On Space Travel
So Bush wants to send men to the moon and Mars. I understand we can likely get a man to Mars but can we get him back? Who the hell would want that job? But I digress.
I think space travel is cool. Space travel has also lead to advances in technology that have benefited society. But it’s damn expensive.
And to be honest, I don’t really care. Suppose we go to Mars and they even make it back with some rocks and stuff. Will we really learn volumes of things that we don’t already know? I tend to think not. Unless they bring back a Martian, it’s doubtful we’ll discover much that is new. But a Martian would be cool.
To sell this thing, someone needs to spell out the benefits of a moon base. The government shouldn’t be doing stuff just because it’s cool.
January 15th, 2004 at 12:44 pm
I guess the sci-fi in me thinks that we need to look at populating another planet so that we all wont be wiped out should a big ass comet land in Kansas. Also to get any further than the moon (manned flight) we need to start with baby steps to Mars and then expanding to other solar systems et al.
January 15th, 2004 at 3:28 pm
Has anyone even thought about a non-government solution?
All the big advances in transportation – locomotives, certain ships, airplanes, etc… were the creations of private entities. I really don’t see any legitimate reason that a private company can’t or shouldn’t pursue this line of exploration. & in fact, given the usual inefficiency inherent with most governments I’d be inclined to think we’d already have a base on the moon if the matter was in private control.
So I can understand the arguments for space exploration & I tend to agree with most of them. I just disagree that government entities are the ones who should be making these attempts.
Privatize space exploration & we’d probably do better than we are now, certainly we’d do no worse.
January 15th, 2004 at 5:00 pm
Manned travel to Mars is impractical at best. It’s rather like the guy who climbs Everest “because it’s there.” I’m a big proponent of the space program, and we get some pretty good returns on it, considering we “only” spend $15 Billion a year on it. (Compare against the additional $87.5 Billion we just threw at Iraq.)
But for some time now, there have been voices in the scientific community saying that manned space travel is pretty wasteful, and that most of what needs done up there can be done in an automated fashion.
And of course, being a government agency, NASA isn’t immune to boneheaded wastes, either. Witness the X33 project (the space shuttle replacement), which was scrapped by the Bush Administration after it was better than 70% complete because it was “a Gore project.” (Wouldn’t that be rather like the governor of Massachussetts pulling the plug on the Big Dig in 2000, when it was mostly complete?)
January 16th, 2004 at 2:05 pm
That’s where commercial firms come in. Check out the “X-prize” some time. Lots of solid companies with good ideas looking to make getting to space a paying proposition, and sooner than you think.
As to robot probes, someone else said it (I forget who), why does space *always* have to be about science? You want people on the ground to colonize, otherwise what’s the point? It’s never gotten done until there was (the potential for) money to be made.
January 18th, 2004 at 11:26 am
PJ O’Rourke said it best. “If the government is going to waste my money anyway, it might as well waste it on something cool.”