/sci/ - Science & Math

[Anonymous No.3440462]

>Dat feel when you realize that space exploration is slowly halting
>Dat feel when you realize that you will die before we make contact with another alien species
>Dat feel when you realize that the questions about space you have right now will never be answered in your lifetime.

[Anonymous No.3440473]

>>3440462

No it's not. There are other countries beside the US that deals with space exploration.

Fucking americans

[Anonymous No.3440474]

>>3440462
>plenty of species on Earth that you don't give a rat's ass about
>you would shell out you money to pay for this bullshit

[Anonymous No.3440475]

Space exploration is useless right now. Unless there's new and practical propulsion technology in development, I see no reason to continue funding it.

[Anonymous No.3440477]

>>3440473
Nothing in comparison to the US, but you're right. Whether you like Americans are not, you've got to admit we've at least spent a lot of cash on science.

[Anonymous No.3440502]

>>3440475
>I see no reason to continue funding it
if they don't have funding then they can't invent better propulsion systems dumbshit

[Anonymous No.3440509]

Private companies are taking over where NASA left off and should probably do things faster once they make up for lost time

[Anonymous No.3440526]

>>3440509
Not when there's no money to be made in space, no.

[Anonymous No.3440527]

Remember when Woody the cowboy represented the past and Buzz Lightyear represented the future and Woody had to deal with that? Yeah well, Buzz Lightyear is now past.

[Anonymous No.3440551]

But Russia just launched a new telescope that is much better than any US telescope.

[Anonymous No.3440599]

That feel when you're a delusionalschizo.

[Anonymous No.3440606]

>>3440462

>another alien species

wow, we made contact with one already? because we are not aliens by definiton...faggot

[Anonymous No.3440611]

>MFW I accepted this fact a long time ago since I'm not a blind optimist faggot.

[Anonymous No.3440616]

>dat feeling when you realize you are part of the generation that will answer questions for every generation that succeeds.

I feel so fucking mighty

[Anonymous No.3440619]

>>3440616

>that feel when you realize, you are part of that generation only in theory, because you will never contribute anything to aforementioned answers

[Anonymous No.3440628]

>dat feel when I never really cared about space or alien civilizations, though tried to make myself care after reading Sagan shit; still not a shit given

i don't share that feel, op

it's just not relevant

[Anonymous No.3440630]

In 10 years the American space program will have access to half a dozen man-rated spacecraft and launch vehicles and will be launching more missions a year than we ever did under the shuttle program.

The cost of man-rating the Ariane 5 will prove to expensive for the ESA and UKSA and Europe (along with most countries that decide to start a space program of their own) will buy American-made vehicles

By the end of the decade, 'space' could quite literally be the United State's fastest growing export industry

We are lucky to live in such an exciting time - the era when space travel finally starts to become routine

[Anonymous No.3442285]

bump

[Anonymous No.3442292]

>>3440630

Will this still be the case when the house of Reps. force Obama to default on $14.3 Trillion?

[Anonymous No.3442298]

>dat feel when it's an incredible time to be alive and faggots like you are depressed

[Anonymous No.3442319]

>That feel when some people who were born in the 1960s are still alive and well in year 2100

[Anonymous No.3442392]

>plenty of companies around the world developing safe spacecraft for human use

>companies also developing commercial space stations

>China will begin sending more men into space

>India will begin sending men into space in a few short years

>Even Iran might start sending men into space by 2021

>ISS will last until 2020, possibly even 2028.

>Increasing competition and production in space industry will cause a drop in costs

>NASA will have more money for science and not spend as much as they have on just maintaining space launch infrastructure and spacecrafts

>Asteroids could make resources like gold and titanium plentiful in the future.

>Russia, China, India, ESA, and the US all have plans for men on the moon for extended stays within 20 years.

mfw the future of space exploration has never been so bright

[Anonymous No.3442395]

>>3442392

[Anonymous No.3442429]

>>3442392

[Anonymous No.3442438]

You think that you personally would have a closer chance to get into space with the government running the show?

[Busch !d4j3cCJt2w No.3442444]

I think we need to confront the fact that we are most likely alone in the universe.

