/sci/ - Science & Math

I would like to add that among all NEEMO missions this one in particular excites me the most because the mission it is intended to prepare astronauts for is of great historical significance; Missions to an asteroid will prepare us to mine them, unlocking their tremendous wealth and creating an industry that can sustainably fund the large scale development of space. It is directly applicable to our future in the way that those countless trips to low earth orbit and back were not, and in my opinion (which of course you are free to reject) it represents a more promising direction in manned space exploration than the shuttle program and construction of the ISS. I look forward with great anticipation to the day when NASA astronauts explore an asteroid, paving the way for the mineral extraction that will create the wealth necessary to begin expanding offworld in earnest.

>>3799413

>I agree with Mad here. Secure resources for modern electronics via undersea REE mining with a clear goal on obtaining more from the asteroids in the near future. Doesn't seem too bad.

This we can agree on. Space is the ultimate goal. But oceanic development is the economic powerhouse that will drive it forward. The sea is for resouce extraction, farming, and prototyping. Everything we do there accelerates space development, and pays for itself.

>>3646869

>Space is best to robots at this point. Send the humans to the deeps.

Most of both can be done by robots. The main reason we send humans into the deep is because we can't send radio waves through water, and controlling robots via a long cable becomes awkward and fault prone as the depth increases.

For a lot of stuff we can use autonomous probes, even ones powered by the thermal difference between the deep ocean and shallow ocean, exciting stuff. And there are underwater data networks where each node wirelessly controls a rover over short distances, with nodes spaced precisely to make wireless control of underwater robots possible despite the rapid falloff of radio waves in water. Canada's "Neptune" subsea network of nodes and robots does this, but obviously it's not practical to build such a grid of wireless repeaters everywhere in the ocean, besides which most of the large scale experiments we want to do requires humans to set it up, as robots are not yet dextrous enough.

There are a number of experiments that, if we want to perform them on other planets, we will need to send humans. A couple of humans working together can erect the equipment needed to take a deep core sample for instance while a robot capable of the same feat would be unworkably large, sophisticated and heavy. There are good reasons for sending humans to Mars beyond "it's inspiring", and likewise with sending humans to the deep.

>>3486122

If the giant squid isn't a sea monster I don't know what qualifies. Watch Scott Cassel of the Undersea Voyager Project on Google Talks. Dude dives with man eating humbolt squid while wearing chainmail armor so they can't yank his arms out of their sockets, which is what happened the first time he dove with them. Cool shit.

Anyway, oceanic exploration is neglected, but it shouldn't be funded to the exclusion of space exploration. Nor are they even equally important. We need to be developing our ability to live on other planets as a major priority, but in order to afford that we need to be expanding our economic and industrial activity into the sea, because that's where most of the untapped wealth left in the world is.

http://www.synchtube.com/r/MadScientist

All videos relating to mankind's near future in the ocean, and how it relates to our eventual conquest of space. Videos of NASA's planned robotic mission to Europa's under-ice ocean, videos of various undersea hotels, restaurants, science labs and resorts around the world, cutting edge deep sea submersibles and exoskeletons, and the state of the art in nuclear submarines.

Also, Sealab 2021 episodes. And Sea Quest DSV, in German.

>>3334325

Sup Richard. And yeah, seconding the investment advice. Everyone's going to need rare earths, and the first corporation to establish itself in the deep will become richer than the king of popes.

It's really the same rationale behind mining asteroids, but closer to home with a near term payoff and using subsea technology. I like to think of the ocean as the tutorial level before we conquer space, in that respect.

>>3327773

>You know what? I really like you. I appreciate your efforts to get people enthused about this topic.

I'm glad. :3 I've also been getting back into space recently though and that's been a distraction. They share certain aspects that make both equally interesting.

"Aliens of the Deep". It's a space/ocean exploration documentary explaining the technological overlap between the two.

In honor of the NEEMO 15 mission, wherein NASA astronauts will live aboard the Aquarius undersea research station while carrying out simulated zero G exploration of an artificial asteroid, I thought we might discuss the history of sea/space analogue programs and the technological overlap between the exploration of both frontiers, with special focus on Europa.