I'll put $ on the Chinese beating us in round 2, They are hungry & focused. NASA will waste $30 B without building anything, Sheesh If DC is serious about getting to the Moon they should talk to Burt Rutan, Paul Allen, Richard Branson, etc about getting there This time lets go to stay & build mines, a real laboratory in space unlike the silly, useless ISS, & I bet we can find some1 to build a hotel or condos there. Comfort Inn, Hilton, Trump, I know the first 2 have looked into this
Just keeping the scam going. Ever notice that no administration ever proproses a space program to be completed in its own tenure? The next administration will kill it. If JFK hadn't been shot, would the original program have out-lived his administration? It was only created to divert attention from other things -- like the Bay of Pigs, or growing involvement in Vietnam, or evidence that the "missile gap" from his campaign was a fabrication. The worst spin-off of the original moon program was the presumption that only Big Bother can fly in space. Read any of the "golden age" SF stories about moon flights. Nobody before the JFK diversion thought that space was going to be "owned" by the gov. There's money to be made out there: microgravity alloys, free-fall semiconductors, solar power, etc. But private industry is waiting for the gov to do the R&D. But it ain't happening. One other thing you'll notice from classic SF: No space colony is going to take orders from ground-bound politicos for long. Why would congress fund a colony that's inevitably going to tell congress to kiss off? When Hughes Space division tried to buy their own orbiter to launch satellites on their own, NASA blocked it. The gov is even keeping in the middle of the already profitable communications and resource tracking (earth sciences) satellite business. We turned humanity's future over to politicos who don't think beyond the next election. When we turned out backs on the frontier, that was the clearest sign that our zenith, as a culture, was behind us.
I definately think the Chinese will beat us, If Congress doesnt get its act in gear the 21st C will belong to China NASA is done, they have become a stodgy old administration that merely fuinctions to keep itself alive, They dont explore anything anymore, its a real shame. Burt Rutan & Richard Branson are the future now. and China too RE solar power check out STirling energy systems, they are building a huge solar array for a state out west. I'll be buying some shares soon
It was NASA that passed on an additional test that Perkin Elmer wanted to perform on the lense of the Space Telescope that would of cost an additional $15K to make sure the lense was made to spec. NASA did not want to spend the money and ended up spending $6M on a fix to get the telescope to properly focus! I guess you can't see the forest through the trees if you can focus on them!
Competition with China is a good thing, it may give us a boost like the Russians did in the 50s/early 60s.
Ive raged a lot about China but today they are undergoing a vast change in their country. Worker rights, labor unions, & human rights are finally starting to pop up on the radar in China & the corrupt govt is having to respect the unions becus today the leaders need the workers. China wont be anything if its workers strike. I hate what China did to Tibet but almost every country has some similair skeleton in its closet, Rome & everybody, Spain & the American Natives, 19th C US vs the American Indians, the Nazis vs the Jews, & recently the mess in Yugoslavia, & of course the Kurds & the Muslims China is like a Phoenix today rising from the ashes of 200 years of powerlessness since the Chinese Empire was last a great power. The US is I am afraid so focused on PC, and the politicians merely focus on getting re-elected. China now has the $, the will, the drive, & the technology to blast past the US and finally conquer the Moon. I predict the Moon will start as a base similair to Antarctica & hopefully humans will have some serious science labs & mining facilities there sometime in the 21st C. The Moon is the best place to learn about how to get to & live on Mars.
The problem NASA faces today is marketing and media issue. They have a PR mess on their hands where every mistake gets highlighted by the media. The things that were glamorous in the 50s / 60s / 70s are now old news and boring. Launching a satellite or sending probes into deep space do not have the spectacle as they once did. NASA needs to revive its marketing and PR to get the masses excited again. Something bold, something NEW!!! Lets go to the moon... AGAIN... simply does not cut it. Let us go to the Moon and setup an exploration and tourist base.... now we are talking. It is great that the Chinese are getting involved in this new moon race and my money is on them beating us there. What NASA needs to do is get some cutting edge fresh plan to do something completely radical. Maybe... Lets build a Space ship that is straight out of star trek to explore the solar system. Take people into space for free to get them pumped up about NASA's program. Lastly, the notion that NASA no longer explores is completely false. They continue to be Earth's best space program and are discovering new places and things everyday. However, they are all things we have heard time and time again so even the media has lost interest in it. Something new and something radical should get people's attention back. Going back to the moon would be great! But do something more than just another trip.
The ISS has been a disaster. It was originally supposed to be a lab but more importantly a dry dock in space where we could build large spacecraft to send to Mars. Congress in its infinite stupidity killed the drydock part so now we have this silly, nearly useless, hyperexpensive "lab" that was supposed to house 7 scientists only now it only houses 3 scientists, Why? Because Congress axed the 7 person "lifeboat" that the scientists were supposed to use in an emergency & becus only 3 people fit in the Russian Soyuz "lifeboat" they have now. The ISS was only supposed to be a place for the space shuttle to drop off astronauts who were going somewhere else. It was never supposed to be the final destination that it has become now As far as the Last shuttle that disintegrated on re-entry. That was gross negligence by the booobs at NASA. I would have just parked the shuttle at the ISS & left it there. It could have been used as another living quarter & we could still have those heros alive today
NASA: No Active Systems Aloft Most race cars and several road cars are made from carbon fiber and NASA is still running an aluminum shuttle? A carbon fiber body with a silicon carbide coating would be heat shielded. NASA uses SC on the leading edges and nose cap, but relies on chalk tiles everywhere else. And solid rockets on a manned vehicle indicate that NASA didn't learn anything from those Roadrunner cartoons.
