Phased space exploration

[Palimino]

I think Obama has no more interest in keeping the space exploration promise than he has in any of the others he's made (Guantanemo anyone?) He wants the science community to vote him into a second term, but the USA frankly can't afford squat at the moment.

Who cares about Obama or the US? They must just not get underfoot and try to impose their NASA BS on everyone. They might help their own population by removing restrictive shackles so that private enterprise can have a go. There is very little that NASA has contributed although listening to the Americans you would think they discovered space.

 

[TheMightyQuinn]

Who cares about Obama or the US? They must just not get underfoot and try to impose their NASA BS on everyone. They might help their own population by removing restrictive shackles so that private enterprise can have a go. There is very little that NASA has contributed although listening to the Americans you would think they discovered space.

More like they INVENTED space....any ideas why they have not built a base on the moon?

 

[F111]

a

Never heard of Capricorn One. We all know that the technology required to land on the moon and to take off again did not exist in the 60's This is not even a conspiracy theory anymore, as the "moonlandings" have been debunked in so many ways. IF they could so easily land on the moon in the 60's there would have been a base built there 20 years ago already.

There is no atmosphere at all on the moon, so to live there we would have to build airtight buildings or construct airtight underground caves. And we would still have to transport or make enough nitrogen and oxygen to create an atmosphere we and plants can use. The soil on the moon is sterile and has no nutrients, so we would have to bring soil bacteria, earthworms, and thousands of tons of nutrients . Any colony would be massively expensive to maintain, and would offer no economic return now or any time soon

 

[F111]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/LRO/multimedia/lroimages/apollosites.html

 

[axelblue]

Yes lets colonise the moon. No aliens seem to want it. We might as well.

 

[Palimino]

There is no atmosphere at all on the moon, so to live there we would have to build airtight buildings or construct airtight underground caves. And we would still have to transport or make enough nitrogen and oxygen to create an atmosphere we and plants can use. The soil on the moon is sterile and has no nutrients, so we would have to bring soil bacteria, earthworms, and thousands of tons of nutrients . Any colony would be massively expensive to maintain, and would offer no economic return now or any time soon

I am not suggesting (and never have) terraforming the Moon. I am putting it forward as a learning curve. It is hostile enough yet close enough to ensure that learning curve is steep. With decent colonisation, it also makes a low-gravity launch site for further space exploration.

There are HUGE economic returns if the private sector is involved. A high risk investment but with mindbogglingly massive rewards. Read my post.

 

[AutoX]

That will make a brilliant twist for a movie. Get attacked by Aliens and in he end it turns out to be humans

have you ever seen the animation called Planet 51

 

[zippy]

Who cares about Obama or the US? They must just not get underfoot and try to impose their NASA BS on everyone. They might help their own population by removing restrictive shackles so that private enterprise can have a go. There is very little that NASA has contributed although listening to the Americans you would think they discovered space.

Very little ?
Marina
Voyager
Apollo
Shuttle-Hubble, 90% of the ISS was built with Shuttle missions
To name but a few.
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_NASA_missions
They have launched over 1000 unmanned missions and over 100 manned missions. If that's contributing very little, show me who contributed more

Compared to the US space programs contribution to Science, the Russians have virtually given nothing. Despite their activity they do not share their science the way the Americans and Eu does. I'm sure a lot is held back, but just looking at Astronomy, the contribution by the US has been massive.

 

[zippy]

Btw, there where no manned US missions between the last Apollo flight in 1975 and the first Shuttle flight in 1981.

 

[Palimino]

Very little ?

Space monopoly perhaps? If you freeze-out everyone else, anything NASA does appears exaggerated. They are the only ones permitted to do it. The stuff you mentioned possibly could have been done in the 1st year of an unregulated environment. But no, building empires and rattling begging bowls at the taxpayer was far more important.

 

[zippy]

Space monopoly perhaps? If you freeze-out everyone else, anything NASA does appears exaggerated. They are the only ones permitted to do it. The stuff you mentioned possibly could have been done in the 1st year of an unregulated environment. But no, building empires and rattling begging bowls at the taxpayer was far more important.

But it wasnt. It was done by NASA. You are speculating. The fact remains that it was the cold war that enabled the investment to take place. Private industry would not have made that kind of investment, because the benefits where not certain. In the 1960's there was no good economic reason to go to the moon. Private industry would never have financed it. Without the tax dollars the technology would not exist today which now makes it economically viable for private industry to take over.

