Space Exploration News

Will, you appear to be another 'progressive' who is blindly - unknowingly - playing the 'pay for' game, as Stephanie Kelton puts it.....though your name would suggest you should have read "The Deficit Myth" by now....

Intelligent development of available resources is the significant thing, funding follows naturally.

Certainly you can say manned space flight is not intelligent, but you are missing the scientific opportunities from a manned space station at least. And as for available resources: we can certainly have full employment with above poverty wages, R&D, and maintain a space station at the same time.

The barrier to all these things is the current 'flat earth' ("common sense" as insisted by our resident flat-earther, fmw)
mainstream macroeconomic orthodoxy.

Biden can implement a GND on earth AND send people to Mars (if the resources are available, without taxing or borrowing because he has access to the treasury and reserve bank, and if excess demand in some sectors of the economy arises (which is what inflation is) then that can be directly dealt with via means-tested sales/consumption taxes.

 

This isn't the "pay for" game as I know it. I'm not saying we can't pay for it. We can.

What I'm saying is that this is being done out of the NASA budget, and I see no intent to make NASA science whole for having given them the requirement of landing humans on the moon.

Let's remember that Trump didn't, and he was a significant proponent!

My argument is that the things NASA does for science WILL suffer due to this major new engineering and construction requirement that comes without anywhere near adequate funding.

To the extent that this is a money problem, it is a NASA budget problem, not a USA revenue problem.

I have NO idea what you mean about funding following "naturally".

There is nothing "natural" about how congress funds NASA.

And, our manned space adventures are engineering challenges, not science.

FMW has points. If we're going to fly humans around in space, we have every right to know exactly why we're doing it. And, I don't believe you have a good argument.

OK, a bit about NASA funding. The NASA budget isn't a fund from which NASA can decide what to do.

When congress tells NASA to do something, that is the law. Today, NASA is building the SLS because it is the LAW. So, the fact that it will cost $20Billion to create and will cost $2Billion per launch, and is highly unlikely to launch more than twice, building it it is not NASA's decision.

The same is true for sending humans on an exciting adventure to the Moon. It's not something in which NASA has a choice. If congress decides that instead of fully funding the moon adventure and that money should come other parts of the NASA budget, that's tough nuts for science.

And, that's not hypothetical. Trump wasn't interested in fully funding the new requirement to go to the moon. And, given congress today I really do NOT see why you think the current congress plus this administration will manage any better.

And, no, Biden can not fund sending humans to the Moon or Mars. That is something congress would have to do.

 

OK as long as I don't have to pay for it. Or if it can wait until the nation is free of debt.

 

Yes, we would each like our own line item veto!

 

thats music to chinese ear. if US withdrawn from space endeavor, china will happy to catch and take over.

 

A 'lucky strike': Piece of space junk smashes into International Space Station

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/space-junk-damages-international-space-station-s-robotic-arm-n1269286?cid=eml_nbn_20210601&user_email=31538fe77b084701975d9091aa0bbf4ef284dc0ddf7d4abb252027c596581efa&$3p=e_sailthru&_branch_match_id=857693951420692326&utm_medium=Email Sailthru

"An unknown object hurdling through space smashed into the International Space Station and damaged the orbiting lab's robotic arm, according to NASA and the Canadian Space Agency. The collision in May highlights the growing threat posed by orbital debris as the narrow band of space around Earth becomes increasingly crowded."

 

You might like to mention, 'No more poverty' and 'an end to Global Warming'
Fact is there are people who feel that what happens just 60 mile over their
head should be of no concern to anyone. It's like saying we need not put to
sea and explore, or find out what's on the other side of yonder mountain
until the world is perfect.
Only the world is never going to be perfect.
All the tech you use to read this message had its connections, even origins
in space tech.. We wouldn't understand the earth without space. GPS alone,
for navigation and timing, is worth two or three entire 1960 moon programs.
I admire Musk - his satellite internet service will be worth more than Australia's
entire coal industry, and the profits go to a single man.

 

Were you going to explain what we gain by going to the moon again? Or are you just going with the flow?

 

there are many tech benefit of space exploration. many these tech trickle down to commercial market. also moon just 1st step before going to mars. or do you prefer china land there 1st. but hey like i said, china would be very happy if we pull out of space exploration. they have no trouble work with EU on it.

 

The object has been identified as a 2008 Tesla Roadster. An astronaut seen driving the car was giving the finger as the car sped away.

 

We should put costs in
denominations more fathomable
such as, How Many F-35's Is That? .


