RE: Mars?
January 18, 2015 at 11:03 am
(This post was last modified: January 18, 2015 at 11:19 am by The Grand Nudger.)
(January 16, 2015 at 1:50 pm)tantric Wrote: What? Are you one of the Man on Mars people? Sending a human being to Mars is pointless and potentially disastrous.The latter is what makes it full of awesome. However, the former is just underappreciation for the benefits of undertaking the task. To do it well (rather than just doing it), we'll have to learn a hell of alot, build very robust systems. That's just the tangible benefit. The intangible benefit is the sense of human accomplishment that encourages us to reach even further. The amount of cooperation required to achieve that end alone would be worth the attempt if only as proof of potential.
Quote: Not that I object to the idea of colonizing Mars, but doing something similar to the moon landing would be extraordinarily pointless. Well, maybe not, if PR is the point, but that's all.No it wouldn't. We did it on a wing and a prayer last time, in hindsight. We'd never expect a person to assume those (then) unknown risks today with what we've learned since. We don't currently possess the equipment to put forward a robust moon attempt....mars is actually easier to get to than the moon, btw - just takes more time. But they both share similar problems and if we're going to shake the bugs out of a cosmic lifeboat it;s best to do so a little closer to home -so long as we value the lives of those involved. We know what the machines should look like, we have some idea as to what machines that could accomplish the task would be - but it;s one thing to have an idea, another to have a boat - and yet another entirely to put the idea to work, and the boat along with yourself into the water.
Quote: What can a person do that a robot can't? Die horrifically on live TV and cancel space exploration forever, for one thing.Sure, there's potential for tragedy, tragedy itself can also bring us together, and so can overcoming potential tragedy. Apollo 13 might be a stronger moment for humanity than the successful landings were. But..human beings can improvise, they can wonder, they can inspire and share their experience face to face, some of these things are useful in the aftermath (whether we pop the bubbly to a mission usccess or a moment of silence for failure), and some are directly beneficial in the accomplishment thereof. Our hands are also pretty hot, robots aren't quite there yet, but we're working on that. It;s certainly more expensive to send humans and theres a wide range of things that robots are perfectly well suited for...but I find it incredibly discomforting that you're actually devaluing humans and all of the things that we can do here...in favor of robots. We can, do, and will send both - like always, no choice between the two needs to be made. Tell you this, no matter what things a robot may be suited for that a human is not, and VV...both working together are better than either independently.
Quote:People can go to Mars and live there, but we don't even have the beginnings of that technology. We can't built a self-sufficient closed ecosystem that can support human life.That;s not a mission requirement, so it's irrelevant. We don;t even have a self sufficient earth based colony......
Quote: We have *no* idea how we might deconstruct and ship our technological base.Actually we do, the only thing we don't have is the rocket. Sad truth, but that's all that's been holding us up. Take a look at Mars Direct. It was proposed in the 90's in it;s current iteration (the inkling of it stretch back to the 70's when we did have the rocket). We've had more than just an idea for quite some time. We have a solid plan based on experience and demonstrable results. We just lost the damned rockets through attrition. Since the cancellation of funding tfor projects that needed to be realized, private frims have taken an interest. SpaceX, for example. As far as plans go it wouldn't cut the mustard today, maybe, we expect more (and revisions are still being made, the plan itself is still alive and being continually refined even though Constellation was canceled). Basically shooting a can into the dirt on another rock, that;s all we're talking about here. We can keep doing it with robots, sure...and when/if we ever get around to sending a manned mission I imagine it;ll be grander than Mars Direct ever dreamed - but it was and remains a solid concept just waiting for some group of peple to pull together and pull a few dollars away from their usual fraud, waste and abuse...to accomplish something amazing.
I get it though, you're poo-pooing people in outer space, whats up, inner space seem more worthwhile to you? Maybe we should send a manned mission into your spirit, so we could then claim to have planted humanity within you for the first time?
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