Nasa delays Moons mission

[tblaxland]

To cross the oceans and to do space flight are two fundamentally different kind of things with fundamentally different requirements because of its fundamentally different environments. Such comparisons do not make any piece of sense.

You say that yet you do not enumerate how they are different. I see lots of similarities between boats and spacecraft, some pointed out above. How do you see they are different?

As for the increase in lifespan:

some people have too much expectations and a too optimistic view on that. The increased lifespan doesn't have anything to do with immortality or going to become so. Beyond the 80 years, quality of living and happiness decreases dramatically while diseases increase (mostly you'll get nearly blind or rattly and bedridden). About 50% of the ninety-year-olds in the industrial nations suffer from dementia. And if we talk about the magic 100 years, only ~0.012% of the Germans for example become 100 years old. While the majority of them are almost seemingly dead (at least they still breathe and gaze at the ceiling 24 hours a day, but they can't move and talk anymore). Those very few who still seem to do well are exceptions.

I think you are seeing the limitations of the human body and not considering the technology that may overcome them:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Singularity_is_Near
I consider Kurzweil's timeline wildly optimistic, and don't agree with some of his ultimate predictions (such as "abrogation of the laws of Physics, interdimensional travel"), yet I have trouble picking holes in the basic concept.

 

[Eagle]

To cross the oceans and to do space flight are two fundamentally different kind of things with fundamentally different requirements because of its fundamentally different environments. Such comparisons do not make any piece of sense.

No metaphor is perfect. Because if it was it wouldn't be a metaphor, just a statement of is.

There definitely exist a few similarities. A few I outlined.

As for the increase in lifespan:

some people have too much expectations and a too optimistic view on that. The increased lifespan doesn't have anything to do with immortality or going to become so. Beyond the 80 years, quality of living and happiness decreases dramatically while diseases increase (mostly you'll get nearly blind or rattly and bedridden). About 50% of the ninety-year-olds in the industrial nations suffer from dementia. And if we talk about the magic 100 years, only ~0.012% of the Germans for example become 100 years old. While the majority of them are almost seemingly dead (at least they still breathe and gaze at the ceiling 24 hours a day, but they can't move and talk anymore). Those very few who still seem to do well are exceptions.

Well, but what would life be without pipe dreams...

Forgive the ad hominim, but it seems your being more pessimistic than realist. Still, 80 years provides a lot of time to gain experiences. Besides, relativity helps extend your experience if you do get to travel.

 

[FALCONFLYER]

Mark my word, Obama will cut the return to moon project. ARES will be it, if it works at all. Obama is not interested in NASA, he hasnt even named an admin for NASA yet. Socialists are concerned about wealth redistribution and economic equality, not space flight. When the dust settles after all the proposed social programs are approved there aint gonna be no money for space.

 

[MJR]

Mark my word, Obama will cut the return to moon project. ARES will be it, if it works at all. Obama is not interested in NASA, he hasnt even named an admin for NASA yet. Socialists are concerned about wealth redistribution and economic equality, not space flight. When the dust settles after all the proposed social programs are approved there aint gonna be no money for space.

I agree. Although president Bush was not good at all, he favored the STS missions to finish up the ISS. The deadline dates for a lunar mission is going to be cut again and again and eventually people will have no interst for it. NASA's budget is probably going to be cut vastly because of the economy's poor situation. In my opinon, I really want to know now what is happening because all these so called 'propositions' to the Moon are making a lot of people furious. Private space corparations are soon to take over if anything of the extremeity happens to NASA and their budget. They are gonna need billions of dollars for reasearch and develpopment. Not to mention a whole space program to the Moon.

 

[Urwumpe]

Mark my word, Obama will cut the return to moon project. ARES will be it, if it works at all. Obama is not interested in NASA, he hasnt even named an admin for NASA yet. Socialists are concerned about wealth redistribution and economic equality, not space flight. When the dust settles after all the proposed social programs are approved there aint gonna be no money for space.

There is no money left to be cut from NASA after Bush was finished with it. Don't forget this before ranting.

Also, that NASA has still no administrator could also have a much simpler reason: Who wants to have this job now? You would have to announce bad news every year for a while. If you have any hopes for a reputation, don't become NASA administrator, let somebody else do that.

Also, those few people who wanted to become NASA administrator and had been favored by Obama, had been rejected by NASA... I remember a general who had a very good vita, but got rejected because he comes from the air force.

 

[Andy44]

Mark my word, Obama will cut the return to moon project. ARES will be it, if it works at all. Obama is not interested in NASA, he hasnt even named an admin for NASA yet. Socialists are concerned about wealth redistribution and economic equality, not space flight. When the dust settles after all the proposed social programs are approved there aint gonna be no money for space.

That's a pretty amusing statement, since I can think of few things more socialist than a government monopoly on spaceflight like STS, ISS, Apollo, and Constellation. Just because it waves a flag on the Moon and makes you feel all warm inside doesn't mean it's not socialist.

In any case, since your post was more about your dislike for Obama/Democrats than it was about space, consider that one of the reasons NASA may not return to the Moon is because of the massive debt hole the government is in thanks to wreckless spending over the last decade, not to mention the economic problems which will result in a large loss of tax revenue as people lose their jobs and the dollar starts hyperinflating until the US makes Zimbabwe look like a stable republic.

 

[n72.75]

I really could not have predicted this delay if asked 5 years ago. (sarcasm)

 

[MJR]

You can even find a trend in the number of delays NASA has put out. You almost expect it for everything that relates to NASA.

 

[tblaxland]

Inappropriate posts deleted. Please keep it on topic and civil, ladies and gents. Thanks, O-F Staff.

 

[MJR]

I had a feeling this threads argument would elevate to this level.

 

[Eagle]

People will be dying (figuratively) to get to the Moon once word gets out how much fun it is to go regolithbiking.

We'll get back there, the nerd is strong within the internet billionaires.

 

[Andy44]

Actually, some of the astronauts reported that the regolith looked and felt like it would be good for skiing. You'd need special skis, of course, and I'm not sure how much friction there'd be, but that could be a lunar sport.