/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11391601
>Where do you guys see space and spaceflight in 30-50 years.
Well, it really seriously depends on whether or not spaceflight is yet again gimped and drawn back down after another big achievement or whether it finally gathers the necessary momentum to become self-sustaining. Technologically speaking we should have already had multiple large orbitals in LEO with 100+ crews, limited commercial spaceflight to LEO and the Moon, and been at least preparing a fleet of ships to attempt large scale colonization of Mars. We should have already been using NTPR's to send large advanced robot probes to the outer planets and to Venus and Mercury, Magnetoplasma drives should already be commonplace and we should have radically expanded nuclear power research and be well on our way to a functional small scale fusion torch right now.

Many of the processes for advanced fuel cycles, nuclear rocketry and even torch drives was thought up fifty years ago, we have no excuse for technology to have stagnated in so many fields except for a lack of ambition, investment, and a love of the status quo.