[Anonymous No.3442448]

Not read thread, don't give a fuck.

>Be the change you want to see
If everyone expected other people to facilitate them achieving their dreams...nothing would get done.

[Anonymous No.3442452]

Now that we got rid of expensive useless shuttle that has grounded us in low orbit for 30 years, the real space exploration will begin.

[Anonymous No.3442454]

>>3442444
Didn't they find life on Mars? Fossilized bacteria or something? Why do I so distinctly remember reading about this in 5th grade in Time for Kids? Was I lied to?

[Science !!V9NwDn3l+KQ No.3442457]

>>3442395
BUT DERP DERP THEY AINT AMERIKAH!

[Anonymous No.3442486]

>>3442292
>implying obama isn't forcing the default.

[Anonymous No.3442503]

>>3442454

They found what looked a bit like fossilized microbes on an asteroid that originated from Mars. Nothing was conclusive.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allan_Hills_84001

[Anonymous No.3442512]

>>3442454
They didn't find any organic matter on Mars. though when they tested similar equipment on Earth they didn't find any organic matter either... High quality sensitive equipment that in the process of analysis quiet literally "burned" the substance to get the chemical composition.
Don't ask me who's idea that was...
Although I am not sure which mission to Mars had such a crappy designers therefore maybe there is other more reliable evidence for no life as well.

Smartest people on Earth doing rocket science are still fucking morons. U MAD?
(obviously not meant literally)

[Anonymous No.3442543]

>>3440462
>I know that feel.
>>3442392
Even so, none of us will see humans venturing beyond Mars ffs.

[Anonymous No.3442550]

I just came to /sci/ in hopes of finding a space travel thread. You make me proud.

I think we'll pick back up when we find a way to mine asteroids arty a decent cost. I think corporations will analogously be the early settlers like religiously persecuted people to North America.

Not that I think they're persecuted, but I'm sure they see themselves that way. And if they can avoid literally all law...

[Anonymous No.3442566]

>>3440462
> you will die before we make contact with another alien species
I always just assumed that, the prospect of ever making contact with an alien species is frankly just absurd, not that life can't exist out there, but that it would be completely absurd to contact them.
>the questions about space you have right now will never be answered in your lifetime
Not all true.

[Anonymous No.3442575]

It saddens me I'll never see an alien. Not even an intelligent one, just an alien animal. Sigh.

[Anonymous No.3442578]

>>3442543
Why do you base your happiness on such an arbitrary event? You live in the most technologically advanced future man has ever known, and you still find some way to feel depressed about it, you gigantic faggot.

[Anonymous No.3442582]

>>3442575
Why? there are plenty of earth animals you'll never get a chance to see either, lrn2prioritize.

[Anonymous No.3442583]

>>3442575
>I always just assumed that, the prospect of ever making contact with an alien species is frankly just absurd, not that life can't exist out there, but that it would be completely absurd to contact them.
How so? Not to be a conspirator but it could've already happened.

[Anonymous No.3442591]

>>3442583
Quoted the wrong guy.

[Anonymous No.3442593]

>>3442583
It could have but the odds are ridiculously long. Its not impossible its just nigh impossible.

[Anonymous No.3442597]

Im not sure. The space race only started about 60-70 years ago, and in that time we've gone from primitive rockets to routine trips into space, probes on other planets and outside the solar system, and satellites, satellites everywhere

I wouldn't be so pessimistic about space exploration when the rate at which technology advances is phenomenal

[Anonymous No.3442598]

>>3442578
You need to calm down, getting enraged by my opinion is just stupid. I mean by that, we should be moving at a much faster technological advancement process, but we're not. That's what I'm depressed about, because the world should be something else but it isn't.

[Anonymous No.3442602]

>>3442593
True.

[Anonymous No.3442603]

>>3442597
>the rate at which technology advances is phenomenal
Sure if you only use the 20th century as a basis and ignore the rest of human history

[Anonymous No.3442604]

>>3442578
Why assume he's not thankful for what he has?

Reminds me of the George Carlin but about being annoyed with people who say "in my opinion". "Well of course it's your opinion, whose else would it be? Get to the fucking point!"

