Space exploration

OT: Curiosity lands tonight! by VixenMage on 2012-08-05 18:27:00 UTC Reply

...hopefully. I mean, it's not an easy task, and there are a lot of things that can go wrong!

But if you are interested, there's a number of ways to watch it, listed in various parts at Bad Astronomy, as well as on the Nasa Website. (There's also a live feed that appears, at this moment, to be a press conference on past and present Mars rovers, running on the latter.)

I figure you lot are probably quite interested as well, so - what're your thoughts on the whole endeavor?

Personally, I'm hoping there's a response geared towards human exploration, but that's probably overly optimistic. Still! Exciting times!

Political issues to consider by The Rabbit from Hourai on 2012-08-06 16:07:00 UTC Reply

Who will the prospective colonies fall under? Will they just be extensions of whatever country founded them? I could see that being the backdrop for every rebellion story ever.

Read the Mars Trilogy. Kim Stanley Robinson. (nm) by JulyFlame on 2012-08-06 16:10:00 UTC Reply

To be entirely fair, it is a bit utopian. by VixenMage on 2012-08-07 03:47:00 UTC Reply

...really utopian. Sorta shamelessly utopian.

I mean, it is awesome! And I am pretty sure that is the world we should be working for, and I'd be first in line to head that-a-way to start working. And I am all over trying to work towards Blue Mars on our own blue planet.

(And oh man, do you know how incredibly comforting it was to read that book and realize ...Oh. This actually sounds sane! So I'm not actually completely off my rocker, there are more people out there who are boggling at the state of the world! Such a good thing.)

But in reality, I think there'll be quite a bit more national/corporate tug-of-wars over such a beautiful rock. If we can find - if we can be - a Nadia and an Art and a Nirgal and an Arkady and a John and a Vlad and a Sax and an Ann...

the world, indeed, all the worlds, will be ours. So that's where we start, I think. Despite the world right now being a place where the events of the Mars Trilogy would be really tough to achieve, I think if we can muster up the character, the strong ethics, the backbone, and the raw scientific desperate thirst for understanding and innovation, we have a shot. And that's a lot of what Curiosity seemed to be pushing for! So we are totally moving in the right direction; the future is now, and it is awesome.

So, in sum, yes! That trilogy. If I ever find myself teaching anywhere, I won't make it required reading, but I'll make sure there are lots of copies in tempting, easy-to-reach places, and lots of opportunities for reading. And in another few years, who knows?

I'll be over there clapping. by Lilac Lielac on 2012-08-08 22:34:00 UTC Reply

And making a note to read this thing already, because you have gone and hit a few notes that resonate in my brain with that second-last paragraph.

... Friday morning I'll be solidly back home. Assuming I'm not totally burnt out... no, library's open on Saturday too, so I could totally go get it then if it's available and I'm too tired Friday...

And I could totally use some shameless utopia after having dealt with stupid dumb packing up to go home.

Space exploration by Antigone68104 on 2012-08-06 02:47:00 UTC Reply

Investigating Mars is fascinating, but I think we'd be better off starting out with lunar colonies before we try moving out that far. If nothing else, it would give us time to come up with improved radiation shielding -- one news article I read (I think on the BBC webpage) said Curiosity took enough radiation on the trip to take a hefty chunk out of a human astronaut's career radiation exposure limit, and a human would get even more radiation on the way home.

I'd love to watch the landing live, but 1) the home connection stinks and 2) I have to get up by 5:30 AM.

Yes, but by StarShadow on 2012-08-06 14:51:00 UTC Reply

Rad shielding can be devloped on the ground, and several types of active sheilds are currently under devlopement.

In addation, the prospective benefits of a lunar colony are much smaller than those of a Mars colony. Also, using it to refuel is of limited value, because of science.

Also, systems such as the VASIMR (Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket) can reduce the travel time from 6-9 months down to around 2 months.

YOU! by StarShadow on 2012-08-05 19:06:00 UTC Reply

Beat me to it. Dang.

I am pretty interested in mars development myself. Funny fact, we have the tech to put a human outpost on mars presently, yours for only 1,500,080 easy payments of $19.99!!! (Most of that in rocket fuel).

Plus, depending on future Rare Earth Metal, platinum group metals, and human population growth, there is a real possibility that a Mars colony could pay off long run.

Think of it this way. Comparing space development to the Age of Exploration, Earth is the Old World. Greenland is the Moon. (Fairly) easy to reach, but resourse starved and incapable of holding a large population. The Asteroid belt is the west indies, resource rich, but incapable of supporting a large population.

Mars, however, is like America. It is large, with many and varied resources, and could serve as the start of a new civilization.

I will continue if anyone is interested.

Yes, but... by SeaTurtle on 2012-08-05 22:27:00 UTC Reply

...wouldn't the time and money be better spent improving our life here on Earth instead of trying to get off-world as fast as possible?

Even if I'm a strong proponent of the space program, I still don't get why people are talking of leaving Earth when we still need to address some pressing climate change issues. It's making the planet look like some sort of throw-away resource.

Yes to both. by VixenMage on 2012-08-05 22:36:00 UTC Reply

Right now, humanity spends a ridiculous amount of money and time and resources on very trivial, and rather destructive, things. We definitely need to spend more effort/time/money/resources on fixing the problems at Earth, but some of those really aren't going away - the massive population growth, for example. Finding other places to live could really help with that.

That, and I can't help but think that if we wait until all of Earth's problems are fixed, we'll be sending just robots for a very, very long time.

Excited! by Calista on 2012-08-05 18:31:00 UTC Reply

Can't wait for the data to start coming in! Mars is as close to Earth-like as it's gonna get in this Solar System, and if we can get a better picture of its geology (historical and present), we might be able to figure out how to colonize and even terraform it. Sure, that's sci-fi dreams, but we have to start somewhere, right? Plus, maybe we'll finally be able to pin down those tantalizing hints of life on Mars, at least at some point in the past.