SpaceX rockets and launches
- Thread starter rover07
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PTK
Paul Kegan
I wrote "deflect", not "detect".
The technology to deflect asteroids is being developed. There has already been a successful test. A very large, planet-killer would be detected very early on. If Musk wants to help humanity, then perhaps he should pour resources into developing this technology.
elbows
Well-Known Member
My plan B would be to suck it up and wave goodbye to humanity.
elbows
Well-Known Member
The news coverage was awful. I didnt even notice them even mildly taking the piss out of how underwhelming it looked and whatever the hell was going on with his arm. What was going on with his arm anyway?
Spymaster
Plastic Paddy
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
There is another day and a half of the mission left plenty of time for him to add his name to the list of billionaires killed whilst thrill seeking.
On a more positive note this is the same Crew Dragon they sent him up in last time and the third time it has flew. Space X have carried out 14 manned missions now so would imagine that Boeing are feeling very embarrassed about now.
On a more positive note this is the same Crew Dragon they sent him up in last time and the third time it has flew. Space X have carried out 14 manned missions now so would imagine that Boeing are feeling very embarrassed about now.
elbows
Well-Known Member
Mostly when I watch hours of live streams of space missions, I am reminded of how incredibly slow and tedious the whole business is. Its difficult, its very expensive, it requires a certain mindset and a lot of training, and its absolutely nowhere close to following the sort of path that science fiction has.
And personally I think many decades of exciting science fiction has filled some people heads with totally unrealistic crap. If we ever do some of that stuff, it wont be soon, and I wont bet on it ever happening.
The masses arent going far into space, normal people arent going to become space tourists. And even the sort of space tourism that is currently envisaged for those with privilege has relatively modest aims, its more about getting a brief but fascinating view of our own planet from not all that far away, some low gravity experiences, and bragging rights.
We havent built significantly on manned moon missions that last happened before I was even born. We havent been beyond low earth orbit since 1972, although I know this latest mission was supposed to go higher than the norm (I havent checked whether it succeeded). And Musk pisses off some people in the space community by stating an unrealistic timetable for mars missions that they think will have negative publicity consequences when the timescales he wanks on about dont come to fruition.
The commercial investment in space has so far mostly unlocked more practical exploitation in the area of putting stuff in orbit around the planet. Maybe it will go further eventually, I never say never, but thats a gigantic leap that will require fields such as physics to harness some impressive new discoveries that so far show absolutely no signs of coming based on what we've actually discovered in the last century of research. Dont ask me to take some billionaires vision seriously unless stuff happens on that front.
And personally I think many decades of exciting science fiction has filled some people heads with totally unrealistic crap. If we ever do some of that stuff, it wont be soon, and I wont bet on it ever happening.
The masses arent going far into space, normal people arent going to become space tourists. And even the sort of space tourism that is currently envisaged for those with privilege has relatively modest aims, its more about getting a brief but fascinating view of our own planet from not all that far away, some low gravity experiences, and bragging rights.
We havent built significantly on manned moon missions that last happened before I was even born. We havent been beyond low earth orbit since 1972, although I know this latest mission was supposed to go higher than the norm (I havent checked whether it succeeded). And Musk pisses off some people in the space community by stating an unrealistic timetable for mars missions that they think will have negative publicity consequences when the timescales he wanks on about dont come to fruition.
The commercial investment in space has so far mostly unlocked more practical exploitation in the area of putting stuff in orbit around the planet. Maybe it will go further eventually, I never say never, but thats a gigantic leap that will require fields such as physics to harness some impressive new discoveries that so far show absolutely no signs of coming based on what we've actually discovered in the last century of research. Dont ask me to take some billionaires vision seriously unless stuff happens on that front.
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elbows
Well-Known Member
OK I checked and it did make it to 1400 kilometers away, furthest manned mission since Apollo. Still not beyond low Earth Orbit though, though it probably does count at breaking the record for height of earth orbit since the Apollo missions had a much greater distance for the moon bit, but not a greater earth orbit distance.
freshapple
Active Member
Light years are a measure of distance, not time!
PTK
Paul Kegan
It is not "light years" form diverting a large asteroid at all.
PTK
Paul Kegan
Terraforming Mars will not give it greater gravity, nor will it give it a magnetic field.
How long do you think that it would take to give Mars a breathable atmosphere, and when will we have the technology to do that?
elbows
Well-Known Member
Another angle is that if you have a planet-hopping survival plan that will involve very sophisticated life-support systems needing to be developed, maybe you can just apply that aspect of research to the idea of trying to make earth survivable for some humans after a massive asteroid strike. That way you can dedicate all of the effort to the life support bit rather than the other stuff that would be involved with getting to mars. And despite the problems that would face the earth after such a strike, some of its parameters would surely still be more favourable than those of a planet that wasnt hospitable for humans in the first place.
