Space Exploration and Dwarf Status

Space Exploration and Dwarf Status

Just exactly what is the point of sending probes to Mar's? Why is Pluto a dwarf planet and Mercury isn't?

They spend trillions of dollars on ridiculous space exploration and I would just like to know why?

What reason would we have to colonize Mars? Closer to the Sun? Humans could not even survive the atmosphere there. They think we would have problems with CME's from the Sun here on Earth, so why would we want to be closer?

I tell you none of it makes sense to me. Maybe this whole Mars mission fiasco is just a crock? Maybe they never went there to begin with? Maybe it is all just some elaborate movie set designed in Hollywood? Just to give the illusion they went there so they can take the money and stuff into another Black Op budget and the public wouldn't have a clue.

Sure, I am a conspiracy nut truther moron and I really could care less if I am labeled so.

Pluto has been downgraded to dwarf planet status and on behalf of Pluto, I say who the hell are you to judge me as a dwarf? Why isn't Mercury included in that category? That is just blatant discrimination.

Oh well, I will just wait for the insults to roll in on how idiotic I am for suggesting either scenario.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

First, let me correct a important mistake on your part:

Mars is FARTHER from the sun than Earth. Not closer.

Pluto was not "demoted" it was reclassified. In astronomy, it is important to place objects in catagories, just like we do with say living things (biology). The IAU (International Astronomical Union) makes the definitions for each different type of body or celestial objects in space. A "planet" is defined as:

Is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity,
Is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and
Has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.

Mercury meets all 3 of those. Pluto fails on the last one. Hence why it was reclassified.

Another correction: They don't spend "trillions" of dollars. It's more like millions and billions. If you want to see trillions being spent, may I suggest you look at the US defense budget? That's where you'll find the amounts you're complaining about.

I'd rather the money be spent on science like this, and not the military, but that's just my own personal opinion. NASA's budgest in measured in the tens of billions, where as the military is measured in the hundreds of billions.

Colonizing other worlds: because it's a bad idea to have all your eggs in one basket. Just ask the dinosaurs or other species that are now extinct due to natural causes. The Earth will not be able to support more and more people after a while.
And before anyone says the "let's fix everything here first" then we might as well hang it up, because human history has shown that we pretty much are not going to "fix everything here first". There will always be problems.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

Lol, that is venus, Mars is farther away.

How can you be this ignorant and think you have an opinion on the subject worth listening to?

Pluto is tiny compared to mercury .

Pluto is 763 miles across, mercury is 1516 miles across.

There are many moons that are larger than Pluto, there are at least a couple of kyper belt objects bigger than it.

It is scientificlly a point of accuracy in labeling.

Like the difference between wolves and dogs.

They are not the same, therefore we have different names to differentiate between them.

originally posted by: eriktheawful
a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

First, let me correct a important mistake on your part:

Mars is FARTHER from the sun than Earth. Not closer.

Pluto was not "demoted" it was reclassified. In astronomy, it is important to place objects in catagories, just like we do with say living things (biology). The IAU (International Astronomical Union) makes the definitions for each different type of body or celestial objects in space. A "planet" is defined as:

Is massive enough to be rounded by its own gravity,
Is not massive enough to cause thermonuclear fusion, and
Has cleared its neighbouring region of planetesimals.

Mercury meets all 3 of those. Pluto fails on the last one. Hence why it was reclassified.

That's right, but it is important to note, first off that calling a planet a planet was a problem that needed fixing, hence the setting of the rules as of 2006, that was a vote as I understand it, so this is new, and in some ways a little cocked up, nowhere near the more established ideas of biology for instance. Further to that it is only applicable to the/our solar system.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

Mars exploration is done by NASA because it was on the NASA budget approved by Congress. They decide the budget line items. Each of the Representatives and Senators may have had their own reason for approving it, but that is usually not recorded. If you really want to know what NASA does it, you might ask your own Senators and Representatives, if they voted YES on NASA's final budget submission, what they were thinking of.

Non-decision-making individuals can certainly have opinions on whether we should explore Mars, and to what extent and at what rate. You have expressed yours. I am in favor of it because I like the pretty pictures that come back.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

Would it really kill you to read a few wiki article on the topics in question before going on a factually-inaccurate rant?

Also, centering the text of your op doesn't make you a unique snowflake, it just adds an unneccessery layer of difficulty in parsing your text.

a reply to: eriktheawful

You see, I knew I was being an idiot.

a reply to: johnwick

Really I don't care.

a reply to: GetHyped

I like my format.

a reply to: StanFL

Nasa and congress SUCK.

a reply to: smurfy

Calling anything a planet is stupid.

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: StanFL

Nasa and congress SUCK.

Trump, is this you?

originally posted by: eriktheawful
NASA's budget is measured in the tens of billions...

I wish!

2009: $19.2B
2010: $18.9B
2011: $17.6B
2012: $17.2B
2013: $16.9B
2014: $17.1B

Source: Office of Management & Budget Historical Tables

a reply to: Saint Exupery

I did say "Tens" didn't I?

I stand corrected. More than 10, but less than 20.

Now give them the National Defense budget. I'm sure those numbers will be a bit more eye popping.

I know there is a 'hoax' bin for threads that are simply made up and proposed to be the truth.

Isn't there a 'troll' bin for threads that are created from pure crap?

a reply to: FinalCountdown

How did you guess?

a reply to: Saint Exupery

Nasa's budget is worth the paper it is printed on.

a reply to: lakesidepark

Yeah it is in your mom's basement.

a reply to: soulpowertothendegree

So then you created a thread on a subject you obviously know nothing about, so you could treat more knowledgeable members like a douche?

OK thought so, just checking.

BTW, google works and it isn't hard to use.

Maybe try reading first next time, you can obviously read, you are on a text format website.

It works for learning readily available information also.

a reply to: johnwick

How can you be this ignorant and think you have an opinion on the subject worth listening to?

The curse of the modern age, my friend.

Mass communications and the internet have given billions the impression that they know something, when in fact they know the same old nothing they've always known.

The principle of free speech — everyone has a right to make his opinion known — has suffered a serious case of mission creep, mutating into the perception that everyone's opinion is valuable, even when it patently isn't.

And centuries of social, economic and technological development have created a culture where people mistake their privileges for rights, and have altogether forgotten that their rights have duties attached to them.

When did you last hear that unfashionable sentence, 'It's my (or your, or our) duty'?

I suspect it only remains current among military men and women.

Is this post off topic? Perhaps so. But then, this is a rant. And really, what reasonable reply can one make to such ignorance and prejudice as expressed in the OP? Is the topic even amenable to discussion?