Space Travel - good or bad?

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Neilds

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As humans are looking to return to the moon, I was thinking if the whole space thing is good or bad. Yes, we need things like GPS , weather satellites and the like but should we be looking to colonise other planets when we have made such a mess of our own planet? There is already tons of space debris floating around above our heads, are we now in danger of leaving more junk on moon (and eventually Mars)? I do find the pictures from all the space telescopes fascinating but it still worries me about the other effects of space travel.

What are other peoples thoughts?
 
Utterly pointless, a waste of money and a huge polluter.

The ship is going to orbit the moon. Whoopy doo. We may then land on the moon again, Whoopy doo. All to see some pictures of things we haven't seen before or to look at some rocks?

I get the point about the by product advances but the actual human in space stuff, nope, not for me.
 
I think it’s fascinating and agree it helps our lives and technology moving forward.

The thing that gets me is how much is spent on it when we have a lot of people all around the world living in poverty.

I just feel that money could be better spent but I feel that way about a lot of other things as well.
 
As already mentioned so many advances in technology have come from the space programme and the question is - Would we have them without it?

The real reason for many countries being interested in getting to the moon is to be able to mine it's resources.
 
irip said:
I think it’s fascinating and agree it helps our lives and technology moving forward.

The thing that gets me is how much is spent on it when we have a lot of people all around the world living in poverty.

I just feel that money could be better spent but I feel that way about a lot of other things as well.
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I would rather they spend the money on the technology compared to the level of money they spend on warmongering

We all want better communication and space travel helps that
 
Until we develop Warp Speed it's all bit.. yeah, nice but...
At the moment it takes 9 months to get to Mars.....going to Mars is, in intergalactic terms, like getting up from your chair....
Space is big...really big..
When you think that the Voyager 2 has been going nearly 50 years and has gone about a light day's worth of distance ..we're just playing at it..
 
So to me, what’s the end goal?
As I see it, there is no way this planet is the only planet with living organisms able to think, act and build in our solar system, let alone what else there is.
Now if you take that one step further, are those other life forms friendly or foe? If they are like some of us, we had better get sorted as our countries as we are rent going to be enough to stop this planet being oblerated.
If we want to build a space base on the moon, we have to all come together, accept as humans we all have blood and need oxygen, food and to sheet and develop the future together as one. sadly I know we won’t, so what’s being done now is probably a waste of money, time and resources. Let’s just stick to trying to kill each other because we know best.
 
Humans, as an animal, have evolved to live on earth. Some might want to live in a goldfish bowl on the moon, but until the earth is too crowded I wouldn’t rush there. If there’s a commercial reason to be there, fine. Okay, there’s valid reason for developing the means to explore and create a viable habitat…

Not wishing to sound like a Luddite but until going to the moon is like getting on a bus, it’s not for me.
 
Bunkermagnet said:
So to me, what’s the end goal?
As I see it, there is no way this planet is the only planet with living organisms able to think, act and build in our solar system, let alone what else there is.
Now if you take that one step further, are those other life forms friendly or foe?
Click to expand...
The septics are running out of civilisations to make enemies of on our home planet so they’re widening the search.
I await the announcement of a great new deal with the Martians, on the condition that they don’t show any inclination to defend themselves or claim ownership of their own mineral resources.
MMGA!
 
jim8flog said:
As already mentioned so many advances in technology have come from the space programme and the question is - Would we have them without it?

The real reason for many countries being interested in getting to the moon is to be able to mine it's resources.
Click to expand...
Beyond the practical, there’s something more fundamental:

Humans explore... be it curiosity, progress or survival, humans have always explored the Oceans, continents and now Space, its only a fledgling endeavour but I hope it grows into something big.
 
Bunkermagnet said:
So to me, what’s the end goal?
As I see it, there is no way this planet is the only planet with living organisms able to think, act and build in our solar system, let alone what else there is.
Now if you take that one step further, are those other life forms friendly or foe? If they are like some of us, we had better get sorted as our countries as we are rent going to be enough to stop this planet being oblerated.
If we want to build a space base on the moon, we have to all come together, accept as humans we all have blood and need oxygen, food and to sheet and develop the future together as one. sadly I know we won’t, so what’s being done now is probably a waste of money, time and resources. Let’s just stick to trying to kill each other because we know best.
Click to expand...
Steady on….solar system? I take it you mean Universe or galaxy. It’s been pretty much observed that if there is life in the solar system on planets and/or moons , other than on our planet, then it is not going to be anywhere near as advanced as we are.
The rest of what you say is good advice except the last sentence. It’s not good advice, but is a damn good prediction, unfortunately.
I do believe however that elsewhere in the Universe there will be much life and many civilisations, a lot of them in advance of ours, and a lot well behind ours.
To believe differently is giving ourselves a gigantic sense of importance. In the scheme of things we are quite insignificant, merely the most intelligent ( not most deserving) mammal on a pale blue dot of a planet among millions of planets.
It’s not in our nature to not explore. Furthermore, if we do not find ,and some of us migrate to ,other planets the human race will die out….probably and hopefully long after the youngest of us presently alive.
Professor Brian Cox made the point that the likely cause of the demise of the human race is not disease or population ….but stupidity.!
 
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