PTK
Paul Kegan
Yes, I was thinking that.
I don't know enough about the changes caused by the impact that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs, but if the mammals had not survived it, we would not be here posting on Urban.
“But the dust in the atmosphere would diminish the sunlight falling on the surface of the Earth, and crops would die out”, some may say.
Yes, but how many crops grow on Mars?
“We would grow crops on Mars underground, with artificial light”.
And we could not do this on Earth?
There would certainly still be oxygen in the atmosphere of the Earth, and water on its surface, after the impact of a large asteroid or comet, which would give humans on Earth an advantage compared to those living on Mars.
editor
hiraethified
The human race is currently totally incapable of deflecting a large, life-destroying asteroid from its path. So, if you're against the idea of humans colonising other planets, what's your Plan B for the survival of the entire human race if/when such an extinction level event looms large?
editor
hiraethified
But then it would end up the same with just the super-rich surviving in their luxury bunkers (if indeed they were able to survive a catastrophic impact).
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
The 'Why should we colonise the planets when there are so many problems here on Earth?'is very much whataboutery. Expending effort on the first doesn't mean we can't expend effort on the second.
Probably not on the timescale set by Elon the Mad wannabe Emperor of Mars but at some point we will colonise Mars and some further point in time we will terraform it. Whilst we're at it we will build space habitats as well. It will change us but it's what we are, once mankind settles into a pattern of never expanding or changing we are on the road to extinction.
Probably not on the timescale set by Elon the Mad wannabe Emperor of Mars but at some point we will colonise Mars and some further point in time we will terraform it. Whilst we're at it we will build space habitats as well. It will change us but it's what we are, once mankind settles into a pattern of never expanding or changing we are on the road to extinction.
Signal 11
also programmed for conversational english
The point stands though. We are parsecs away from it.
I don't think that kind of survival angle is the right motivation for developing space-faring technology. But that development would lead to the ability to prevent an impact rather than just trying to survive it.
Given the tiny probability of a significant impact event in the near future, it doesn't really register compared to the urgent problems we're facing. The development of space based industry to help with those issues is a much better motivation.
PTK
Paul Kegan
What is the answer to the ethical concerns that I raised?
PTK
Paul Kegan
And the planet Mars would be colonised by the wretched of the Earth?
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART),
Still just a start but nearer than terraforming or such "blue sky" ideas,(IMO)
PTK has said the rest really, regarding ethics & C.
Capital/"the world system" enshitifies everything.
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), built and managed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), was the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration that validated one technique of asteroid deflection using a kinetic impactor spacecraft.
Planetary Defense - DART - NASA Science
Still just a start but nearer than terraforming or such "blue sky" ideas,(IMO)
PTK has said the rest really, regarding ethics & C.
Capital/"the world system" enshitifies everything.
NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), built and managed by the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), was the world’s first planetary defense technology demonstration that validated one technique of asteroid deflection using a kinetic impactor spacecraft.
Planetary Defense - DART - NASA Science
MickiQ
In My Defence I was left Unsupervised
There aren't any ethical concerns
Mars is empty there are no natives to exploit it's just a big rock. We can bury cities beneath it's surface or give it a breathable atmosphere (though that will probably take a couple of centures or so). It's true it has no magnetic field but then it doesn't really need one. Park a suitably sized reflector at it's L1 point and you're good to go.
As for kids raised there not being able to come to Earth, would they even want to? I daresay most kids raised on 25th century Mars will have no more in common with Earth than 21st century Australian kids do with the UK. Even assuming there aren't any advances in cybernetics or genetic engineering which will smooth the process (which I am sure there will be) I suspect any that really wanted to would have to start training and bodybuilding from a fairly young age but it's hardly impossible.
Saul Goodman
It's all good, man
No big loss. I don't know why people get so precious about it.
I think we've gone about as far as we can go as a race. We're now actually regressing, with half of the developed world shouting at their TV, thinking it can hear who they want voted off Love Island.
We're well on our way to a mad-max-esque dystopian future. Might as well go out with a bang.
editor
hiraethified
Yes, I know all about and it's a great initiative, but it's a long, long, long away from being able to deflect and stop a sizeable asteroid from crashing into Earth.
PTK
Paul Kegan
"It's true it has no magnetic field but then it doesn't really need one. Park a suitably sized reflector at it's L1 point and you're good to go." Please explain the science of this.
PTK
Paul Kegan
So why would a refuge on Eath not contain the same mix.
If we are to build a special habitat to protect humans agtainst a hostile environment, it would be far easier to build a couple on Earht than one or two on Mars.
