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Mission to Mars: Why Space Travel is Needed.
self
| 7/25/02
| self
Posted on 07/25/2002 10:13:58 AM PDT by ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
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To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
"What should our national goal be?"
Our national goal should simply be the aggregate of the individual goals of the citizens.
Our government's goal should be to protect the liberties of individuals, and nothing more.
Don't ask for me to pay for your "exhiliration" and don't ask for my support to glorify government with a grandly entertaining circus.
(The only reason going to the moon required men was that computers were too primitive to do the job. No longer the case. You can get all the exhiliration you want my sending automated IMAX cameras to Mars, if you insist, for a minuscule fraction of the cost.)
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
it is far more than a simple goal - it is a necessity. As we consume the resopurces of this planet, we are going to require replacements. If we use up all that is here, and sstill require more, then we must go elsewhere to get these resources. What we need to do as a hedge for that time, is to develop the technology and experience to mine resources from other planets/atseroids/comets/etc. before society runs out and impllodes. we may already be too late.
3
posted on
07/25/2002 10:35:52 AM PDT
by
camle
To: Beelzebubba
sending automated IMAX cameras to MarsWould a camera count as our representive in the reclaimation of home world?
4
posted on
07/25/2002 10:37:11 AM PDT
by
ASA Vet
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
look at another angle - there are millions of folks on earth with "mobility" impairments that might be able to function perfectly well in space, without worrying about muscular atrophy. Rather than being "Wheelchair bound" they can perform useful functions in weightlessness at least as well as fully mobile folks.
sound interstellar policy can reap synergistic rewards if done right.
5
posted on
07/25/2002 10:45:39 AM PDT
by
camle
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
Now I am confused. according to Congresswonan Sheila Jackson Lee (D) Texas, we have already been there!
To: All
Make Mars the 51st STATE!!!
7
posted on
07/25/2002 11:01:18 AM PDT
by
LORDLOBO
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
How many of you remember the asteroids hitting Jupiter a couple of years ago. I think this was a comet that broke up before it hit Jupiter.
Economic expansion of Deep space is in mankinds future and the United States should lead the way. That means going to Mars and beyond.
8
posted on
07/25/2002 11:45:18 AM PDT
by
demlosers
To: demlosers
Since when did Pokemon count as a technological edge?
Mad Vlad
9
posted on
07/25/2002 12:00:50 PM PDT
by
madvlad
To: camle
"As we consume the resopurces of this planet, we are going to require replacements."
Don't buy the eco-propaganda. We have lots of space, and lots of resources. As the planet gains economic freedom, resources are used more efficiently. And the resources that it would take to develop space settlements would be far better used to create efficiencies on earth (using the FREE market.)
Exactly what are we going to run out that would find substitutes off earth at more affordable prices?
Unless your space colonies are able to replicate themselves without a massive taxation of earth resources, you are engaging in waste that the free market would never touch.
Governments don't exist to do "cool stuff."
To: Beelzebubba
I'm damn glad the folks that financed Columbus weren't as narrow minded as you are.
11
posted on
07/25/2002 12:05:19 PM PDT
by
morjon
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
I will support your goal under several conditions. When we step foot on that planet, it' not for all mankind. We land there as explorers from the greatest nation the world has ever known, the United States of America. While I think it was proper to land for all mankind on the Moon, the trend to state that all space efforts are international should be abandoned immediately and forever. We pay the bills. We use our technology. We take the credit. Period. Agree to this and I sign off.
Second, when we land on that planet, we must be prepared to occupy it. I would propose that we land with the intent of leaving behind the first settlement of humans, and the intention to return on a regular basis. This will afford the United States the opportunity to set up the government and administrative tools which will see the United States in the driver's seat in perpetuity. Calling it the 51st state isn't all that far fetched an idea. It would give the government of Mars the ability to make it's own decisions, but would allow it to rely on the Government of the United States for certain services. Mars would in essence become the 51st state.
