The only thing we can know right now is that Mars is inhabited by robots. That scares me more than anything else. I saw Terminator and iRobot. ???
Missions to Mars: Are they Really Such a Good Thing?
- Thread starter mawnansmiff
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I'm all for the continued exploration of space. It's been over fifty years and we still haven't left this rock to go to anywhere other than the moon.
If I wanted to go see a desolate wasteland I’d just visit Detroit
I think mars missions are a ridiculous waste of time and money and should be cancelled until we explore more than a tiny percentage of our oceans, feed hungry people on earth, and work on maybe going to the moon again first.
Also, I am highly dissatisfied with the crap b&w grainy footage they are showing, haven't we improved our photography and communication technology in the last 50 years? If NASA wants people to take them seriously and stop making up silly conspiracy theories about them they should at least provide decent footage that wouldn't be easy to fake.
Also, I am highly dissatisfied with the crap b&w grainy footage they are showing, haven't we improved our photography and communication technology in the last 50 years? If NASA wants people to take them seriously and stop making up silly conspiracy theories about them they should at least provide decent footage that wouldn't be easy to fake.
Alas, in my community it’s almost impossible to convince anyone that COVID is a threat or to even wear a mask. Trying to get them to think about Martian viruses or bacteria, germs or even little green men or Terminators is just so far outside the realm of feasibility so as to be impossible. ?
I personally am extremely excited about the Mars efforts. Sojourner, Spirit, Opportunity, Curiosity, and now Perseverance have all tightened the windows on autonomous landings and targeting. With 12-minute delay in the speed of light from Mars to Earth, we need improving autonomous technology. In 2022, project Dart will ram a spacecraft into a meteor to see if we can deflect it from its course. That developing technology may well save our species some day.
The 8-minute video below is worth a watch. Mark Rober, the guy int he video, worked for NASA at JPL for nine years. He has a ton of science, engineering, and construction videos that are awesome to watch, especially for kids. His drone video, representing the scale of our solar system was awesome.
Is NASA a waste of money?
I got to hold a moon rock as a kid and a NASA dreamer, which carried the same concerns prior to 1969. No weird viruses from that, although they were all kept in isolation for a lot testing prior to release.
The 8-minute video below is worth a watch. Mark Rober, the guy int he video, worked for NASA at JPL for nine years. He has a ton of science, engineering, and construction videos that are awesome to watch, especially for kids. His drone video, representing the scale of our solar system was awesome.
Is NASA a waste of money?
I got to hold a moon rock as a kid and a NASA dreamer, which carried the same concerns prior to 1969. No weird viruses from that, although they were all kept in isolation for a lot testing prior to release.
I've been a lot of places over the years, both with the Navy and before and after in civilian life. I'm not world traveler, like a friend who wintered over in Siberia and met her third husband in the Amazon. But this planet offers all the far reaches and exotic places I care to see. If Earth colonized another planet, or several, and raised children there, I doubt they would transplant back to Earth easily. All their memories and loyalties would be living in a terrarium on chemically generated oxygen. All these tall trees and terrifying squirrels would be traumatic to them. Even the bold among us are averse to change, to a degree.
Neither of those books I mentioned put Humans messing with things they find in space that we don't understand in a positive light. Especially the Expanse; the writers of which put a lot of effort into making it scientifically accurate. It explores human nature through that lens, the idea of "can we" vs "should we" is a major theme in there. The whole picture it paints and the idea of expanding to human life in space and the danger and consequences of what; well it's kind of a bacteria, is found in those books is grim, dirty, and scary. Shit breaks bad fast and keeps on going. Felt very based in reality to me.
While I said I agree that there are benefits and good possibilities to studying these things, I also agree that there is a serious danger and we shouldn't without real caution and thought be exposed to it. Do I think that means we shouldn't investigate it at all? Also no.
I also agree with the folks who are saying we've got enough problems down here that need serious addressing. Do I think a small branch of people with somewhat limited resources (compared to other branches of the scientific community) working on exploring off the earth and learning about the universe and our place in it is detracting from that? Not really. There are plenty of people also working hard to solve the problems we have down here, there's no reason both projects can't exist at the same time, and the truth is they do.
we're explorers the things people have done with boats where just as crazy at one point. I guess it's kind of bound to happen the moment it's possible or there abouts.
Agreed. If it’s possible I believe we’ll do it. Might be amongst the last things we do... but yes, it’s probably in our nature to explore.
? Yes! I love thinking about this idea!
Not to keep being a shouting nerd about the Expanse books, but this is also a huge theme in them. How living off Earth affects our cultures and bodies, how it changes but also repeats the shared experience we all have as humans. Exobiology, artificial and unique ecosystems, all stuff that is addressed. Alright gonna get off my nerd soapbox about these books now.
When I was younger I had a subscription to Asimov's Science Fiction periodical, there was a short story in there that poignantly portrayed the grim realities of living and working in space, if even in earth orbit. It is extremely detrimental to your health and well being, causing loss in bone density, organ damage, circulation issues, and working outside earth's protective fields raises risk of cancers by something like 3000%.
Look at the astronauts that spent anything over a few days on the ISS, they are messed up for months afterwards.
Look at the astronauts that spent anything over a few days on the ISS, they are messed up for months afterwards.
I see what you're saying, but I'll also point out that we as humans have been doing an excellent job over the past couple of hundred years at having a detrimental impact on life on Earth. Hard to see how some micro-organisms on Mars will change that. I doubt life in a more complex form ever developed there as we would probably have some evidence of that by now, considering the amount of interest and exploration on that planet in the past few decades.
My concern with our obsession with Mars and visitation to other planets is that I think these hugely expensive missions sometimes take resources away from other scientific endeavors that can be equally fruitful and much more financially efficient.
And the Decepticons were there too!
I’d be more worried about the funk on this planet, and who knows what has been lurking under the melting polar icecaps ?
There is something wrong with you people. We found Spock for chrissake so live long and prosper.
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