Amazingly, if you give everyone a little breathing room, not everyone online will appear to be raging assholes. Relax.

Our awesomeness is eternally a 7/10. There's always cooler times around the corner. It doesn't mean now is bad, just not pure awesome.

[Anonymous No.3442608]

>>3442603
Yeah, for thousands of years we've been primitive up until the 15th and 16 centuries where technology and ideas became impressive.

[Anonymous No.3442617]

I truly hope aliens pop-up and say "oh, we're here. You guys are cool now. Welcome to the universal party.

[Anonymous No.3442623]

>>3442604
I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be here if it was.

[Anonymous No.3442628]

Question. Is it even possible for an extraterrestrial base to sustain itself? Have we even figured out those problems?

[Anonymous No.3442630]

>>3442597
That's the problem satellites, satellites, satellites everywhere - so much of them that in 40 years our planet will have another layer of atmosphere - jukosphere that kills any new satellite that is sent from Earth in 2 years regardles of hw advanced the satellite is... Very bright future...

[Anonymous No.3442638]

>>3442630
Any "sphere" encircling Earth is by definition bigger than the Earth. Are you saying we have enough satellites in space to cover the Earth and then some?

I'm not saying space junk won't cause any problems, but it's way overblown.

[Anonymous No.3442644]

i just want to be able to look through my telescope and spy on people on the moon base

[Anonymous No.3442649]

>>3442638
sure, we don't need the density of the junkosphere to be that of solid steel plate, just dense enough that anything going through it would have some decently high probability of smashing into orbital death.

[Anonymous No.3442652]

>>3442628
It's possible, and we have spotted certain "Earth like" planets in space.

[Anonymous No.3442658]

>>3442644
You need a pretty damn good telescope.

[Anonymous No.3442660]

>>3442652
M-Class?

[Anonymous No.3442670]

>>3442660
Possibly, can't know for sure as we can't see the planet exactly. Results are taken from tests on distance from the star it orbits, chemical components of the atmosphere, and a whole lot of estimation.

[Anonymous No.3442674]

>>3442608
Let's take into consideration Rome, Ancient Greece, Ancient China... And suddenly the picture is not that optimistic as expected. Most of our current advancement will be/is swamped by overpopulation. Yes we have fully robotic factories, ludicrously efficient agriculture, everything is very efficient but somehow we don't live like kings do we? Still live relatively shitty lives, eat junk food (not THAT much better than the one we ate 2000 years ago). Famine is still present - keep in mind that large portion of population doesn't live in the US, EU so if you look into your backyard that's probably the brighter part of our civilization. Also despite having major advancement we have new side effects as a byproduct of our "advancement". Say we have better medicine but we have also more medical threads (please let's exclude middle ages and places like London which were the stinkiest sewer of all times).

[Anonymous No.3442682]

FTL travel is impossible, the only way to spread out through space is the sub-light self-sustaining self-reproducing generation ship.

Of course a ship that can fly through interstellar space for centuries is still hard to design.

[Anonymous No.3442683]

>>3442652
I was thinking the moon or Mars. Extra-solar planets means we have to figure out travel. I just means the logistics of living in an environment which has few natural resources. Could we farm enough food for an entire crew without constant supply dumps a la ISS?

[Anonymous No.3442723]

>>3442638
even 1 cm piece of steel will be an equivalent of a dynamite/truck hence you don't need a big truck to smash your space ship/station. It could be a grain (well a bit bigger then a grain but you got the idea). Also you can protect the main body but photovoltaics will take the punishment very harshly.
Number of small naughty junks in space is increasing roughly exponentially. So even if now there is still relatively enough space in 40 years or 70 I don't know I pulled it out of nowhere it will be a serious challenge to put anything into space for longer then several months or years - despite technologies will be far more advanced. - again just my guess and I believe there will be made "cleaning" programs to cope with it - still a possible thread though.

[Anonymous No.3442738]

>>3442683
Planets inside of our solar system would almost surely require terraforming which we are not so good at yet. I still think though the gas giants would be out of the question entirely.

[Anonymous No.3442746]

>>3442738
Why? I can imagine perfect colonies for political prisoners "terrorists" on Jupiter.

