No room to expand on Earth! Why isn`t humanity exploring space? | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 807883 United States 12/03/2009 09:24 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
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Anonymous Coward User ID: 832724 United States 12/03/2009 10:35 AM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | And I`m not talking about the half-hearted attempts by the space agencies involved with such projects as the international space station, but a truly concerted effort by the whole world to seek out life-sustaining planets upon which to colonize. Quoting: tiaka9Earth has a finite amount of resources and the six and a half billion of us are using those up at an ever-increasing rate. Isn`t it time we all pulled together and reached for the stars?! In the 21st century, I`d love to know what`s stopping us. Is it technology? Is it a lack of will? Clearly we should be, so: (multiple choice) (more than one answer is possible) a) we are exploring space (secretly) b) our leaders are idiots c) aliens told us to stay on earth until... d) we dont have the ability to go past the VanAllen Belts e) our best and brightest minds are busy creating new ways to manipulate the financial markets & get rich f) NASA is our best effort ***** I choose b & e |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 827842 United States 12/03/2009 01:34 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
LEGION, FOR THERE ARE MANY User ID: 832155 United States 12/03/2009 01:49 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | And I`m not talking about the half-hearted attempts by the space agencies involved with such projects as the international space station, but a truly concerted effort by the whole world to seek out life-sustaining planets upon which to colonize. Quoting: tiaka9Earth has a finite amount of resources and the six and a half billion of us are using those up at an ever-increasing rate. Isn`t it time we all pulled together and reached for the stars?! In the 21st century, I`d love to know what`s stopping us. Is it technology? Is it a lack of will? Your answer, was confirmed again on October 9, 2009. Mankind was handed a message....a "Tower of Babel" incidence...........AGAIN! LEGION |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 774515 United Kingdom 12/03/2009 01:57 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | That's it, really; we're not expanding into space because it costs a colossal fortune to do so. $23 million per seat. And if you want to stay up there, it costs more and more, to launch your food and water and air. The International Space Station is a structure the size of three London buses, constructed and maintained at a staggering cost that strains the space programmes of a dozen nations. And it's not worth it. Should we search for another inhabitable world? _Where_? Not in this solar system. Mars might have been another home for us, but its thin atmosphere retains little heat, so it is nothing but a dead ball of ice and rock. Once we dreamed of a Venus where the bright white clouds shielded the surface from the hot sun, and beneath that canopy awaited a moist jungle world; alas, those clouds are carbon dioxide, with a dash of hot sulphuric acid, and the greenhouse effect on Venus has made the surface into the purest hell imaginable. Among the ice moons of the gas giants? Perhaps some day, but none are anywhere near as hospitable for human life as the Antarctic, or deepest Siberia, or the interior of Greenland, or the ocean floor. Among the stars? Maybe; telescopes are searching for planets all the time, and hundreds have been found. Gas giants mostly; they're easier to spot, but terrestrial-sized planets are expected. But to travel to the stars? Sheer fantasy. By the time our descendants travel interstellar I doubt they'll look remotely human. The ultimate truth is that even if there was another Earthlike planet waiting for us as nearby as the Moon, we would not be able to solve Earth's problems by emigration. Earth is adding 200,000 people _every day_. We simply cannot conceivably build enough rockets just to keep up with that - never mind ferry a significant part of the nearly seven billion people on Earth to another world. A space elevator, if ever built, might change the economics of access to space to be more favourable. But even then, even if we establish bases on other planets, there's simply nowhere else we can put billions of people. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 832834 United States 12/03/2009 02:16 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | The earth will never be overpopulated. This is someone's fear mongering. There is currently enough food to feed all those on earth. The problem is multifaceted. One is that there is corruption in high places and the food that should get to people in times of need is not given out but the food or money is used for other purposes. Do your research. Also, disease plays a large role in keeping the earth's population down. Medicine will never "cure" disease. It hasnt get and it may not really want to... I believe one reason why space exploration is at a standstill is because of warmongering. Countries around the globe are very focused on killing, making killing machines bigger, smaller, better, you name it; more ways to kill those on this earth. If countries were to focus their resources and energy on the future of humankind, instead of warmongering, and finding better ways to kill humans, then maybe we, as a species would explore space. But, right now, the way I see it, it will never happen. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 802888 United States 12/03/2009 02:20 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
The Guy User ID: 832854 United States 12/03/2009 02:40 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | It's good to be open-minded, just don't let your brain fall out. |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 774515 United Kingdom 12/03/2009 02:52 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | The earth will never be overpopulated. This is someone's fear mongering. There is currently enough food to feed all those on earth. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 832834If there's enough food, human will keep on breeding until there isn't. All living things do this. We're fortunate enough that industrial agriculture has given us a colossal superabundance of food, and population hasn't yet caught up. Given time, it surely will. |
Wraithwynd User ID: 717743 United States 12/03/2009 03:41 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | Because space is a very, very expensive proposition. For a species to be interplanetary (in their solar system) colonizers they have to have all but abolished war on their own planet and have to have working international economies and shared interests. For a species to be interstellar colonizers they need to have only one government and be at the point in their development that they no longer make war with themselves, have already successfully expanded through their own solar system, have already tapped the mineral and other resources of their system. NASA has gone from 'sole explorer' role to 'vanguard role' where its mission is to kick start colonies on Moon then Mars exploiting and establishing the knowledge base for resources, while leaving it to the corporations and the 'private sector' to exploit that data. Until very recently NASA and other space agencies have been working as explorer thinking space is to expensive for anything but national interests. However the $10 million Ansari X Prize has already produced some promissory moves in the direction of private interests taking the lead. But before corporations will take the risk they have to know that something of value is there to exploit. Expect a "Gold Rush" in your life time where mineral wealth, energy wealth will kick off a leap forward into space exploration and colonization and corporations finance huge budgets to turn even larger profits that will make corporations have bank accounts to match super power nations of today. Sinkhole list: Thread: Sinkholes Updated 28 Dec 2010 find a sinkhole, add it to this thread, please. "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." (1 John 3:15, NKJV). |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 830833 United States 12/03/2009 03:59 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | |
Anonymous Coward User ID: 832667 United States 12/03/2009 07:39 PM Report Abusive Post Report Copyright Violation | I think space colonization/exploration, should be at the forefront of human endeavors. It would provide an excellent alternative to our present solution to overpopulation, ie genocide and war. what more noble goal than to ensure the survival of our biosphere, and relieve the pressure on our planet, of a pent up stagnant humanity. I also suspect that the necessity of systems in space to be increasingly self-sustaining the further out they got, would lead to concepts and technology that would utilize matter and energy more efficiently. Quoting: tiaka9Maybe we should not colonize or terraform planets,putting ourselves at the whim of an alien geology, and atmosphere, but instead build Arcologies (architecturally designed ecology), eventually on the scale of a Dyson sphere. Somebody on the same wavelength! lets talk solutions, instead of doom, I propose another thread discussing the formation of a non profit NGO dedicated to opening up space to the general populace. given todays economic distress we should strive for Private America to be the next pioneers in global space exploration. Its time we regain our technological prowess, and show the world that we can be a force for good, and beacon of hope, once again. |