Where would you spend space exploration dollars???

NASA will be forever changed soon, programs like SETI are shut down and private rockets to low earth obit seem the wave of the future.

What direction would you take if it where up to you??

Obama plans to land on an asteroid. I dont see the importance of that honestly. NASA landed once already on a comet/asteroid unless I'm mistaken, with a vehicle that wasnt even designed to land.

A moon base would be wise in my opinion. Its a practice ground for greater missions. Establish a base above ground after numerous supplies have been set in place. Robots can do alot of the assembly before people need to be there.

I've always thought a powerful telescope built on the moon would be a tool of great value. On solid rock, easy to access and upgrade with moon walk, once you get there, it would provide a window further back into the universe. This could be accomplished with or probably even without humans on the surface of the moon.

I also dreamed up a deep space probe that could release signal repeaters as it hurls thru space. A series of smaller probes that transfer data from the main probe back to Earth much faster.

A space elevator would be my personal choice. This is a safe, non rocket powered way into low Earth orbit. The possibilties are endless. If travel to low space orbit can eventual be done safely and reasonably, you could introduce tourism which would really be exciting, possibly profitable. Its a huge project and would need the support of other nations. It would also probably be considered mans greatest achievment.

If nothing else you could dump all the money into research and hope to achieve antigravity propulsion or something similar. Progress takes time though and we have been trying to come up with something better than chemical propulsion for a long time.

Essentially, NASA has no direction again. Mostly planning for the future. Before too long though it could become just an after thought and desposed of in a budget cut. With all the technology at our hands now it would seem like the time is right to make huge strides into space.

reply to post by jstanthrno1


I'd build that border fence between here and Mexico.

That's probably in the same time frame as us landing people on Mars

Stage 1:

Remote Orbital Cameras (ROC): Fill space and every satalite with a remote camera, or cluster of cameras. Put all the streaming footage on the internet for free. Sell premium memberships for a monthly fee where each user gets a camera for one hour a month, to aim at ... what-ever-they-want, controled from their PC. Astronomers no longer have to stand in line for a year to get deep telescope time. Companies, News, regular people, and agencies can aim it anywhere they want on earth and zoom in. If a major story breaks, odds are somone will be tasking their camera to check it out, and everyone can tune in to see.



Stage 2:

Take massive profits from stage one. Inflatable bubbles, pre-filled with; moist soil, seed, and internal cameras are packed into the Space shuttle cargo bay. Deployed in orbit, inflated and set to spin simulating 0.8 earth gravity. Watch and see how they grow.




Stage 3:

String about 48 inflateable terariums together and create a rather large circle with them. Spin the circle to 1.0 earth gravity. From what we learned in stage 2, sucessful crops should be able to be grown on a predictable time line.



Stage 4.

So when we #ing send someone or something or some kind of #ing space station up there, and something #ing goes wrong, we already have a metric ton of emergency #ing food, air, water, and waste disposal availiable. #ing pimp slap #ing nasa.


For my inspiration for this I give you
www.brouhaha.com...

Warning: not safe for work, language.


David Grouchy

Originally posted by newcovenant
reply to post by jstanthrno1

 

I'd build that border fence between here and Mexico.

id build an army of dogs like that one in your avatar and use them to take over the world!!

Originally posted by jstanthrno1

A space elevator would be my personal choice.

/sarcasm mode on

Great, let's lay a conductor across the natural isulation of the atmosphere and discharge the entire planet directly into space.

/sarcasm mode off

Talk about your man made end of the world scenarios.


David Grouchy

europa is the best chances of life so we should put most effort there.

we could build a base on mars?

reply to post by jstanthrno1


Excellent question. I think as folllows:

a) Unmanned exploration; as we are already doing; however we need major improvements in mechatronics and mechanical/electrical efficiencies (to my knowledge).
We need to know destinations obviously prior to departure.

b) Better water detection technology.

c) Transportation technology; as we are already doing, but we have a long way to go. This is a biggy; not only in terms of transportation technology but also sustaining life of crew for long journeys.

d) A team of highly proffesional crew with open minds without prejudice.

This will all cost an absolute fortune, however, IMO, space exploration with a view to colonising and mining other planets is the only way forward if the human race is to survive.

"Island Hopping" if you will.

I hope we can pull it off in time; we're running out of everything on this rock!

I'd raise the lost city of New Orleans.

We actually know more about space than we do our own oceans....I'd be spending money figuring out what's down there. Ocean sub-floor, Hollow Earth --type explorations!!

reply to post by jstanthrno1


Have you ever heard of the space port in new mexico?????

My choice would be to direct massive funding to develop antigravity lift and propulsion. After that achievement, the universe is available to us. And I think a spin-off benefit of that development is endless free energy for everyone.

If nothing else you could dump all the money into research and hope to achieve antigravity propulsion or something similar. Progress takes time though and we have been trying to come up with something better than chemical propulsion for a long time.

Let's try a billion-dollar Manhattan-Project-style approach at it now.

It would also put an end to this problem:
"Ugly Truth of Space Junk: Orbital Debris Problem to Triple by 2030"
www.space.com...

I'd send them to whoever is working on curing diseases or working on alternative energy sources. Discovering other worlds doesn't make much sense if we're not taking care of the one we have.

Three main focus points.

1. Moon Base - as you said, a telescope here would do wonders, and it could serve as a great staging area for future exploration.

2. Mars Base - Actually a colonization base. No emphasis on returning these folks, they'd be in it for the long haul. They'd also be Mars' first colonists. Continuous construction, terra-forming efforts, etc. We need to start this as soon as possible, as it will take a long time. So, hopefully, when we've outgrown the Earth, we can use Mars for the overflow.

3. Continued unmanned exploration of the solar system - find out if there really is an ocean under Europa's ice, etc.

Subsidize this with space tourism and commercial satellite launches.

reply to post by Gazrok

We need to start this as soon as possible, as it will take a long time.

Yes, it would take a very long time (and an extreme amount of money) to start a colony. Primarily because the anti-gravity propulsion to get resources and colonist there, was not developed first. You have the Mars colony 'cart', before the anti-gravity-propulsion 'horse'.

If NASA funding were available and there were no other political agendas that needed to be dealt with:

Propulsion would be my number one priority. If we cannot get across hundres of millions of miles within a respectable time frame. Then it is a mute point to even go into space. Granted we have telescopes and satalleties out in space, however our view and our research is limited because we cannot physically get close to view and analyze the subjects. It wouldn't be to a geological advantage if all geologist could do were to use cameras or satallites to look at the rocks, and never get a sample or physicallyl examine them. Propulsion is the first start before we can even think about building a space station, or manning missions to mars or other solar systems.

reply to post by Larryman


Why do you think we need some kind of exotic propulsion system to get there? We didn't when we landed probes.

1) Send unmanned landers there with materials, supplies.
2) Send redundant unmanned landers with even more supplies.
3) Sent first colonists
4) Colonists use materials, supplies to set up habitat
5) Send more unmanned landers with more supplies, etc.
6) Send more colonists.
7) Rinse, repeat.

We've had this technology for years (decades in most cases)....no need for antigravity. Did the Mars Rover need it? No.

I would spend my space exploration dollars on CONQUERING THE UNIVERSE !!!

HARR HARR HARR !

reply to post by Gazrok


The simple reply is this... Mars and/or Moon is not the only destination(s) in the universe we humans will want to go to. So, it's time to build a 'universal-capable' propulsion technology.