NASA never froze anyone out. There has never been any legislation preventing private companies from building or launching rockets. In fact NASA never actually built their own spacecraft. It was all subcontracted out. NASA had the money. If NASA didn't do it, no private company would have funded it. Why would any company spend a billion dollars to fly to the moon and back, or send a spacecraft to take pictures of mars?? Or place an expensive telescope in earth orbit?? What's the profit ?

Without the American space program we still be using typewriters and send letters by snail mail....

 

[K3NS31]

snip...

Without the American space program we still be using typewriters and send letters by snail mail....

Hey, I agree NASA's been somewhat maligned in this thread, and they've given A LOT of good inventions to the modern world (even unlikely stuff like Teflon); but computers and the Internet? I think not. That was the DoD. Was driven by the Cold War though, so it has that in common with the Space Race.

 

[wrathex]

Here are the top 15 space spin-offs:

1. CAT scanner: this cancer-detecting technology was first used to find imperfections in space components.

2. Computer microchip: modern microchips descend from integrated circuits used in the Apollo Guidance Computer.

3. Cordless tools: power drills and vacuum cleaners use technology designed to drill for moon samples.

4. Ear thermometer: a camera-like lens that detects infrared energy we feel as heat was originally used to monitor the birth of stars.

5. Freeze-dried food: this reduces food weight and increases shelf life without sacrificing nutritional value.

6. Insulation: home insulation uses reflective material that protects spacecraft from radiation.

7. Invisible braces: teeth-straightening is less embarrassing thanks to transparent ceramic brace brackets made from spacecraft materials.

8. Joystick: this computer gaming device was first used on the Apollo Lunar Rover.

9. Memory foam: created for aircraft seats to soften landing, this foam, which returns to its original shape, is found in mattresses and shock absorbing helmets.

10. Satellite television: technology used to fix errors in spacecraft signals helps reduce scrambled pictures and sound in satellite television signals.

11. Scratch resistant lenses: astronaut helmet visor coating makes our spectacles ten times more scratch resistant.

12. Shoe insoles: athletic shoe companies adapted space boot designs to lessen impact by adding spring and ventilation.

13. Smoke detector: Nasa invented the first adjustable smoke detector with sensitivity levels to prevent false alarms.

14. Swimsuit: Nasa used the same principles that reduce drag in space to help create the world’s fastest swimsuit for Speedo, rejected by some professionals for giving an unfair advantage - this one made me laugh

15. Water filter: domestic versions borrow a technique Nasa pioneered to kill bacteria in water taken into space.

source

 

[Ekstasis]

Also, I think it will be the Russians that begin colonisation and not the Americans.

Or the South African squatters. They have a way of getting into the most inaccessible places . . . and stay there ! They truly have mastered colonisation me thinks !

 

[Palimino]

Hey, I agree NASA's been somewhat maligned in this thread, and they've given A LOT of good inventions to the modern world (even unlikely stuff like Teflon)...

Those ‘good inventions to the modern world’ came largely from the passionate space travel visionaries who eventually did join the 9 to 5 NASA clock-watchers (they had to - it was the only space travel game in town). NASA can be criticised for wasting time, but they must have huge archives of material from these idealistic, passionate space visionaries before the life was crushed out of them by camel-designing NASA committees. These archives are valuable and most of the ‘good inventions to the modern world’ came from them. If they were rejected by NASA camel designing committees for space work, they are worth a 2nd look.

 

[Palimino]

Here are the top 15 space spin-offs:

Yay. See above.

 

[Palimino]

Here are the top 15 space spin-offs:

Another ‘spin-off’ from the NASA archives (the Rogallo wing) – a pretty decent airfoil which gave birth to the modern sport of hang-gliding.

From Wikipedia

The Rogallo wing is a flexible type of airfoil. In 1948, Gertrude Rogallo, and her husband Francis Rogallo, a NASA engineer, invented a self-inflating flexible wing they called the Parawing, also known as the Rogallo Wing and flexible wing.[1] NASA considered Rogallo's flexible wing as an alternative recovery system for the Gemini space capsule for possible use in other spacecraft landings, but the idea was dropped in 1964 in favor of using round parachutes.

I am pretty sure there are 1000’s of ideas there. The greatest contribution NASA has made to space exploitation, are those archives.