NASA announces plans to send humans to Mars - LIVE NOW NASA TV

a reply to: Sparkymedic

Did you ever contemplate the fact that we just may have raped our planet to the point of no return?

What if we can't un-f*%k this rock, and our time here is limited?

I think it'd be great to push space exploration even further, but to do it as a human race, not as another "space race". We'd get a whole lot more done, a whole lot faster, if we could put our heads together and focus on the greater good.

originally posted by: parad0x122
a reply to: PhoenixOD

I agree that our budgets are pretty ridiculous.

But without exploration/scientific research, how else do you expect humanity in general to progress at all?

Dont stop the research, just dont let money wasters like nasa spend billions in the name of science.

a reply to: parad0x122

You're right, we have to do this with unity and not how we did it during the 60s. If we colonize another planet it has to be for everybody and used for the benefit of all. Approaching it with a capitalist attitude will end up trashing Mars. We already messed up this planet, imagine what we'll do to that one?

originally posted by: Sparkymedic
Just another penis size comparison contest by elitists. Geee, look at the size of that "rocket"!

A total waste of resources, considering the shape of the planet we are already on.

I don't doubt that we can do it. But, to what end? So we get there. Then set up a small colony. Then what? Build New Las Vegas? Or should we just skip to WW4? Or 5...maybe it's 6 we are on now. Have us a colonial war with martians?

The stupidity surrounding this plundering of resources and taxpayer money is mind boggling. Many more things need to be done here on earth first before we go farting off into our solar system and beyond.

One years worth of NASA funding would give underwater exploration about 100 years of funding at the rate they are working now. How much do we really even know about this planet?

we know quite a lot .... most of it imaged from space.....GPS... new advances, materials , equipment, aspiring people to look outwards and not always inwards

I understand the underlying point some of you think space exploration is a waste of money .. maybe you should start a thread arguing the point..

This thread for all intents and purposes is discussing that we ARE going, and how/when we are going to do it..

a nice link benefits of space exploration

Benefits of space exploration NASA .PDF

a reply to: parad0x122

if we find a way to leave this planet and live elsewhere what do you think will happen?

The rich will rape the planet even faster and then leave all us poor people to suffer while they live off in some futuristic off world colony. yay for science, yay for progress..

It would be cool if they announced they would be working with companies already developing similar technologies like SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, etc. I think that would really speed things up.

originally posted by: PhoenixOD
a reply to: parad0x122

if we find a way to leave this planet and live elsewhere what do you think will happen?

The rich will rape the planet even faster and then leave all us poor people to suffer while they live off in some futuristic off world colony.

i think Space at least had demonstrated one of the few instances when the world does work together

its right up their with
Soccer
and war

we have to start somewhere..

Q

a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

How many normal people have been to space? "We" are going nowhere, the rich will be the ones living the good life but 'we' will suffer as always and they will use 'our' money out of our budget to do it!

a reply to: PhoenixOD

That's where the hope of humans learning from the mistakes comes into play.

If we focused on the possible negative outcomes all the time, and based decisions off of that, we'd never see any type of progress.

With the prospect of great reward, comes great risk. If we do end up trying to colonize other celestial bodies, let's hope they don't send Donald Trump's children up there, for starters.

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Yeah it seems like at first only the rich will have access to it, then the "little people". Either way it'll be developed off our sweat and blood, while they sit back and look great in the media because they're "making progress". For every Richard Branson there's forty million overworked, tired humans who never even get recognition.

a reply to: parad0x122

With the prospect of great reward, comes great risk. If we do end up trying to colonize other celestial bodies, let's hope they don't send Donald Trump's children up there, for starters.

Screw hope, i want some flat out guarantees before 'they' spend 'our' money.

a reply to: Yeahkeepwatchingme

You're right, it can't be for financial gain. It's all about who's the shots, and what TRULY is driving them, not what they purport to be driven by *cough* politicians *cough*.

If we do it just to get more fossil fuels/resources or solely for economic purposes, we might as well take the billions of dollars, strap them to a missile, and send it right back at ourselves. At least we'd save 100 years of research and achieve the same outcome: wasted funds and more destruction.

originally posted by: PhoenixOD
a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

How many normal people have been to space? "We" are going nowhere, the rich will be the ones living the good life but 'we' will suffer as always and they will use 'our' money out of our budget to do it!

have you watched elysium a little too often?

