(January 4, 2025 at 3:21 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(January 4, 2025 at 3:04 pm)Tonus Wrote: More exploration of Mars sounds great. But I am not so sure about landing people on it. Isn't it a far harsher environment than Earth or the Moon, especially with regards to exposure to radiation?

That’s what space suits are for. And I imagine the radiation exposure on Luna would be much harsher than on Mars due to the Martian atmosphere being much thicker, and Mars being much farther from the sun.

But I’m not an astrophysicist (I just play one on message boards), so I could be wrong.

Boru

I think the bigger exposure to radiation is in the spaceflight to Mars, which is roughly 90 times as long as the journey to the Moon, one-way. Shielding the spacecraft for the journey to Mars is going to be much heavier and more costly... and we don't want Musk doing that cost-benefit analysis.

Elon Musk has tweaked X's algorithm to promote more positive content. One wag noted that during the Biden administration, X promoted negativity; now that Trump's term is set to begin, he's discouraging negativity.

Meanwhile, Musk is not posting anything positive or smart.

(January 5, 2025 at 1:51 am)Fake Messiah Wrote: Meanwhile, Musk is not posting anything positive or smart.

Don't worry. His AI has already clocked it as more disinformation.

(January 4, 2025 at 7:36 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:

(January 4, 2025 at 6:08 pm)MR. Macabre 666 Wrote: It's also a one-way trip for whoever volunteers for the mission. There isn't any technology in existence for a return trip back to earth. They'll either die during the trip there, or on mars. It's a harsh reality.

It’s not inherently undoable. The dangers of getting to Mars, living on Mars, and getting back from Mars can be overcome with improvements in technology.

Going to Mars is not impossible. Silly, stupid, and pointless, sure. But not impossible.

Boru

Ah, the voice of reason. Thank you.

I'm amazed and disappointed at the amount of postings by my fellow atheists who are obviously completely ignorant of the subject on which they are posting. I would have expected better.

There is no shame in ignorance of a particular subject. Human limitations insure such ignorance. A cardiologist or even a neurosurgeon may be be completely ignorant of physics or engineering. By the same token, you probably wouldn't want a master woodworker to perform your heart surgery. But there IS shame in posting about those subjects as if you know what the fuck you are talking about.

On the subject of radiation, there are two concerns. Radiation from the sun in the form of the solar wind is one. Mars is further away from that source and thus benefits from the inverse square law (twice the distance, one quarter the damage) but its lack of a magnetic field and a substantial atmosphere means you are still fucked without protection. Same for an unshielded spacecraft. The second problem is damage from cosmic rays. These are highly energetic particles from extra-solar sources. Earth's magnetic field provides protection against them and its dense atmosphere provides some additional protection. Away from both, you are fucked without an alternative means of shielding. The bottom line is that radiation IS a problem. There are solutions to this problem but they are expensive. It definitely limits the practicality of manned spaceflight far from Earth. Not insurmountable but lunar settlement first makes a lot more sense in my book.

I don't know what is in Elon Musk's head but I have two hypothesis:

1. He is paranoid about destruction from nuclear war or Skynet (Terminator, if you're not familiar) and finds comfort in the distance of Mars from Earth,

or

2. He has delusions of godhood and desires to create an offshoot of human civilization far enough from the influence of Earth authorities where he can rule without hindrance.

Regardless of his motivation, it IS possible for him to accomplish his goals. Only a fool can objectively look at his accomplishments and think he is stupid. Like him or not, the man is a genius. He may be a mad genius in the vein of the classic Bond villain (think Hugo Drax from Moonraker) but the man is brilliant, capable and driven. He's definitely dangerous but he is not remotely stupid or a fool.

(January 5, 2025 at 2:16 am)AFTT47 Wrote:

(January 4, 2025 at 7:36 pm)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: It’s not inherently undoable. The dangers of getting to Mars, living on Mars, and getting back from Mars can be overcome with improvements in technology.

Going to Mars is not impossible. Silly, stupid, and pointless, sure. But not impossible.

Boru

Ah, the voice of reason. Thank you.

I'm amazed and disappointed at the amount of postings by my fellow atheists who are obviously completely ignorant of the subject on which they are posting. I would have expected better.

There is no shame in ignorance of a particular subject. Human limitations insure such ignorance. A cardiologist or even a neurosurgeon may be be completely ignorant of physics or engineering. By the same token, you probably wouldn't want a master woodworker to perform your heart surgery. But there IS shame in posting about those subjects as if you know what the fuck you are talking about.

On the subject of radiation, there are two concerns. Radiation from the sun in the form of the solar wind is one. Mars is further away from that source and thus benefits from the inverse square law (twice the distance, one quarter the damage) but its lack of a magnetic field and a substantial atmosphere means you are still fucked without protection. Same for an unshielded spacecraft. The second problem is damage from cosmic rays. These are highly energetic particles from extra-solar sources. Earth's magnetic field provides protection against them and its dense atmosphere provides some additional protection. Away from both, you are fucked without an alternative means of shielding. The bottom line is that radiation IS a problem. There are solutions to this problem but they are expensive. It definitely limits the practicality of manned spaceflight far from Earth. Not insurmountable but lunar settlement first makes a lot more sense in my book.

I don't know what is in Elon Musk's head but I have two hypothesis:

1. He is paranoid about destruction from nuclear war or Skynet (Terminator, if you're not familiar) and finds comfort in the distance of Mars from Earth,

or

2. He has delusions of godhood and desires to create an offshoot of human civilization far enough from the influence of Earth authorities where he can rule  without hindrance.

Regardless of his motivation, it IS possible for him to accomplish his goals. Only a fool can objectively look at his accomplishments and think he is stupid. Like him or not, the man is a genius. He may be a mad genius in the vein of the classic Bond villain (think Hugo Drax from Moonraker) but the man is brilliant, capable and driven. He's definitely dangerous but he is not remotely stupid or a fool.

On the other hand, everyone talks about the dangers of exposure to radiation, but never mentions the benefits.



Boru

Leon believes Leon is the smartest problem solver in the world because people throw money at Leon.

Leon impulsively mentions buying Liverpool F.C. as a flex to show those Englishers he means business when he threatens to destroy the UK.

https://www.boston.com/sports/business/2...aturestack


Disclosure: I'm a LFC fan. I'm from an Irish family and Liverpool is one of the two main religions in the diaspora.

Quote: A bizarre conspiracy claiming Elon Musk uses an alias to praise himself on his own social media network took an unexpected turn when a journalist who debunked the theory was banned from the platform.

Jacqueline Sweet appeared to be restricted on X after she published an investigation that proved Adrian Dittmann was an actual person living in Fiji - and not Musk operating under the pseudonym in order to praise himself.

Sauce.

Seriously, Musk actually claimed that another person who spends his days sucking him off is actually him, and is penalysing people for saying “no, it’s actually some other guy.”

(January 7, 2025 at 6:03 pm)Nanny Wrote: Leon impulsively mentions buying Liverpool F.C. as a flex to show those Englishers he means business when he threatens to destroy the UK.

https://www.boston.com/sports/business/2...aturestack


Disclosure: I'm a LFC fan. I'm from an Irish family and Liverpool is one of the two main religions in the diaspora.

To do that, he’d have to buy FSG, and I don’t think they’re for sale. Like, ever.

Boru