Advice to NASA: Skip the Moon

[Bosco123]

why bother with space exploration?........ Planet X is coming to us soon 

You seen that video too? lol I don't believe that honestly.

[Dragon]

Especially if, like I said, if there was a high-efficiency propulsion system (IE, ion or plasma) to further reduce fuel costs. Once in space you don't need the huge thrust-to-weight ratio that earth-bound vessels would. Using the gravity of the earth and moon as slingshots would further lessen the fuel requirements of accelerating to acceptable speeds for interplanetary travel.

If I could just find the anti-matter that I have somewhere around here in a transparent aluminum box, we would be all set.

[Saxman]

If I could just find the anti-matter that I have somewhere around here in a transparent aluminum box, we would be all set.

There's no need to be a smartass about it. I never said it needed to be an exotic propulsion system.

[Dragon]

Lighten up Francis.  It was meant as humor. 


Things like this do bother me though, taken from today's paper;

Two minutes in, the mockup upper stage that more than 200 Glenn engineers, technicians and managers have spent the last 40 months designing and building will separate from the spent booster that carried it aloft. Moving at almost five times the speed of sound, it will climb 4 more miles on momentum, then plunge toward the Atlantic Ocean. On impact, the 430,000-pound rocket segment will sink like a rock.

"It'll be a fish reef," said Vince Bilardo, who managed the Glenn Center's intensive effort to build the $53 million upper stage simulator.


Glenn is less than 10 minutes down the road from me, I'm half tempted to walk down there and ask why they don't put a parachute on 53 million dollars of our money.

http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2009/10/post_1.html

[Yossarian]

That's basically what I think is REALLY needed to move manned space exploration forward: Some form of permanently space-based vessel for long-distance manned missions, serviced by cheap expendable rockets lifting supplies and crew to the ISS until a more feasible reusable vessel can be developed.
[snip]

Saxman, I really like the idea, but for things as complex as manned spacecraft, they've really got to be inspected between each flight - I don't really see how you could do this easily in space.

Also, Dragon: there's nothing really useful that NASA could get out of salvaging the mockup upper stage - the cost of putting a parachute on it, and then sending a boat out to recover whatever was left of it would probably be more expensive than what they could recover from it.

[john9001]

Lighten up Francis.  It was meant as humor. 


Glenn is less than 10 minutes down the road from me, I'm half tempted to walk down there and ask why they don't put a parachute on 53 million dollars of our money.

http://www.cleveland.com/science/index.ssf/2009/10/post_1.html

parachuts costs money, can't be wasting money like that.

[Anaxogoras]

I love how NASA is incredibly cool and a huge waste of money at the same time.  We can all think of more useful things to do with the money, and the rebuttal always amounts to the same thing: "but it's so cool!  We can go to space, man!"  Somehow I still find myself persuaded that we should do it.

[saggs]

I love how NASA is incredibly cool and a huge waste of money at the same time.  We can all think of more useful things to do with the money, and the rebuttal always amounts to the same thing: "but it's so cool!  We can go to space, man!"  Somehow I still find myself persuaded that we should do it.

I disagree with the argument that space exploration is a waste of money.  I think people who believe that have a very short sighted view.  A typical argument goes "How come we're spending billions on space exploration, when there are people in poverty and starving all over earth."  So... we could spend billions on poverty and starvation now, and when that money/food is gone the problem still exists.  Or, we could get support space exploration, ocean exploration, and many other scientific endeavors which will expand our knowledge and technology so that we can come up with real solutions to problems.

Think about it, if we commit to send a manned mission to Mars, imagine what we would learn about agriculture and food production while developing a way to feed the astronauts on Mars.  That same technology could be adapted to agriculture here on earth to feed starving kids in Africa.  Same goes for energy sources, and other problems we face.  How much technology do we have today that is a result of the space race in the 60s?

I look at space exploration as a challenge to be met, and in meeting that challenge who knows what we might learn that can help us.

[Saurdaukar]

Its my understanding that the moon will serve as the test bed for most, if not all, of the gear that will be installed/used on Mars.

Seems a sound plan to me.

[OOZ662]

Obviously all we need to do is come up with a Gateless Jump System. Oh, wait.

[Saxman]

Its my understanding that the moon will serve as the test bed for most, if not all, of the gear that will be installed/used on Mars.

Seems a sound plan to me.

I definitely agree. The notion of us going straight to Mars is impractical in the extreme. As challenging as just getting to the moon is, Mars is even a more drastic undertaking, especially if we were to attempt it on a direct flight from earth.

[Tac]

The moon must be the first permanently manned base ...for once there it can act as a shipyard and jump off point.

Once ships are built they can be flown to earth orbit and receive their crews and go their merry way.

[Motherland]

I love how NASA is incredibly cool and a huge waste of money at the same time.  We can all think of more useful things to do with the money, and the rebuttal always amounts to the same thing: "but it's so cool!  We can go to space, man!"  Somehow I still find myself persuaded that we should do it.

Being curious, wanting to explore is part of being human. For that reason alone it's important to travel into space.
In any case, what's NASA's budget? Compared to, say the defense budget?

[OOZ662]

In any case, what's NASA's budget? Compared to, say the defense budget?

Here's a rather large graphic that shows ratios of budgets in America, 2004.

[Motherland]

haha an 1800kb .jpg that's awesome