The only way the US is going to continue to compete in space is for it all to go private...NASA continue to exist as an agency that hands out matching Fed funds, research grants, etc., and and leave the real work in the hands of those that are $$ motivated...they'll find the way. IMO, NASA bit it as an entity capable of serving its purpose after the lost Mars probes and the '03 shuttle disaster. Thank God they've grounded those 30 year old flying junkers. The warp speed Star Trek stuff will never happen, but the immediate solar system is its own universe of possibilities.
Forget the politics & go for the stars. Ok, so give another extreme science focus. Yeah, the light barrier is next.
Well get to the moon before china, weve done it once, so its not hard to do again. China only recently sent a man up, they have a while before they learn how to get to the moon. But, Clinton might of sold them all our old apollo data, so they could get there before us, lol.. And from what ive heard, mining the moon really isnt that great of an idea. It costs to much to ship the stuff out of the moons gravity. The best bet is to use the moon as a launching point to send mining equipment to near earth asteroids. The best part about mining the moon would probably be for making fuel on the moon, not for sening different types of ore back to earth.
I was listening to a comedian the other day on the radio capping on NASA. He said: "It takes 35000 years to send a radio signal out of our solar system. I can just see it! 35000 years later, NASA gets a reply back.......'Whaaaat'? ". Funny stuff!
A good read..."The Physics of Star Trek", by Lawrence M. Krauss, foreword by Stephen Hawking...Krauss is not a lightweight in the scientific world. Intelligent and forward-looking book that makes the concepts of physics that are involved in Star Trek understandable to the nonscientific individual (ex: myself), also gives a clear view of the practical problems and obstacles that would have to be surmounted even if a huge breakthrough happened on the more theoretical end. Krauss and Hawking are Star Trek fans...this is not a talk-down-to-the masses book.
Forget the physics of Star Trek, the Kramden theory refutes all of that! Image Unavailable, Please Login
Actually at light speed it should take less than 1 day to get a message out of our solar system, That guys retarded. Nobody's looking for messages for 35000 light years away
Yes we did it, last time was back in the 60s & then the morons in Congress told NASA to take apart the last Saturn 5 and DESTROY THE PLANS for building any more. Can you believe that stupidity ? Now Boeing, McDonnel Douglas etc overcharge the taxpayer 300% what a launch should cost but that will be changing soon as prices may drop from $60M for a Titan launch down to $6M for new tech rockets, then Boeing, MD etc will be forced to drop their prices or get out of the market. That will be like the Model T of rockets & will really get the ball rolling into space As far as mining the Moon, well the Moon barely has any gravity so it really doesnt cost much to send a rocket from the Moon to the Earth, Mars, or the asteroid belt, so it would be a great place to build rockets. Thats the trick to mine the Moon & build stuff up there from lunar materials. Here on Earth scientist have proven that the lunar rock is excellent for making concrete & its rich in H3 which is an excellent power source, there is a good probability there is even frozen water on the Moon. What the Chinese will do if they are smart, which they are, is just send up a few prefab units for their astronaut scientists to live in then start building some units out of the lunar regolith. Soon enough there could be a mine, science lab, factories & later hotels & condos Get your Chinese passport while you can LOL
I don't want to get into a technical arguement but you have two main problems on the Moon. 1) Water 2) Oxygen I am not an expert but we know that concrete cannot be made airtight. It will breath thus resulting in loss of precious oxygen. There has to be a solution. In fact there must be a solution. I agree completely that the Chinese will probably beat us to the moon and will actually use it as a base. We can then outsource our lunar research needs to China... why not... we outsource everything else there. What NASA needs is a radical idea to get every one pumped up about the space program again.... Forget earth's moon.... Let us land on MARS or setup a MARS base! Let us send a man to Saturn's moon Titan to figure out more about the origins of life on Earth. Think out of the box! The Moon thing is old, we have done it already and it will not win much public interest.
There is evidence that there exists frozen water on the Moon which would make the colonists life a lot easier. If there is water ,oxygen can be extracted from it, then air scrubbers like the ones on submarines can be used. Then again, how about just doing it the old fashioned way & send up some prefab units w hydroponic Plants inside to make oxygen for you Easy Tha danger in letting China have the Moon to itself should be clear. Given there records they will use it as a toxic waste dump & commit atrocities against human rights there, also would you really sleep well at night knowing the Chinese Empire is looking down on the entire US every night? If you want a radical idea for NASA heres the Duesy of all of them In the last decade scientists are starting to believe that Einsteins light speed limit is not the unbreakable law it once was. Also some computer wizards state that what we have done w the electronics revolution & computers is probably more difficult than building a ship capable of light speed What we need is a strong visionary leader w the Ballz to follow the plan to the end Maybe we can ask the Chinese to send us a few of those too, Seems they have plenty
