Artemis Project: Why?

[warren]

not sure why you brought that up.

Can't have the moon without the "useless" rocks and dust.

My answer to your original question would be, some are explorers or adventurers. Others are "stay at homes." So we fund the explorers and the rest can live vicariously or ... complain about the "waste" of money. It all depends on one's perspective I suppose. I've enjoyed many of the new stuff space exploration has generated that contribute to our ease and quality of life.

Plus, we do it because we can and, as observed above, lots of interesting weapons and there delivery systems evolve from the necessary expenditures.

Lastly, lots of moneys make there way into the economy through salaries.

 

[anotherbob]

Please Jesse, tell me you didn't really fall for that scam.....did you?

Regards,

Jay.

But we could survive no matter where we landed....we can't do that in space!

Regards,

Jay.

space the place that wants to destroy humans in as many ways as possible. Though the casuality rates on sea voyages makes a crocked cop who cheated the cartels he works with while also moonlighting as a crabber in alaska into a bad bet in a death pool (when you bet on who will die before a certain point) in comparison.

 

[warren]

More to your point Jay, I firmly believe humans or, at least many of them, have "restless feet" and yearn to explore the unexplored, the bottom of the sea, the other side of the mountain and space. Further, I believe the urge is innate in many. When younger and haler, I was often found chasing the horizon in my neighborhood and the globe. I've only really settled as my heart weakened. Now my curiosity must be satisfied with books. It's a sad existence for the most part but, better than the alternative.

 

[anotherbob]

Can't have the moon without the "useless" rocks and dust.

My answer to your original question would be, some are explorers or adventurers. Others are "stay at homes." So we fund the explorers and the rest can live vicariously or ... complain about the "waste" of money. It all depends on one's perspective I suppose. I've enjoyed many of the new stuff space exploration has generated that contribute to our ease and quality of life.

Plus, we do it because we can and, as observed above, lots of interesting weapons and there delivery systems evolve from the necessary expenditures.

Lastly, lots of moneys make there way into the economy through salaries.

fun fact much of the cost is more spread out then people think too. Example lots of the parts are bought from private co mpanies who used their private research budget. So more complex then just spending taxpayer money. And man imagine the impact of not having an established prescence when space travel and use takes off.

 

[bullet08]

Absolutely not, but mankind going there or not going there isn't going to affect the tides so not sure why you brought that up.

And yes, space exploration has brought many benefits to mankind, I've never doubted that, I'm just questioning why, after 50 odd years, NASA have decided they need to return there, but my question was answered last night on the news....to get there before China does. It's just a repeat of 1969....'get a man on the Moon at any cost and make sure you do it before Russia does'.

Regards,

Jay.

When was the last time that Chinese rockets worked? When was the last time Chinese were able to recapture their stellite? Sounds like just an excuse to me. It seems we are now finding out Russian weapons are decades behind us, and lot of Chinese tech is copied from Russian. Then again, they do have our tech they weasel out us.

 

[LotusEater]

Why?
Well, they say that God, gold and glory were what drove the discovery of the “new world”. I’d say it is probably these same drivers (although with a slightly different slant) that make people want to explore space.

 

[cigrmaster]

We are so far away from being an interstellar race that most people don't even understand where we stand time wise. Pretend we just found the ability to make fire. How many thousands of years ago was that? We are probably standing around there when it comes to interstellar travel. That is the goal, that is the money shot. Without it we are doomed to this planet that we insist on screwing up.

We want to go to the moon so we can get to Mars to find a way for humans to learn how to exist in space and not get fried by solar radiation. If we want to visit other planets and stars then Faster Than Light Travel is the only way. Be it a worm hole or an engine that folds space we are going no where with our current technology. Taking the time to learn how to live in space is all we have right now, might as well try to figure it out.

They have to figure out how to create gravity in a place that has none. Humans can't live long term without gravity so it is just one more issue to deal with. Every little step we take will some day add up to some cool stuff. If we didn't have the 1960's moon program, chances are we wouldn't be screwing around our little pipe site in the vastness of the internet.

 

[LotusEater]

I may have found my new signature line -
“If we didn't have the 1960's moon program, chances are we wouldn't be screwing around our little pipe site in the vastness of the internet.”

 

[mso489]

Natural resources from the moon or other planets? Unless there are some rare unknown chemicals that are useful and valuable in milligrams and ounces, I don't think the transport back is much of a possibility. A spaceship with the equivalent of a iron ore boat of minerals bearing down on earth at 17K miles an hour wouldn't be a good prospect.

Pregnancy and birth on other planets might be far less efficacious than we think, with all that stray radiation and odd ambient chemistry. Human beings -- aside from the fact that they treat each other like target range ducks -- are fragile little beings, dependent on all kinds of fauna in the gut that might not function for years in space.

Then there are those promised worm holes, physics anomalies in the universe that hypothetically would permit passage through vast space in compressed amounts of time. We're still waiting for those worm holes, like riding the public bus systems in most small American cities, the ride never appears.