In a capitalist system this is how the pyramid works, but eventually it filters down to the masses, I cite computing and mobile phones as examples of this... they are all ten a penny now and widely available to the masses ( no point arguing who profits , this is how a market works) when first developed were seen as tools of the rich and elite.

i ask you kindly to agree that we disagree on the point of spending money on space exploration and kindly get back to the topic of going to mars and not keep banging our head in the circular argument that we should not go at all.

pls stay on topic or make you point and move on as to not derail the OP

Q

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Absolutely, that would be a great start!

Then again, it all depends on who's making the promises

After all, a person is only as good as their words. If they hire a good liar to lead the march for funding, we can all be duked with false promises.

I guess I'm just more of a glass-half-full type of guy than others. Even though we're repeatedly overwhelmed with examples of why we shouldn't have faith in humanity, it's the small glimmers of positivity that keep me going. To each his own I suppose, though.

a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

A discussion on motives is not an attempt to derail the OP but your suggestion that it is ..is an attempt to derail discussion.

originally posted by: parad0x122
a reply to: PhoenixOD

Absolutely, that would be a great start!

Then again, it all depends on who's making the promises

After all, a person is only as good as their words. If they hire a good liar to lead the march for funding, we can all be duked with false promises.

I guess I'm just more of a glass-half-full type of guy than others. Even though we're repeatedly overwhelmed with examples of why we shouldn't have faith in humanity, it's the small glimmers of positivity that keep me going. To each his own I suppose, though.

I agree, history has shown us that promises mean very little when it comes to benefiting the 99%

Hope springs eternal but greed has a stronger flow.

a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

Has anyone thought that maybe the rovers did find something untold on mars. They would want to check it out in person before they announced it wouldn't they.

originally posted by: PhoenixOD
a reply to: Quantum_Squirrel

A discussion on motives is not an attempt to derail the OP but your suggestion that it is ..is an attempt to derail discussion.

i agree i am attempting to derail the discussion on whether we should go to space at all, as this is not what the OP is about.

If you showed better ways to spend the money in different areas of space exploration i would be more susceptible to discuss this with you , but as i have said twice before we ARE going, and we are gonna try to go to Mars.

If you said we should build a lunar base first i would agree, but you just keep saying the whole thing is a waste of money ,
i GET it , i have taken your opinion as a valid point, and do not wish to say the same thing over and over again.

anyway back to Mars..

a reply to: rickymouse

the whole premise of the Project is to make the USA the center of Technology, Leadership, Status among Its peers...

the idea of the American-Anglo empire coming apart at the seams is really disturbing to a cadre of Globalist thinkers whom still have an attachment to pre-Marxist America

I guess the idea is to scrape off the sticky, smelly Goo-on-our-shoes which the WH bequeathed us during the last 6 years with 2 more to endure....
this Mars theatrics is in complete contradiction to the Øbama mantra that "American Exceptionalism" does not exist and his other tiresome refrain "You Did Not Build This..."

Bravo to NASA to breach the WH dark-skies vision of his ObamaCare monster & the WH MuslimBrotherhood saboteurs-in-positions-of-power
the NASA vision gives a boost to the morale of most Americans...
(but might also be a tail-the-wags-the-dog...in providing substantial employment positions for a 10 year stretch...helping both Amnesty Illegals and us regular folk)

a reply to: PhoenixOD

Actually, the first people to benefit from human colonization on other worlds would be the scientific community, not the rich and elite.

Sure, the rich will always find a way to profit from a new discovery, that's how they became rich, and stay that way. But the innovations that take us there will find places among the "regular folks". Take the memory foam mattress. The foam was originally use in ridiculously expensive seat for astronauts to sit in to help counteract the massive G loads they were under. Now, grandma and grandpa can sleep comfortably on an affordable mattress made from the same stuff. Yes, the rich profit in the manufacture and sale, but that is how the world works. Those who make, innovate, sell, and create are generally the richest among us. Or they're scientists.

I for one am hopeful that this will allow us to discover a glut of new technologies previously thought not possible before this undertaking was announced.