7 Earth-Size Planets Found by NASA

[Montegriffo]

Oh, I find astronomy very interesting indeed but apart from the excellent Hubble space telescope most of the research into this is done with both feet firmly planted on planet Earth. I am anxiously awaiting the first images of a black hole which are expected soon from a combination of data from several radio telescopes in different locations. It's the science fiction and over exaggeration of the benefits of manned space flight I have trouble accepting.

Hmm.. Weren't these exoplanet findings done by the Spitzer space telescope?



One looking firmly at space and then taking notice of the wobbles that planets create to suns (or something like that). I assume exoplanet findings are done by space telescopes, but I may be wrong. Any telescope on Earth has the (fortunate) difficulty of having the atmosphere and everything in it in the way. And has the problem of being on a rotating planet, while actually Spitzer is on a heliocentric orbit.

But even that does not necessarily require manned space flight. Has it actually been touched by human hands since leaving Earth or will it be maintained by remote robotic missions? I'm asking because I genuinely don't know the answer. Certainly missions to Mars or even those far off planets can be achieved much more safely, cheaply and more efficiently by unmanned spaceflights.

[Mercury]

Orion drive is interesting: http://www.oriondrive.com/p1_story_future.php

Future Technologies Based on Project Orion

Since it seems to be feasible using current technology, it is possible that Project Orion might be built one day...

A number of concepts based on Orion, or incorporating similar ideas have been proposed by various researchers. Some of these have been suggested as improvements, and others have been proposed as a way of avoiding legal issues about using nuclear weapons as a means of spacecraft propulsion.

[Speaker to Animals]

And realistically, we'd need refining and fabrication facilities on the Moon or in orbit to build the ship somewhere like in one of the Lagrange points. For instance, you could mine materials all over the solar system, and send them back with unmanned drivers to one of the four Langrange points to park them there indefinitely. Then in another Lagrange point you build the shipyard, and in a third Lagrange point you build the refining and processing facilities.

Launching something like an Orion drive from the surface of the Earth is cray cray, but building it in orbit and launching it from there is pretty safe.

In my opinion, the technology is already there for most of the ship itself, but not quite there for mining and economic exploitation of space resources. But we are catching up pretty fast. Personally, I think we could someday merge corporations like Space X and Blue Horizons, merge Boeing's space projects into it, and create something akin to what United Space Alliance was for the Space Shuttle Program, but geared entirely towards the economic exploitation of space resources. Meanwhile we could team up with Russia and China to merge NASA with their space programs and create something designed to jumpstart colonization on the Moon and possibly provide the legal and governmental framework that will facilitate the economic development of these resources (since those nations will likely to do the same kinds of attempts at mining themselves).

Once we have that, building something like an Orion ship would not be such a huge deal. In any case, the global economy will be totally transformed. Most resources we think of as rare will not be so rare at all. Huge amounts of capital will flow into our economies.

[Montegriffo]

The sun will die someday. The only chance for human life, beyond that point, will be to leave (or move) the Earth.

Our species' survival won't be something that can be cobbled up at the last minute.

Hmm, about 5 billion years till the Sun dies and probably about 3 billion years till life on Earth become impossible. Quite a lot of last minutes yet.......

[ssu]

But even that does not necessarily require manned space flight. Has it actually been touched by human hands since leaving Earth or will it be maintained by remote robotic missions? I'm asking because I genuinely don't know the answer. Certainly missions to Mars or even those far off planets can be achieved much more safely, cheaper and more efficiently by unmanned spaceflights.

Unmanned missions to Mars are going on all the time.

Yet if we stop manned space missions altogether, there is no denying the obvious: that we are at least in some way in decline. No matter how some argue that it's totally unnecessary. It isn't. It tells something about us and our society. We aren't basically living to the exceptations that earlier generations had about the 21st Century. We don't have a similar drive than generations before us. Hence our technology and desire to go to space reached a zenith, and then we gave it up. And when some technological knowledge is lost, it's hard to get it back.

Anyway, I think some hugely expensive Mars mission will, just like the Apollo Mission, will not only be historical, but will give us new tech. Just think what a recycling überfascist a Mars mission. Or how to create the resources from Mars. Just like military programs, spinoffs will ensue:



Hence investing in a Space Program is an useful R&D investment. You have a case example of two countries where the other went forward with a Space program (France) and another which didn't, which had all the possibilities of doing so (the UK), because it was "expensive". They had a totally working Space Program, and then they stopped it. They simply couldn't fathom that there would be a commercial satellite market. No surprise that France's Space & Aviation industry is far bigger than in the UK.

[Mercury]

The sun will die someday. The only chance for human life, beyond that point, will be to leave (or move) the Earth.

Our species' survival won't be something that can be cobbled up at the last minute.

Hmm, about 5 billion years till the Sun dies and probably about 3 billion years till life on Earth become impossible. Quite a lot of last minutes yet.......

Gotta start somewhere.

[SuburbanFarmer]

Neil DeGrasse Tyson went over all of this on the JRE this week - issues with 1G acceleration, hitting a piece of debris on the way, etc.
He's optimistic.

[Speaker to Animals]

Neil DeGrasse Tyson went over all of this on the JRE this week - issues with 1G acceleration, hitting a piece of debris on the way, etc.
He's optimistic.

Which one was it?

[SuburbanFarmer]

Neil DeGrasse Tyson went over all of this on the JRE this week - issues with 1G acceleration, hitting a piece of debris on the way, etc.
He's optimistic.

Which one was it?

Episode #919

He didn't go into depth on the math, but he's pretty sure it's happening.

[Mercury]

Neil DeGrasse Tyson went over all of this on the JRE this week - issues with 1G acceleration, hitting a piece of debris on the way, etc.
He's optimistic.

Which one was it?

Episode #919

He didn't go into depth on the math, but he's pretty sure it's happening.

Going to listen to this on the way home, tonight. Thanks for posting it.