Discussion What would you like to see happen by 2050 in space flight?

[Andy44]

Personally I'd prefer a manned Venus landing. It's the prettiest planet naturally. Must be some great photo opportunities. Plus it's closer!

Sure. You first.

 

[ADSWNJ]

Personally I'd prefer a manned Venus landing. It's the prettiest planet naturally. Must be some great photo opportunities. Plus it's closer!

Venus would give you a big warm hug if you paid her a visit.

 

[fsci123]

I accepted the harsh reality of the future of manned spaceflight and im now pretty comfortable with the future i see...

My expectations:
*US Manned missions to the moon by 2040 occurring once every year or two
*Probes to Neptune and Uranus
*Robotic missions that make use of swarms of micro probes or landers
*A europa lander
*Autonomous Probes that choose targets of interest and plot courses to them
*and american skylab II
*A basic lunar launch system
*Elementary school cubesats/100$ sat kits
*development of space shuttle 2.0 in america and other countries

The moon missions by 2040 is kinda sad for me... when i first got into spaceflight when i was a kid they were saying we would return by 2010.

 

[Thunder Chicken]

I'd actually like to see a person walk on the moon when I am alive. I was born just after Apollo 17.

I am not so sure if this is going to happen or not. I had better keep eating right and exercising.

 

[MaverickSawyer]

A small colony of researchers on Mars.

 

[PhantomCruiser]

I'd seen an animation of a research team dug into Phobos. They were controlling a team of rovers on the surface (Mars) for scientific reasons. No reason they couldn't also be used as remote control builders given the idea of using 3d printing on Luna for a surface base has already been floated.

So there you have it. My hope that withing the next 30+ years we;
1] Develop nuclear propulsion in order to shorten the trip from LEO to anywhere
2] Improvements in rad shielding for crew protection aloft and on the ground
3] Manned mission to Phobos
4] Improvements in contruction, for the purpose of tunnel boring into a moon (Phobos)
5] Manned outpost on/inside Phobos.
5a] Construction of Mars (surface) outpost
6] Permanant manned presence on Phobos
7] Permanant manned presence on Mars

Given that put politicians aren't capable or willing, I can only see 1-3 happening by 2050. The others need another century or so. I know Elon wants to be buried on Mars, but the romanticism has to give way to reality. That said, every problem is solvable if you throw enough money and engineering hours at it. Follow by more money. (No bucks, no Buck Rogers)

 

[APDAF]

I see either two things happen... we start mining out asteroids in LEO or we use them as WMDs... as it doesn't take much to move one

 

[birdmanmike]

Haha, this thread is "What you would LIKE to see happen . . ."
Hope using asteroids in LEO as WMD is not a "like to see . . " (or even "expect to see") And as for mining asteroids in LEO - given our propensity for satellites and other space debris, deteriorating orbits and breaking up in atmosphere . . . not sure about how much dV needed to break out of orbit, fire toward earth then inject into stable LEO, but risks seem rather high. How get the mined materials refined and back to earth? More dV - or use in orbit to build more space stations? Hang on, we can tie all those bits of nanotube together and build the space elevator . . .

Now I'd like to see asteroids , if mined used as habitats for further exploration of the system, from outside our gravity well. Need not be human - autonomous maybe. But by 2050? unlikely . ..

One step at a time - for "by 2050" then new or refurbished ISS, back to the moon and possibly a permanent moon base. Mars? I don't think I'll see it happen - but then won't see 2050 unless they develop cheap anti-agathics pretty quick.

Probe will make it happen :yes:

Edit: Just a point - 2050 just 34 years away - first landing on moon 46 years behind us, last landing 43 years behind - and no human been beyond LEO since . . .

 

[Dantassii]

What I'd like to see happen by 2050?

1. 100% self contained colony up and running on the Moon
2. 100% self contained colony under construction on Mars
3. Multi-year unmanned exploration of the sea under the ice of Europa started
4. Multi-decade unmanned exploration of Titan started
5. In-situ usage of mined lunar and near earth asteroid material to build space vehicles (manned and unmanned)
6. Space Elevator from the lunar surface to the L1 and L2 points in the Earth-Moon system
7. Discovery of a means to protect biologicals from cosmic radiation and solar flares
8. And most importantly, the only payload brought up from the Earth's surface into space are human beings. All other materials are mined/created/built in space using materials already up there.

