Space Travel, anyone following this?

[chainsnuser]

The first country to develope ways to go other places and harvest materials from other planets will own the next few centuries. The jobs, technology, raw material, and money it would create would be vast.

I doubt that such a scenario is possible. The distances in space are unimaginable long and the environment outside of our atmosphere is as hostile as it can get. I think we will never have a technology that allows a real conquest of space. The costs will probably always exceed the benefits.

There's nothing wrong with basic research to develop new propulsion systems or new ways of energy production to possibly make space-travels useful in the (distant) future. Such a research also could directly help to solve some of our problems here on earth. But to send humans on an extremely dangerous and expensive mission to Mars by the use of our current "Neandertal"-combustion-technology will prove nothing, even if it succeeds.

Cheers!

[VBSnus]

The first country to develope ways to go other places and harvest materials from other planets will own the next few centuries. The jobs, technology, raw material, and money it would create would be vast.

I doubt that such a scenario is possible. The distances in space are unimaginable long and the environment outside of our atmosphere is as hostile as it can get. I think we will never have a technology that allows a real conquest of space. The costs will probably always exceed the benefits.

There's nothing wrong with basic research to develop new propulsion systems or new ways of energy production to possibly make space-travels useful in the (distant) future. Such a research also could directly help to solve some of our problems here on earth. But to send humans on an extremely dangerous and expensive mission to Mars by the use of our current "Neandertal"-combustion-technology will prove nothing, even if it succeeds.

Cheers!

What will happen is that an intrepid group of astronauts will volunteer to travel into the far reaches of space, going where no man has gone before. Using amazing new technology in propulsion and gravitational acceleration, they will embark on their two year quest to reach a far away planet.

Years later, they will finally arrive and find us already there with a few hotels built and a whole slew of fast food restaurants, thanks to new advances in rocketry while they were gone.

[tom502]

We can't, at least with the science we have.

http://www.newscientist.com/article/...t-to-mars.html

[lxskllr]

What will happen is that an intrepid group of astronauts will volunteer to travel into the far reaches of space, going where no man has gone before. Using amazing new technology in propulsion and gravitational acceleration, they will embark on their two year quest to reach a far away planet.

Years later, they will finally arrive and find us already there with a few hotels built and a whole slew of fast food restaurants, thanks to new advances in rocketry while they were gone.

ROFL!!

Irony's a bitch :^D

[sgreger1]

The first country to develope ways to go other places and harvest materials from other planets will own the next few centuries. The jobs, technology, raw material, and money it would create would be vast.

I doubt that such a scenario is possible. The distances in space are unimaginable long and the environment outside of our atmosphere is as hostile as it can get. I think we will never have a technology that allows a real conquest of space. The costs will probably always exceed the benefits.

There's nothing wrong with basic research to develop new propulsion systems or new ways of energy production to possibly make space-travels useful in the (distant) future. Such a research also could directly help to solve some of our problems here on earth. But to send humans on an extremely dangerous and expensive mission to Mars by the use of our current "Neandertal"-combustion-technology will prove nothing, even if it succeeds.

Cheers!

I agree completely in saying that currently we do not have the ability to do this. I am saying we shoould continue working towards this goal.


Science and technology is relitaavely new and is advancing quickly. I believe we will see the day where we atleast can goto other planets on a regular basis. Whether we find anything of use is another question.

[sgreger1]

Years later, they will finally arrive and find us already there with a few hotels built and a whole slew of fast food restaurants, thanks to new advances in rocketry while they were gone.

LOLOLOLOLOOLLOOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL. Would make for a good movie.

[VBSnus]

Personally I feel the best advances in space travel will come when we perfect augmented reality. If we can map the terrain of planets we can use today's modern rendering capabilities to form virtual worlds. By perfecting virtual and augmented reality, we can 'walk the planets' without actually doing so.

After all, at the basest level we're just a bunch of sensory perceptions, right? If we can mimic sight, smell, touch, taste sound, then we can 'be there'.

[chadizzy1]

Personally I feel the best advances in space travel will come when we perfect augmented reality. If we can map the terrain of planets we can use today's modern rendering capabilities to form virtual worlds. By perfecting virtual and augmented reality, we can 'walk the planets' without actually doing so.

After all, at the basest level we're just a bunch of sensory perceptions, right? If we can mimic sight, smell, touch, taste sound, then we can 'be there'.

I always loved that movie, The Lawnmower Man, it made me hope for good virtual reality. I watch it now and I'm like didn't I just play this on my Sega?

[VBSnus]

Haha, that was an awesome movie. I'm thinking more along the lines of simstim from Neuromancer by William Gibson.

One group came up with an awesome use of augmented reality: pacman.

http://www.gizmag.com/go/3512/

Basically it uses a video camera view to add dots over your actual visual environment which you collect like pacman.

Now imagine an open research facility which used satellite imagine and accelerometer based gear so that your entire field of vision was from a Mars POV, so that when you walked around the facility or looked up or around you were viewing things as if you were actually there. Or if your movements controlled a robot which actually was there, and image data became your input. Neat concepts anyways.

Or we can just send Dr. Manhattan there for us.

[Roo]

Interesting ideas, but what a lame way to "travel"! I guarantee that no technological advances at any point in the future will be as satisfying or even as remotely interesting or valuable as an experience as when my flight today actually lands in Beijing, and not a virtual replica. And chainsnuser, you may have missed tom and chad's point by not reading a previous thread... They don't think we really went to the moon because it's "impossible" to break the 200 mile threshhold into space. Sort of like the tall tales of the 15th century when those rickety wooden ships supposedly didn't fall off the edge of the world into the mouths of giant sea serpents... On a serious note, Branson's earthly means of transportation are top notch. Virgin Atlantic is the best way to fly across the Pond in economy class, and I can't wait to try Virgin America to SFO in October.

[Nicobuzz]

One of our car programme presenters gets sent up to the edge of space on a U2.

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