Space Travel - good or bad?

[larmen]

Sending scientists into space makes a lot more sense than sending pop stars and TV starlets into light orbit. It isn't just what these 4 do now, it what it enables the next mission(s) to do.

 

[Bunkermagnet]

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.!

I'm not taking an arguemataive stance, but.....dont the points in bold argue against each other?
If we are syaing solar system and universe are different per se, I would suggest that since we havent been to every corner of the solar system how can we know?
I am firmly of the belief though that to assume WE are the only living and (allegedly) intelligent life form out there in an are we have no real knowledge is how big is stupid. That is my take on it, and to think we can taken control of something seperate from our earth under the banner of a small section of earth is madness.

 

[4LEX]

Space travel provides the human race huge movement in technology advances

It always great to look to move forward

War/Defence provides even more technology advances but that doesn't mean it's a good thing.

 

[CliveW]

Utterly pointless, a waste of money and a huge polluter.

In what way is it a huge polluter? The fuel used to propel the rocket is liquid hydrogen and oxygen which when burnt produces water which is the white cloud that appears behind the rocket. I do agree that a large amount of energy must be used to produce the fuel, but if the research to produce liquid hydrogen more economically and efficiently, then it will benefit mankind as an alternative to fossil fuels.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

In what way is it a huge polluter? The fuel used to propel the rocket is liquid hydrogen and oxygen which when burnt produces water which is the white cloud that appears behind the rocket. I do agree that a large amount of energy must be used to produce the fuel, but if the research to produce liquid hydrogen more economically and efficiently, then it will benefit mankind as an alternative to fossil fuels.

It’s not the fuel that’s the issue it’s all the debris and crap left floating in space that is just jettisoned never returns and just effectively remain in orbit. We’re effectively just littering space with crap but it’s ok in the donor science and exploration but if someone lobs an empty crisp packet on the floor they face a fine.

Plus $4billion is a huge amount of money that could go to helping out people still on this planet but there you go

 

[Arthur Wedge]

War/Defence provides even more technology advances but that doesn't mean it's a good thing.

Good amount of the technology even in arms with have origins from science development

Sending people to space is more than just a jolly

And as a human race we are always trying to push the boundaries and seeing what’s next

Can’t always look at what is spent on the development without looking at how much is may have helped people

 

[Billysboots]

I recall my wife commenting when we were watching a documentary about the lunar landings a few years ago that the lunar landing module resembled something from the children’s programme Button Moon.

From that day I have been understandably sceptical about the whole business.

 

[HampshireHog]

There does seem to be a lot of excitement about something less impressive that what was achieved well over half a century ago.

 

[AmandaJR]

There does seem to be a lot of excitement about something less impressive that what was achieved well over half a century ago.

That's the part that really puzzles me.

 

[WorldHandicapSystem]

Space travel is awesome.

Humans explore, it’s what we have always done. Imagine if our ancestors had the same attitudes.

I’d rather the money spent on space exploration than the military. Build rockets for fun not killing people.

 

[Lucifer MorningStar]

Space travel is awesome.

Humans explore, it’s what we have always done. Imagine if our ancestors had the same attitudes.

I’d rather the money spent on space exploration than the military. Build rockets for fun not killing people.

Whilst I understand your sentiment, Try telling that to people who serve in the military using inadequate kit as money is spent elsewhere on vanity projects.

 

[BubbaP]

As a long time sci fi fan I do have an interest. However at times do feel like humans are the biggest problem on this planet, and worry about taking that elsewhere...

https://www.waste360.com/waste-recycling/humans-have-left-about-500-000-pounds-of-waste-on-the-moon

 

[Swinglowandslow]

I'm not taking an arguemataive stance, but.....dont the points in bold argue against each other?
If we are syaing solar system and universe are different per se, I would suggest that since we havent been to every corner of the solar system how can we know?
I am firmly of the belief though that to assume WE are the only living and (allegedly) intelligent life form out there in an are we have no real knowledge is how big is stupid. That is my take on it, and to think we can taken control of something seperate from our earth under the banner of a small section of earth is madness.