'course in 2050 I'll be 85 years old... so I doubt any of these things will involve my participation.

Dantassii
HUMONGOUS IMS shipbuilder

 

[richfororbit]

I appear to be the youngest here, of course there is no guarantee I'll be around either to see any proposed mission.

But you know, 2050 is better than the end of the century. That is too far ahead, and a lot can happen by that time, even the planet being destroyed by accidental nuclear explosions.

As the UK chancellor last year put the question to the opposition leader Mr Corbyn, we don't know what exactly what will happen in 2060, therefore the need for a nuclear weapon system over the next half a century instead of closing the defence program, only authorised by America.

 

[TMac3000]

Personally I'd prefer a manned Venus landing.

No you wouldn't.

Trust me. You wouldn't.

 

[Lmoy]

Venus would give you a big warm hug if you paid her a visit.

Exactly. It must be very cozy given how warm it is.

 

[Unstung]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Life would probably be discovered first by space telescopes or interplanetary probes. I hope it happens sooner than later. The not-too-distant generation of telescopes and probes should be capable enough.

 

[TMac3000]

Exactly. It must be very cozy given how warm it is.

Cozy enough to melt lead. Literally.

---------- Post added at 09:33 AM ---------- Previous post was at 09:32 AM ----------

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the discovery of extraterrestrial life.

I wouldn't expect that until at least 2100.

I wouldn't want that until at least 2300.

 

[Urwumpe]

Cozy enough to melt lead. Literally.

Cozy enough that you are actually landing in a rare special form of CO2, super-critical CO2. Which is neither liquid nor gaseous. Which is pretty freaky. Density like a liquid, but effuses through solid materials like a gas. And has an extreme thermal capacity...which is why such super-critical CO2 is also attractive for air conditioning.

 

[Lmoy]

Cozy enough to melt lead. Literally.

That'd be convenient, as we could then use the rapidly liquefying spacecraft to hydrate the astronauts, rather than bringing water.

Cozy enough that you are actually landing in a rare special form of CO2, super-critical CO2. Which is neither liquid nor gaseous. Which is pretty freaky. Density like a liquid, but effuses through solid materials like a gas. And has an extreme thermal capacity...which is why such super-critical CO2 is also attractive for air conditioning.

That's really interesting, I didn't know that at all. Is the super-critical state just a product of the extremely high pressure then? Also, if it's useful for air conditioning like you said, would it be possible to utilise it to actively cool a spacecraft for long-term surface science?

 

[Urwumpe]

That's really interesting, I didn't know that at all. Is the super-critical state just a product of the extremely high pressure then? Also, if it's useful for air conditioning like you said, would it be possible to utilise it to actively cool a spacecraft for long-term surface science?

Yes, exactly that. supercritical CO2 exists in a range of pressures and temperatures. You could use it as medium for heat transport inside the spacecraft, but this property is also making life on Venus pretty annoying, since the atmosphere is very effective in heating your spacecraft that way.

 

[kamaz]

Yes, exactly that. supercritical CO2 exists in a range of pressures and temperatures. You could use it as medium for heat transport inside the spacecraft, but this property is also making life on Venus pretty annoying, since the atmosphere is very effective in heating your spacecraft that way.

But if you are underground you can use it as a medium to run your heat pumps, cooling your cave down to a reasonable temperature... and you will never run out of coolant...

---------- Post added at 10:20 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:13 PM ----------

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the discovery of extraterrestrial life. Life would probably be discovered first by space telescopes or interplanetary probes. I hope it happens sooner than later. The not-too-distant generation of telescopes and probes should be capable enough.

We might have detected it already: KIC 8462852.

 

[fsci123]

I wouldn't expect that until at least 2100.

I wouldn't want that until at least 2300.

Explain.

 

[richfororbit]

Explain.

I think he's correct. Afterall, the small outpost at Tranquillity base back when Commander Atrmstrong and his Module pilot hopped around the ground there, still shows the short term thinking of our own world, and even then personnel space flight is still in its infancy. Hell, even ol JFK expressed that at the Rice university.

There is only a module, with no airlock to show for oribital vehicle travel as in a destination.