Maybe the aliens came to see us and determined there is no intelligent life in the universe other than them.

It's getting to the place where space travel is so confined and boring, it hardly attracts the swashbuckling test pilots of the old astronaut program. It will favor people who like to stay home in small confined rooms and do repetitious technical work unbothered by numbing sameness from hour to hour.

 

[Andriko]

Space exploration is a worthy endevour, though I am skeptical that governments should still be the ones doing it. As Warren says, as a species we have an instinct to explore. It's how we got out of Africa in the first place. But there ain't much left for us to find on Earth that hasn't already been found, plundered and commercialised. So we need to ruin pace now.

 

[Streeper541]

This is the first time a major space mission has happened about which I really don't give a damn.

For me, as a child of the 80's, I am super excited about the Artemis program.

I missed the Space Race but did get to enjoy the bulk of the Shuttle Program and the Hubble. I grew up in relative proximity to Johnson Space Center in Houston. These things really peaked my interest in space and astronomy as a kid. To be able to experience a manned Moon mission, and possibly a manned Mars mission, in my lifetime is very exciting to me. Maybe even gives me a sense of how things were in the 60's & 70's during the Mercury, Gemini & Apollo missions.

Webb & Artemis both get me excited. But that's just the big kid in me I suppose.

 

[warren]

Natural resources from the moon or other planets? Unless there are some rare unknown chemicals that are useful and valuable in milligrams and ounces, I don't think the transport back is much of a possibility. A spaceship with the equivalent of a iron ore boat of minerals bearing down on earth at 17K miles an hour wouldn't be a good prospect.

Pregnancy and birth on other planets might be far less efficacious than we think, with all that stray radiation and odd ambient chemistry. Human beings -- aside from the fact that they treat each other like target range ducks -- are fragile little beings, dependent on all kinds of fauna in the gut that might not function for years in space.

Then there are those promised worm holes, physics anomalies in the universe that hypothetically would permit passage through vast space in compressed amounts of time. We're still waiting for those worm holes, like riding the public bus systems in most small American cities, the ride never appears.

Simply problems awaiting solutions. Somewhere in the world, a lab or a man in his shed, are searching for the solutions. Will they be discovered? Indubitably!

Man makes many mistakes but, he is also the only species who repairs those errors. We are a determined and curious race indeed!

But that's just the big kid in me I suppose.

Kids, by and large, are uninhibited in their thinking and curiosity. Those who can maintain those traits over a lifetime are those from whom the many required solutions will arise. God bless those untrammeled minds!

 

[georged]

One of my best friends growing up was Tom Spilker, who went on to become the Chief Mission Architect at JPL---the top dog for all intra-solar-system stuff---and stayed in that position for over twenty years.

We're still in touch, and I semi-recently asked him about NASA. I knew it started as a group of absolute killer hotshot engineering geniuses, but had deteriorated & become top heavy with the passage of time (as all organizations do---humans will always human).

I knew what the general nature of his answer would be, but underestimated its intensity.

"It has become a shit show," he said.

"How bad when compared with the emerging private sector space companies?" I asked.

"The difference in efficiency is maybe 50 to 1" he said.

"The government's version of Old Boeing vs. New Boeing?"

"Yup. Exactly. For all the same reasons."

Welcome to 2022



PS --- He's quite happy these days, regardless. Retired from JPL and consulting with the aforementioned private sector outfits.

 

[warren]

"The government's version of Old Boeing vs. New Boeing?"

Yup, when talking to efficiency it's close but, by and large, the private sector, when properly focused, out performs the government every time. While government grants and such are sometimes required and welcome, government insists that each dollar invested mandates two or more dollars value in government interference (regulation).

Oh, and quite often a percentage is to be returned to certain members as " campaign contributions and/or private travel, personal loans, etc.." There are always strings attached to government grants and other "funding."

 

[warren]

I forgot to add that space travel is also a useful distraction from the the vicissitudes of life at home. Useful in an election year. But, perhaps I'm being too cynical.

 

[WhiteDevilPress]

One doesn't have to look very far into the space conspiracy rabbit hole to detect the presence of the military and international banking. One theory for our new space presence is placing computer servers out there in order to serve the purposes of digital currencies. But with NASA's well-documented censorship of photos and footage, it's a dead certainty their stated purposes are not the true ones.

 

[warren]

One doesn't have to look very far into the space conspiracy rabbit hole to detect the presence of the military and international banking. One theory for our new space presence is placing computer servers out there in order to serve the purposes of digital currencies. But with NASA's well-documented censorship of photos and footage, it's a dead certainty their stated purposes are not the true ones.

Elucidate please.

 

[WhiteDevilPress]

Elucidate please.

The internet is barely big enough to contain all the theories (from the plausible to the delusional) about what's and who's out there, so I'll have to leave it to your own research and however much time you want to devote to it. A good starting point, however, is anything published by Richard Dolan, and I would recommend this one for starters.

 

[warren]

I simply don't have the time to research "conspiracy theories."

I do like your signature line though.

 

[Bengel]

Nuf said