Space - The Final Frontier

Listening to the local talk radio this morning I heard the host interview a scientist that was involved in the lastest trip to Mars and he talked about Curiosity and all that had to be considered in the landing. Then he went on to talk about getting people to Mars in the future. This is still years off. I guess there is a "think tank" that discusses the whys and wherefores and many "ifs" about going to Mars. Getting there is a lot easier than getting back so one of the options is to go there and stay. The astronauts would never come back to Earth. At least the first couple trips would be one way. This is a serious consideration. Also, a big concern is bringing back bacteria or things for which there is no earthly deterent or none that we could forsee.
 
JOHNNIE36 said:
Listening to the local talk radio this morning I heard the host interview a scientist that was involved in the lastest trip to Mars and he talked about Curiosity and all that had to be considered in the landing. Then he went on to talk about getting people to Mars in the future. This is still years off. I guess there is a "think tank" that discusses the whys and wherefores and many "ifs" about going to Mars. Getting there is a lot easier than getting back so one of the options is to go there and stay. The astronauts would never come back to Earth. At least the first couple trips would be one way. This is a serious consideration. Also, a big concern is bringing back bacteria or things for which there is no earthly deterent or none that we could forsee.
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Sure hope the travelers decide to take plenty of nuclear batteries to keep warm. :)

Seeing the Curiosity photos, just thinking about how nothing may be alive there feels sorta lonely. Facinating, but lonely.
 
When you think about it, if NASA/ESA/etc.. could manage a decent margin of safety (50% or higher) and basic living conditions, would one way interplanetary space travel be all that bad ? Didn't a significant portion of the population in most previous generations leave home to immigrate to new lands under the fairly certain assumption that they would never see home again ?
I know personally without a marriage "holding me back" (ahem...) and an elderly mother, I would probably jump at the chance to be a Mars coloniser. Imagine living out your days in the shadow of Olympus Mons. Also, if Hollywood is to be believed, there are some pretty hot red skinned women up there... : o )
 
Update: Orbital Sciences is in the race.

Antares Rocket Launch Is A Success, In Test Of Orbital Supply Vehicle : The Two-Way : NPR

"Officials say the Antares mission is a success, after a steady stream of status updates in which flight control engineers seemed to repeat "nominal" several times a minute. The vehicle will now drift in orbit before burning up in re-entry, likely in a few weeks, officials say.
The next Antares launch could take place in June or July, when the rocket would deliver a payload to the International Space Station."
 
Damn, I missed it! I can see most of the Wallops Island launches from my house, but we're down in Florida right now. I think I'll drive down for a closer view of the next one. It's exciting to be so close for once. I always wanted to watch a shuttle launch, but never made it down.
 
This is an interesting video from Elon Musk about how they are planing to use 3-D modeling combined with 3-D printing to design and make rocket parts.

 
Last edited:
Chuckanut said:
This is an interesting video from Elon Musk about how they are planing to use 3-D modeling combined with 3-D printing to design and make rocket parts.

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Always interesting but 3D modeling and 3D printing have been around for a while.

What I find fascinating is how the operator is able to rotate and modify the 3D model not by mouse-command-mouse manipulate but by waving his hands in front of the "thingy". Putting on the "apparatus" and walking around your 3D design is also very useful / cool.

Thanks for posting!
 
My god all the cool things Elon does at his companies make me want to get a J*b and go back to w*rk..

Seriously will you just let me enjoy my retirement. :)
 
The last j*b I had was writing the documentation for that software. Brings back memories (that I'm glad are only memories!). When I w*rked on it was long before Siemens bought it, but it's basically the same software. Good stuff.
 
clifp said:
My god all the cool things Elon does at his companies make me want to get a J*b and go back to w*rk..

Seriously will you just let me enjoy my retirement. :)
Click to expand...

I am, after 8 years of retirement, actually seriously considering getting a job at the Tesla store when it opens in Minnesota (next year hopefully).

Basically, I would be talking to people about Tesla, and showing them the cars. Which is what I do now. However, I would get paid for it and get some stock;)
 
clifp said:
My god all the cool things Elon does at his companies make me want to get a J*b and go back to w*rk..

Seriously will you just let me enjoy my retirement. :)
Click to expand...

I have to many other things I want to do, so work is out for me at this point in life. But.... if I was in my 30's or 40's it would be an interesting job to say the least. I doubt if working at SpaceX is a 40 hour a week job, and I have to wonder about being a two income family man with little kids running around. Still, it would be great to say I helped put American back into space on an American spacecraft.
 
Walt34 said:
Speaking of launches, NASA is launching LADEE this evening and it should be visible along large portions of the east coast. See NASA's LADEE Mission | NASA
Click to expand...

It is amazing how much exploration of our solar system is going on and how unaware the public is. Unless somebody dies in space, or we do 7 minutes of terror to land on Mars, the media is really quiet on the subject.

This reminds me of Asimov's books where robots did most of the space exploration. However, unlike the books, I hope we don't decide to just hang out on Earth and let the robots take the risks.
 
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