[Anonymous No.3442757]

>>3442723
Why not affix the cleaning mechanisms to new satellites, along their horizon so that new satellites also clean their path? Our just sling them toward Earth to burn in the atmosphere?

[Anonymous No.3442763]

>>3442746
Well as you probably know, gas giants are fucking monsters. They're the most dangerous planets we know of. Jupiter would not enjoy us being there no matter how satisfying it may seem in a Sci-Fi.

[Anonymous No.3442765]

>Dat feel when you realize that you will die before we make contact with another alien species

What was the first alien species?

[Anonymous No.3442774]

>>3442765
the Autobots. But its a secret.

[Anonymous No.3442784]

Despite the recent budget cuts and shit, the space program is still doing very well. I have a friend who started working at NASA a couple years ago, and they are doing great.

[Anonymous No.3442786]

>>3442738
>>3442738
You're probably right about the gas giants. But there has to be some point, a crew size, at which the crew could sustain themselves on, say, Mars. It's just a matter of getting enough water/minerals to grow crops. The question is, how big is that number?

And to rule out constant resupply drops is silly.

[Anonymous No.3442789]

>>3442774

[Anonymous No.3442800]

>>3442786
Don't forget about vespene gas, we require more vespene gas.

[Anonymous No.3442806]

>>3442763
I meant one way tickets. They are not expected to return back... ever. A neat way of saying execution.

[Anonymous No.3442811]

>>3442806
that's not a very cost effective means of execution.

[Anonymous No.3442818]

>>3442786
After terraforming the colonists could grow their own crops to sustain themselves. But at first, not many. Maybe 20-30 or so. I'm not a pro at estimation, but that's how I'd figure it. Humans would probably move on to Mars right away as I don't think the Moon can be terraformed since it's just a dusty rock where as Mars actually possess frozen water and actual minerals.

[Anonymous No.3442833]

>>3442818
the moons got plenty of water

[Anonymous No.3442837]

>>3442811
Hm. It could be if you also consider it an experiment. You know, to see what kind of culture/society they would form. Of course, we could probably do the same thing in Alaska.

Maybe just send the to the moon to do the groundwork for later scientists. Slave labor. I mean, we are talking China, after all, right?

[Anonymous No.3442852]

It's good that NASA is being torn down (with the implicit understanding that it will eventually be built back up)--the space shuttle was a spectacularly inefficient stack of compromises, doing everything, but nothing quite well enough.

For decades the way you got to the top was by parroting conventional wisdom; what's needed is another kitchen-sink do-whatever-works cycle. Like the 60s but with good computers.

And manned space exploration--not "monkeys in a can in the upper athmosphere" but the REAL THING--moon missions, asteroid rendezvous, Mars-in-our-lifetime--is terrific for molding a public image of engineering and science as glamorous career paths.

[Anonymous No.3442862]

>>3442818
Sure, with terraforming. But again, you're talking a massive delay while that process happens. I'm asking if anyone has looked at the problem now. Something we could start planning now. I'm guessing not.

[Anonymous No.3442864]

>>3442833
After a load of mining it all out, yes. But we have nothing else to use there, except dust.

[Anonymous No.3442866]

>>3442811
I fully agree. It was meant more like a satiric joke then a feasible plan.

[Anonymous No.3442871]

>>3440462
don't be sad. we have the unique opportunity to watch the magic of evolution happen and see a new species of mankind evolve: homo ambulocetus, the first human with wheels.

[Anonymous No.3442883]

>>3442862
No, not now. Maybe colonization on the Moon in 30 years, but why? It'd be probably just storing people and research.

[Anonymous No.3442886]

>>3442833
The problem with terraforming the moon is creating an environment that will retain an atmosphere for long periods of time. I forget where I read it, but apparently the moon its written off for this problem.

[Anonymous No.3442888]

>>3442871

[Anonymous No.3442893]

>>3442886
Mars has the same problem.

[Anonymous No.3442895]

>>3442862
London speaking, it took more then 1 year to rebuild a 200m long road in South Kensington.

-You/someone else is mentioning rebuilding/changing a whole planet.