Moi

​

 

If China gets to Mars first so what? Let them spend their money while they have it. The technology will be there. I would like to see habitat built by robotics. Then humans can just arrive and move in. It would be a very challenging project. Just the energy to keep a place warm on the surface of Mars would be substantial. And to develop a habitat that would support human life would be an accomplishment. And to have the system working before people arrive could save lives. I wonder if plants grow in Martian sunlight? Or in space sunlight. A new world is ahead. I wonder how long it will take to get there.

 

Two new NASA missions will uncover the secrets of Venus

By Ashley Strickland, CNN
Updated 6:54 PM ET, Wed June 2, 2021

(CNN)It's time to revisit Venus, our closest planetary neighbor.

Two new missions to Earth's twin have been greenlit by NASA via the agency's Discovery Program. These missions, which were the two finalists selected from four concepts NASA highlighted in February 2020, will shed light on how Venus became the inhospitable world it is today, despite the fact that it shares many characteristics with Earth.

One mission would focus on the Venusian atmosphere, while the other would map the planet's surface.

... https://www.cnn.com/2021/06/02/world/venus-nasa-discovery-missions-scn/index.html​

I love planetary exploration missions. I hope we'll get something to Uranus and/or Neptune soon as well!

 

Martian sunlight should be sufficient. The distance isn't that much greater in the grand scheme of things. Mars is considered to be in the sun's habitable zone. The main concern would be filtering out ultraviolet.

I don't know how hard it would be heat a Mars base. I imagine with enough natural sunlight coming in, it would actually be pretty easy to keep warm, like a well-sealed house in winter with lots of windows to let enough sun in. Added to this, Mars's atmosphere is so thin and dry that it will conduct a lot less heat away.

 

There are issues with China which go beyond just a Mars base.
If they could pull it off, good for them - they won't without having vastly
more capability than what SpaceX has now.
The issue with China is propaganda and Chinese power. We have
been on the receiving end of it here in Australia as China seeks to make
a lesson of us with trade.
Once nations perceive that China is the dominant tech, military, science,
economic power then there's a snowball effect. And soon these nations
are studying 'Xi Thought' and denying Western access to territory and
trade etc..

 

Good for them. They can afford it.

 

Are you saying we can't? Are you seriously trying to say that?

 

Nice little teaser video:

 

Two bold new @NASASolarSystem missions, DAVINCI+ and VERITAS, will become the first NASA spacecraft in 30 years to visit this hot, hellish, unforgiving world.⁣
⁣
They'll seek to understand how Venus became an inferno-like world, when it has so many other characteristics similar to Earth. ⁣
⁣
DAVINCI+, a descent sphere that will plunge through Venus' thick atmosphere, will measure its composition to understand how it formed and evolved, and determine whether the planet ever had an ocean. It'll also take the first high resolution pictures of the unique geological features on Venus known as “tesserae,” which may be comparable to Earth’s continents.⁣
⁣
VERITAS, an orbiter, will map Venus’ surface to determine the planet’s geologic history and understand why it developed so differently than Earth. It will chart surface elevations over nearly the entire planet to create 3D reconstructions of topography and confirm whether processes such as plate tectonics and volcanism are still active on Venus.⁣
⁣


source: NASA ( on Instagram)

 

Venus missions........More from:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-en...News Newsletter]-2021June3-[top+news+stories]

 

fortunately for us, both trump and biden increase NASA budget cause they dont want US lose the space tech race.

 

Without question. Seriously. Federal government can't even afford to do what it does today. Noticed the debt and money supply expansion?

 

It's all by design. You and I aren't suffering because of the national debt.

 

Actually we are. Making money less valuable while I can't get more of it works against me and most other seniors. More importantly, what is good for you and me is immaterial. The government is responsible for doing what is best for the nation. It isn't about you and me. Why do you think voters do such an incompetent job choosing leaders? The reason of course is they view things through a lens personal interest. In the long run it will never work. We haven't had a truly competent president in my lifetime.

 

You can get more of it, though, or you could if Republicans would allow for minimum wage increases.

The government and the Fed are not conspiring against us, but the Republicans are putting corporate interests ahead of ours while somehow convincing some of us that deregulation, a pitiful minimum wage, extremely low corporate taxes and all that jazz somehow benefits us. Instead, it's merely facilitated the transfer of wealth from the majority to a minority.

And NASA has nothing whatsoever to do with it, nor does the national debt. The national debt alone does not control inflation. At the same time, inflation is something the central bank aims for and is something we would have regardless of the debt and deficit, because again, it is by design. And again, it does not harm us. As long as income goes up to match or exceed inflation, all it does is make your debts, if any, easier to pay off.