Back to the Moon?

[Grom 0]

I disagree. The concept of the government owing someone a job is decidedly liberal.

I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking on those lines. I was thinking more on the general concept that less taxation and the less goverment is spending of my money, the greater chance for me to prosper. But if you take it the way you took it, sure, government hand-outs are decidedly liberal.

[Vex Xiang 0]

But if you take it the way you took it, sure, government hand-outs are decidedly liberal.

 

I don't believe the government should be giving handouts. I don't like the government giving money to lazy people. It is my opinion that lazy people who do not want to work deserve to be poor.

 

No, I meant taking that trillions of dollars and putting it into programs that will help people get to work.

 

How about using it to reduce higher education costs to nothing? Tax cuts to corporations who hire those with no income or resources. There is a lot more we could be doing.

 

Of course...these are all my opinions. I personally think the US borders should be closed tight. Our prison systems need to be reworked. Many other things. Bla bla.

 

My whole point is that the space program is too expensive and it should be a very, very low priority.

 

Besides...if China is going to be boosting their space program, let them do all the scientific research for us.

[Grom 0]

My whole point is that the space program is too expensive and it should be a very, very low priority.

 

And that is what I was agreeing with. B)

[Dumbass 0]

Just for the heck of it, let's see if we can answer a couple trivia questions about the moon landing. 1) Which foot did Neil Armstrong use to take humanity's first moon step? 2) Why that foot?

 

I'll post the answer tomorrow night if no one can guess it.

OK, no one ventured to guess this, so I'll give the answer as promised.

 

His left foot was the first to step onto the moon. Although he was a civilian at the time of the moon walk Neil Armstrong began his flight career as a fighter pilot in the Korean War. In the military you always start off walking with your left foot and he was never able to shake the habbit.

[Nemesis 0]

I don't believe the government should be giving handouts. I don't like the government giving money to lazy people. It is my opinion that lazy people who do not want to work deserve to be poor.

Now Vex that is very uneducated response there a lot of people need handouts because they can't find work and also government handouts used in an appropiate way make people feel as though they have value and begin to work or at least give their children a decent education so that they can begin giving the country profit.

 

Now back on topic I agree that space travel should be completely for commercail use and there is already going that way with such programs as the X-prize which will give public knowledge on building effective cost affordable space craft open to the people and not just government peoples. There are also plans for orbital hotels which have a great chance of coming to light very shortly. I think it should be far more commercail because technology in space would greatly enhance at an enormous speed and it would be open to the everyday person and as we improve we would gain great knowledge of space and its man mysterious wonders.

[Webmaster 20]

Folks... this thread is getting close to being closed. B)

 

We're moving WAY off topic and into grounds that is not the best thing to tread on.

 

Just a heads up before ya see the "Locked" graphic. B)

[Atragon9 0]

Here, this will get us back on target. Here's a news item from today's news:

 

NASA Eyes Humans on Mars and Nuclear Craft to Jupiter

San Francisco (dpa) - NASA has determined that humans could survive the high radiation levels on Mars without much danger in a boost for long-term plans to send men and women to the planet, according to news reports Tuesday.

 

The U.S. space agency is also planning to send a huge nuclear- powered spacecraft to determine whether three of Jupiter's icy, planet-sized moons have the potential to harbour life.

 

The programmes were detailed Monday by NASA officials at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Word of the ambitious programmes came just days after unconfirmed reports that President George W. Bush is set to announce the start of a new programme to return men to the moon.

 

The unmanned nuclear-powered craft, named the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter or Jimo, would be by far the largest sent to the outer solar system and would spend month-long stints circling the moons Callisto, Europa and Ganymede, which are believed to have vast oceans tucked beneath thick covers of ice.

 

The craft would spend years studying the moons' makeup, geologic history and potential for sustaining life.

 

Besides water, the moons appear to contain two other ingredients necessary for life: energy and the right chemicals. Along with Mars, they are considered the most likely places to find extraterrestrial life within our solar system.

 

"It's not guaranteed to find life. We don't know if life is there. But this mission will allow to ask that question with some pretty sound tools," said Christopher McKay of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center.

 

Jimo won't launch until at least 2011. It would be the first in a series of robotic NASA probes that rely on uranium-fuelled fission reactors to generate large amounts of electricity, giving it thousands of watts of electricity to power its thrusters and instruments rather than the hundreds of watts available to current space craft.

 

Jimo would be between 20 and 35 metres in length. Its nuclear reactors would be placed at the end of a long boom to shield instruments from radiation, and would be activated only once the craft had left the atmosphere. It will carry high-resolution cameras and other instruments, including radar and lasers to map the thickness and elevation of the ice that envelops each moon.

 

Nuclear-powered space craft could also aid attempts to explore Mars. Reports at the meeting said that measurements taken by NASA's Mars Odyssey craft prove that a human mission could survive on the Martian surface.

 

While radiation around the Red Planet might cause some health problems it is unlikely to be fatal, said Cary Zeitlin from the National Space Biomedical Research Institute.

 

Nevertheless humans venturing to Mars would still be hit with double the dose of radiation on Earth, and could survive without major harm if they used the planet itself to shield them by building their shelters in hollows, and perhaps taking materials which would reduce radiation further, he said.

[ens_tino 0]

Here, this will get us back on target. Here's a news item from today's news:

 

NASA Eyes Humans on Mars and Nuclear Craft to Jupiter

San Francisco (dpa) - NASA has determined that humans could survive the high radiation levels on Mars without much danger in a boost for long-term plans to send men and women to the planet, according to news reports Tuesday.

 

But if they are wrong about the radiation thing they will kill a bunch of people.

 

Speaking of that, I never knew Mars had a radiation level on it.

[Dumbass 0]

But if they are wrong about the radiation thing they will kill a bunch of people.

 

Speaking of that, I never knew Mars had a radiation level on it.

Well I'm sure they will do further testing on this before sending an actual human. And when they do I'm sure the spacesuits they will have to wear to breathe anyway will be adequate.

 

And there is radiation anywhere that receives light and/or heat. Whether it's the dangerous kind or in dangerous amounts is another matter.