[Anonymous No.3442903]

my face

Did you really think science fact would be like science fiction? Grow up you little shit.

[Anonymous No.3442908]

>>3442883
The moon's low gravity and relatively large space makes it a far more ideal place to build an intermediate way-station than one free floating in space. Storage/resupply and transporting materials to Earth will be a key component in space-faring for a long, long time to come.

[Anonymous No.3442910]

>>3442893
Not necessarily true. No proof to explain but I think Mars has a more stable magnetic field being near the same size as our planet. Also not being entirely made of dust would help to establish an environment

[Anonymous No.3442914]

>>3442682
How many people do you think any such ship would need, i mean just maintaining genetic diversity over multiple generations, then the number to be able support and maintain the ship and population. Along with the task of building a new ship or several when you get to your way-point.

Certainly would take hundreds of people, probably need thousands.

Would you volunteer knowing that before too long you'd be outside of communications range with earth never to look back?

[Anonymous No.3442904]

>>3442895
Yes, but we won't have to re-rout traffic to terraform Venus.

[Anonymous No.3442916]

>>3442903
Seriously, OP needs some historical perspective and to stop being a little bitch. He doesn't even have to worry about polio, and he's bitching about not going to mars.

[Anonymous No.3442917]

>>3442904
You'll have to rerout its atmosphere though

[Anonymous No.3442922]

>>3442910
Mars has a very weak magnetosphere, not capable of deflecting solar winds which strip the atmosphere bare.

[Anonymous No.3442930]

>>3442893
Sure, but it would keep an atmosphere for thousands of years, as opposed to a hundred or so.
>>3442895
I (the guy you replied to) am trying to point out exactly how impractical terraforming is for any near-time answer. You and I agree.

[Anonymous No.3442943]

>>3442904
Well yes but still it's a whole planet.

[Anonymous No.3442952]

>>3442943
which is why we're gonna use magic. Hell we can't get the Earth's atmosphere fixed from CO2 emissions, smog and acid rain, I somehow doubt that Venus's atmosphere will be LESS of a challenge.

[Anonymous No.3442958]

>>3442943
I'm not saying it would be EASY, but it definitely wouldn't be as hard as renovating a similar area of in-use roadway.

[Anonymous No.3442966]

Have there been any estimates on how long terraforming Venus or Mars would take? Decades? A century?

Sure it's a chemical process, and not paving roads, but still, it's a fucking planet.

[Anonymous No.3442975]

>>3442952
In all fairness, we don't have to live on Venus in the interim. Even if we fuck up, making it into a recognizable problem would be a step up. :D

[Anonymous No.3442977]

>>3442958
>similar area
>the entire atmosphere of venus comparable to a stretch of asphalt in london

Just shut the fuck up already.

[Anonymous No.3442993]

>>3442977
You're an idiot aren't you? There were two ways to read that sentence and you chose the one that didn't make any logical sense.

[Anonymous No.3443017]

Don't lose hope.

We still might contact aliens within our lifetime. It'll probably be the bad kind where they enslave all of us, though.

[Anonymous No.3443046]

>>3442958
Even if the amount of work needed per square meter is much lower then on rebuilding a road, the large scale of a planet simply makes it very difficult do any change at all good or bad - even if we only enclose a certain dome and do changes there the dome will need to be of a quiet large scales in order to provide comfortable (not prison like) life for it's inhabitants. Imagine you were allowed to live only in one district of London (not even the whole city). How depressing would it be. On top of it give that large portion of the area will be full of supplementary equipment that is not accessible by common/any people living there permanently. But it will be easier for the next generations since you don't miss what you've never had - so they will take it as "well it's shitty but it's livable".

[Anonymous No.3443065]

>>3443017
I think I have Captain Kirk Syndrome. Almost every time I see an alien race on a tv show, I want to fuck a female of its race. I would gladly sell out Earth.

Stargate was like porn to me.

[Anonymous No.3443087]

>>3443046
That's why the strategy for terraforming is chemical reaction either via plants or bombs. Yes, bombs. Find a way to achieve the desired reaction and deploy it mechanically all around the planet on a wide scale at once. Bombs.

Yes, I'm American.