planets then to the nearby stars resonates with me, but what really fascinates me (see what I did there?) is cosmology, astronomy, physics and biology.
Put another way, I'd be glued to the TV if humans ever set foot on Mars, as I'm sure the generation before we was when dudes set foot on the moon, but I'd pee my pants if a probe were sent to Europa and discovered life below its frozen surface. I'd also pee my pants if a multidisciplinary team were ever to get a photo of a massive central black hole in a galaxy called M87, somewhere in the Virgo cluster.
Joe
Put another way, I'd be glued to the TV if humans ever set foot on Mars, as I'm sure the generation before we was when dudes set foot on the moon, but I'd pee my pants if a probe were sent to Europa and discovered life below its frozen surface. I'd also pee my pants if a multidisciplinary team were ever to get a photo of a massive central black hole in a galaxy called M87, somewhere in the Virgo cluster.
Joe