Further I would recommend that the United States return to the Moon and utilize the same model to occupy and govern that planet. It would become the 52nd state. Once these two bodies have been occupied, it would be time to move on to other planets as feasable.
Before anything else I recommend a Manhattan scale effort to develop an SSTO Space Plane within the shortest amount of time possible. I would actually rank this above the importance of landing on Mars or returning to the Moon. We can develop a program to land on Mars. It would in certain ways resemble the Apolo program. We would see huge boosters, modules' landing craft and an escape vehicle from which our astronauts would leave Mars and reenter space, if it weren't for one caviot. Until we can take off from an airport and fly into space aboard a reuseable vehicle as easily as we can fly from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C., we will never occupy space. And so I must support the development of the SSTO Space plane in advance of any effort to return to the moon or visit other planets.
That space plane should be built within specifications that would a modified version landing and departing other planet surfaces, specificly Mars and the Moon. It should be developed so that modification of the main design would provide a secondary vehicle that would be capable of traversing to Mars in comfort. Once we have a fleet of these planes/spaceships, they can be stationed in space for trips that start at a space station and end on the surface of the Moon or Mars. The first duty of the colonies on the Moon and Mars would be to develop a landing strip for use by the space plane.
Therefore I propose that as part of the plan to land on Mars by the end of the decade, we first develop the SSTO Space Plane. We then use that space plane to help construct and occupy a real space station and partially construct the interplanetary vehicle with which to make that first trip to Mars, from that platform in space.
Look, this is just an outline. Some of it may be unattainable at the moment. Perhaps this plan isn't as air tight as I'd like it. But it is a framework to build on and it's time the United States reclaim some of the bottomless pit welfare state money and put it to good use for a larger part of mankind that it helps out now.
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
What does space have which is not available on Earth?
It's not zero gravity, or strange planets, or the opportunity for a national fireworks display.
The correct answer is: an opportunity to vote with your feet. Freedom is the wealth in space.
Don't expect a government project to increase freedom, except by accident.
13
posted on
07/25/2002 12:11:00 PM PDT
by
no-s
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
JFK's inspirational words aside, the Apollo Program was one big Cold War technology demonstration project. If US technology was better than that of the Soviets, then it necessarily followed that the US must be the stronger of the 2 antagonists.
Think of it as "shadow boxing" with the Soviets. They launch a big rocket, then we launch a very big rocket; they crash-land an automated probe on the moon, we put one into lunar orbit. Once the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty eliminated above ground testing, this was really the only game in town.
Finally the Soviets realized that they couldn't cope. They even defined the term "Revolution in Military Affairs" to describe their plight.
I don't see anything equivalent to the Cold War to drive a renewed effort in Space Exploration.
14
posted on
07/25/2002 12:11:45 PM PDT
by
Tallguy
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
Colonization of Mars will have the additional benefit of "jump-starting" human evolution,as isolated populations are required for evolution to proceed. What think you of that theory?
15
posted on
07/25/2002 12:14:06 PM PDT
by
moshulu
To: Beelzebubba
You can get all the exhiliration you want my sending automated IMAX cameras to Mars, if you insist, for a minuscule fraction of the cost.
The IMAX® film format is so large that the film canisters in the IMAX® camera can only hold 3 minutes of film at a time. This means you can shoot a scene for three minutes and then you have to stop and reload the camera. Reloading the camera takes 3 people, approximately 30 minutes.
To: Beelzebubba
What I meant to post but neglected to, was that you'd need to send a lot more than 1 camera already loaded.
Comment #18 Removed by Moderator
To: ChinaGotTheGoodsOnClinton
I ask you to remember the exhilaration of watching Neil Armstrong taking one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind. And join me in supporting the growing movement onward and upward into space
Yawn.
To: LORDLOBO
Make Mars the 51st STATE!!!NO! I much rather live in a Free Republic on Mars. How does that sound?
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