Mike Casey
Reged: 11/11/04
Posts: 6279
Loc: Duh...
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NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Spacecraft are on their way to the moon atop an Atlas V rocket.
 Finally, we go back to the Moon.
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Mike (tVA)
Is the question “What is an example of a question which is not its own answer?” its own answer?
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Mike Casey
Reged: 11/11/04
Posts: 6279
Loc: Duh...
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Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has transmitted its first images since reaching the moon on June 23.
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Mike (tVA)
Is the question “What is an example of a question which is not its own answer?” its own answer?
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Dr Morbius
scholastic sledgehammer
Reged: 02/06/07
Posts: 1721
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I envisioned back in 1968 that space research and exploration would keep up like the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey and we would have a few moon bases by now, at least. I've always blamed the politicians for being shortsighted, but I wonder if there's another reason we've become stagnated in manned space exploration?  
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Meade ETX-125
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I'm afraid of dying, but I've learned to live with it. ......Steve Perry
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Matthew Ota
Pooh-Bah
Reged: 04/30/05
Posts: 1096
Loc: New England
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Jim Oberg has a great take on the reason here Jim Oberg MSNBC. There is just a lack of political will.
Edited by Matthew Ota (07/16/09 08:38 PM)
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Rick Woods
Postmaster
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 5684
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Quote:
I envisioned back in 1968 that space research and exploration would keep up like the movie 2001 A Space Odyssey and we would have a few moon bases by now, at least. I've always blamed the politicians for being shortsighted, but I wonder if there's another reason we've become stagnated in manned space exploration?
What are you suggesting?
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
Dyslexics Untie!
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Charl
member
Reged: 02/08/07
Posts: 84
Loc: Hants, UK
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Manned space exploration is as pointless now as it was forty years ago. I hope the new administration puts a quick end to it and redirects the funds towards unmanned exploration of the solar system. I really don't want to look at pictures of footprints in the dust for the rest of my life.
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Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 8074
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True we can't afford to go. Worse than that, we can't afford not to.
I'd like to see a resurgence of the "can do" attitude that we once had.
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ColoHank
professor emeritus
Reged: 06/07/07
Posts: 516
Loc: western Colorado
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Space exploration is just one of many things that machines can do better, cheaper and more safely than humans. Using imagination to identify research needs and designing and building machines to address those needs is an area where humans excel. Let's do what we do best and let our machines accept the risks involved in visiting hostile lunar and planetary environments.
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"Nothing exists but atoms and empty space. Everything else is opinion."
Titus Lucretius Carus 99-55 B.C.
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Rick Woods
Postmaster
Reged: 01/27/05
Posts: 5684
Loc: Inner Solar System
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Quote:
Manned space exploration is as pointless now as it was forty years ago. I hope the new administration puts a quick end to it and redirects the funds towards unmanned exploration of the solar system. I really don't want to look at pictures of footprints in the dust for the rest of my life.
While I suspect you're just trying to stir things up, I'd like to reply anyway.
The "pointlessness" is really subjective: on one hand, our lives won't really change that much in a tangible way simply because of manned space shots; but on the other hand, a man on Mars or the Moon would accomplish far more in a month than any possible robotic craft could in its longest conceivable lifetime. Why? Flexibility and on-the-spot decision making capability. This is an obvious point.
The slightly less obvious one is, the advances in technology that are forced by such extreme enterprises. These always produce new products that end up in the consumer market, making life a little better for us all. In addition, there are the tens of thousands of people in the aerospace industry who are gainfully employed, paying taxes, supporting their communities, and educating their children, as a result of these projects.
So yes, there's not much point in another footprints-and-flags mission to the Moon in and of itself. But it could be the start of something much bigger and better. That's what I'm hoping for.
And finally, nobody's actually insisting that you look at pictures of footprints. You can look at anything you like.
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- Rick
14" LX200GPS
Dyslexics Untie!
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Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 8074
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A combination of the two is needed.
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Mike Casey
Reged: 11/11/04
Posts: 6279
Loc: Duh...
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And finding and making a new home for the human race somewhere out there just might save our bacon someday, too.
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Mike (tVA)
Is the question “What is an example of a question which is not its own answer?” its own answer?
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Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 8074
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Quote:
And finding and making a new home for the human race somewhere out there just might save our bacon someday, too.
When we agree we agree Mike. web page 
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llanitedave
Humble Megalomaniac
Reged: 09/26/05
Posts: 12943
Loc: Amargosa Valley, NV, USA
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Efficiency and cost-effectiveness may be the best way to exploit current resources, but that value will never procure abundant new resources for us.
I'm all for robotic space exploration, but that is best used as a prelude and a compliment to the human presence, not a substitute for it.
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"Since the process of science generates more mysteries than it solves, I predict that we'll never learn everything: and we'll continue to generate new ignorance at the speed of knowledge."
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MMICKELS
Aluminum Knight
Reged: 01/20/04
Posts: 27889
Loc: The Land of Shake and Bake
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We are already planning for a manned Moon mission. Hopefully we will learn a thing or two while we're there and be able to build on that knowledge. I recently met the head propulsion engineer for the first stage of the manned rocket for the project. I wish I could have spent more time with him and picked his brain a bit more. Nice guy Jaime.
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Mark
"Never eat more than you can lift"
Miss Piggy
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Scott Horstman
Vendor- Backyard Observatories
Reged: 03/11/04
Posts: 8074
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Spot on Dave. If it's not a pre curser for us going there then why bother.
Mark that sounds like a cool gathering. Wish you got to talk more to Jaime.
We had a chance to have some beers wih Jack Shaw, who headed up the last Hubble mission, at NEAF a couple years ago. Man did he have some great tales about when he was on the Apollo team too.
We just built an observatory for a fellow in NH who was a mathematician doing orbital mechanics for the Apollo missions and had a pretty big roll in getting Apollo 13 home.
He was pretty mad still that the tank that blew out was a reject from Apollo 8 that they new they had problems with.
Go figure. 
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