What do you think of the government funding the space program? Do you just support minor league stuff like a space station and satellites, or do you think we should be returning to the moon and later to Mars? Although I'm a fan of small government, I think that, at least initially, it's beneficial to have the government involved in the space program. But when it's only a government thing, the program eventually languishes, like it is now. I do support Pres. Bush's effort to get us back to the moon by 2020 (and no, I'm not one of those people who believe that the moon landing was faked), but I also think that they should make it much easier for private industry to get involved in it. They already are to a degree. Bigelow Aerospace (I think that's the name) is working on making inflatable hotels in space. The owner also owns some hotel chain, but I forget which. If they ever get that up and running, and if I ever have the money to pay the absurd rates they're sure to charge, I'd stay for a night or two in space in a heartbeat.
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If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude than the animated contest of freedom, go from us in peace. May your chains sit lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen! - Samuel Adams
I think it is probably time to encourage more private enterprises to be involved in space exploration. The government does have a legitimate reason to have a space program because of the defense aspects of satalites. There may even be limited space wars in the not so distant future. But for science, experimentation, colonization, and tourism, I would like to see more private ventures.
I'm all for space exploration but until it is profitable, you won't see a lot of private enterprises surviving at it. What is bringing private enterprise to space is the prospect of space tourism and recreation. NASA is increasingly trying to encourage more competition in future projects that will keep costs down.
The moon is the first step in getting to Mars so I think it is a worthy goal. If we don't increase our knowledge and ability at being out there, when we really need to be out there (for whatever reason) we will be lacking in that knowledge and ability. If governments didn't fund exploration over the centuries, where would we be?
I want to live on Mars, but only if it is like it was portrayed in the made for TV miniseries from the late '70's early '80's based on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. I'm not interested in Mars if it turns out to be like Schwarzenegger's Mars in the movie Total Recall. And, Babylon 5 didn't really give much information as to what Mars is like other than Earth didn't like it when they tried to secede...
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Cat Herder wrote: I want to live on Mars, but only if it is like it was portrayed in the made for TV miniseries from the late '70's early '80's based on Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles. I'm not interested in Mars if it turns out to be like Schwarzenegger's Mars in the movie Total Recall. And, Babylon 5 didn't really give much information as to what Mars is like other than Earth didn't like it when they tried to secede...
Wasn't that old tv miniseries where the one guy was shooting at the martians dressed as some sort of wacky neon cowboy?
Yeah, and it starred Rock Hudson and the Martians were dressed kind of like a combination between Bionicle and ancient Greece and they had silver eyes (I wonder how the actors that played them could actually see with silver contact lenses).
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It seems to me the only thing you've learned is that Caesar is a "salad dressing dude."
Ray Bradbury's The Martian Chronicles That was an interesting show. I enjoyed it as a kid but can't handle people running around on Mars sans space suits in my more logical old age. It is supposedly being considered for a new big-screen movie.
I'll take a terraformed Mars, thank you. I'm not so keen on living in some kind of bubble community.
In Babylon 5, they had controlled environments with space suits required outside "Mars Dome". They were also terraforming Mars, but according to JMS (the show's creator) that takes a really long time.
I really like the idea of colliding a comet with Mars to start the process off right. sadly that puts a lot of dust in the atmosphere which takes a real long time to get fixed. Mars needs more mass as a planet too... Planetoid sized asteroids might help that, but ultimately it will always be an inferior planet to Earth, due to the gravitational differential.
--Ray
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I'm not slow; I'm special. (Don't take it personally, everyone finds me offensive. Yet somehow I manage to live with myself.)
