space program

[tohunga 0]

many people, especilly politicians that would rather ue the money for thier own purpouses, believe that we arent doing anything in space worth doing, i i think that in many respects they may be right. we need to further expand our projects, not just stay in orbit around this planet. the main thing i want to see is a landing on mars, and maybe even a colony. the fact of the matter is we have the plans and the technolgy to to go to mars, even get a base going there, but nobody wants to becuase it cost money, and i dont think there would be much of a return on ones investment within that person life time. the space station is all good, but we are even coming up with plans to terreform the red planet. it would take about 200 years, but it would be like a second earth for our population to grow on.

[trekzone 0]

i think that we need to evolve the human civilisation by expanding our knowledge of the universe in which we live in. In some respects (dont put me down!) we need a third world war to destroy our civilisation so that we can understand what little resources we have we dont squander. Maybe we need a pioneer to evolve the transportation industry.

[Xeroc 0]

I think we should expand (create?) the space tourism buisness to get people (and funding) involved in space.

 

Also, I believe we can change the world for the better without another world war. I hope it doesn't have to come to that.

[VaBeachGuy 12]

I think we should expand (create?) the space tourism buisness to get people (and funding) involved in space.

 

Also, I believe we can change the world for the better without another world war.  I hope it doesn't have to come to that.

I agree, private industry needs to get into space. Governmental development is good on some things but when it comes to driving something well beyond it's current possibilities it's private industry that does that best. The Apollo program wasn't normal for government projects.

 

I do think we need to focus on some tasks here at and around Earth before trying to go to Mars though. Some things can only be done in space and right now the safest place for that is Earth Orbit. Then I think we need to learn to live on another planet before we live on another planet. Where is the "safest" place for that? The moon. Not "safe" by any means but it's only 3 days away while Mars is 6 to 12 months away.

[Theunicornhunter 2]

Then I think we need to learn to live on another planet before we live on another planet. Where is the "safest" place for that? The moon. Not "safe" by any means but it's only 3 days away while Mars is 6 to 12 months away.

Aren't there places here on Earth where they do that? Aren't there self contained biospheres in inhospitable climates. I thought I read something about using some frozen tundras as training grounds.