Hmmm….
The first “ bold”. is referring to the Solar system. About which we know a lot. There has been much investigation.
The second bold refers, as it says, to elsewhere. I.e. the Universe.
It is almost universally ( no pun intended) , if not totally, believed by the experts that no planet or moon in the SS holds advanced intelligent life.
There is a ‘body’ near Pluto that is a mystery and the approach of which has coincide with malfunction of computers on the spacecraft which has led to speculation as to whether the body is artificial or not. But that is not seriously being pursued as far as I know.

 

[The Squirrel]

I’m 100% in the George Mallory camp. Why go? “Because it’s there”.

The criticisms of space travel as wasted resource could be applied to Scott and Amundsen, Mallory and Hilary/Norgay, Magellan, Marco Polo, Cook and Columbus. It could actually be applied to the majority of all scientific research. If you only ever do anything that is immediately and obviously profitable, preferring that all resources go to the here and now then you would do very little to advance what humans can achieve (this is how humanity actually worked for all but the last 5-600 years - and progress was desperately slow as a result -Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens has a nice narrative on this if you’re interested).

Tangible benefits to big projects are often not obvious at the time. The space program of the 60s has lead, fairly directly in the end, to Starlink and the like - which is how much of the world will get its opportunity to join the internet, but nobody knew it at the time as the internet didn’t exist

I actually think that going from an earthbound species with no powered flight, to standing on the moon, in less than a human lifetime is humanity’s greatest achievement and fastest leap forward in any field. The fact that they did it with less onboard computing power than the chip inside the credit card in your pocket is utterly mind blowing. The fact that we’ve basically not advanced from that achievement in 55 years shows how far ahead of its time it was.

The pollution of a few rockets is utterly insignificant compared to agriculture, motor vehicles, commercial flights etc.

So I’m a huge fan. America is still an amazing country when it puts its mind to it; it’s unbelievable that a democracy rather than a centrally planned dictatorship has the will and ability to execute and complete these huge projects where the immediate benefit is not obvious; they still dare to dream. If humanity manages to survive its own stupidity for the next few centuries I have no doubt that travel to parts of the solar system will have provided unknown and utterly unpredictable benefits we can’t know of today - built on what is happening right now.

 

[Swinglowandslow]

I’m 100% in the George Mallory camp. Why go? ‘Because it’s there”.

The criticisms of space travel as wasted resource could be applied to Scott and Amundsen, Mallory and Hilary/Norgay, Magellan, Marco Polo, Cook and Columbus. It could actually be applied to the majority of all scientific research. If you only ever do anything that is immediately and obviously profitable, preferring that all resources go to the here and now then you would do very little to advance what humans can achieve (this is how humanity actually worked for all but the last 5-600 years - and progress was desperately slow as a result -Yuval Noah Harari’s book Sapiens has a nice narrative of this is you’re interested).

Tangible benefits to big projectsare often not obvious at the time. The space program of the 60s has lead, fairly directly in the end, to Starlink and the like - which is how much of the world will get its opportunity to join the internet, but nobody knew it at the time as the internet didn’t exist

I actually think that going from an earthbound species with no powered flight, to standing on the moon, in less than a human lifetime is humanity’s greatest achievement and fastest leap forward in any field. The fact that they did it with less onboard computing power than the chip inside the credit card in your pocket is utterly mind blowing. The fact that we’ve basically not advanced from that achievement in 55 years shows how far ahead of its time it was.

The pollution of a few rockets is utterly insignificant compared to agriculture, motor vehicles, commercial flights etc.

So I’m a huge fan. America is still an amazing country when it puts its mind to it; it’s unbelievable that a democracy rather than a centrally planned dictatorship has the will and ability to execute and complete these huge projects where the immediate benefit is not obvious; they still dare to dream. If humanity manages to survive its own stupidity for the next few centuries I have no doubt that travel to parts of the solar system will have provided unknown and utterly unpredictable benefits we can’t know of today - built on what is happening right now.

Well said. Haven’t really seen it better argued.