I would like to repeat my oft stated assertion that sending humans to mars is ridiculous, pointless hubris, and we should focus on sending more capable robots.
And I would like to assert that sending people around the cosmos is extremely cool, but sending a blimp to Venus would be more ridiculous and thus cooler. :yuri:
I think there's a lot to be said for inspiring kids to take a serious interest in the sciences (a real issue, even though it's been STEM-lorded to death online). Space travel is super fucking cool.
More concretely, there are all sorts of broadly useful technologies that were pioneered in the space program. There are studies on the ROI of NASA and we get like 8-9 dollars in GDP from every dollar we spend on it (not the best measurement, but it illustrates the point).
Back in the Apollo days, yeah, it was about $7 per dollar, and a large bit of that was weapons. Today, it may be as high as $40 per dollar and largely pays off in things that we use daily. None of the sensors we take for granted in a smartphone would exist without space development.
NASA has brought you everything from velcro, to strain detectors, to the sensor that tells your headphones they're on your head.
Imagine the cope if Chinese astronauts beat Americans to the Moon and Mars.
Moon seems exceedingly unlikely at this point, but unlike what the :melon-musk: fans say, Mars is still competitive
I would like to repeat my oft stated assertion that sending humans to mars is ridiculous, pointless hubris, and we should focus on sending more capable robots.
And I would like to assert that sending people around the cosmos is extremely cool, but sending a blimp to Venus would be more ridiculous and thus cooler. :yuri:
So what you're saying is that the Chinese are planning to send spy balloons to other planets?
Projection yet again! I think NASA is the only space agency that has developed concepts for it.
You should listen to KGLW's infest the rats nest.
I think there's a lot to be said for inspiring kids to take a serious interest in the sciences (a real issue, even though it's been STEM-lorded to death online). Space travel is super fucking cool.
More concretely, there are all sorts of broadly useful technologies that were pioneered in the space program. There are studies on the ROI of NASA and we get like 8-9 dollars in GDP from every dollar we spend on it (not the best measurement, but it illustrates the point).
I'd bet a lot of that ROI in GDP is just weapons though
Back in the Apollo days, yeah, it was about $7 per dollar, and a large bit of that was weapons. Today, it may be as high as $40 per dollar and largely pays off in things that we use daily. None of the sensors we take for granted in a smartphone would exist without space development.
NASA has brought you everything from velcro, to strain detectors, to the sensor that tells your headphones they're on your head.
No.
I wanna go to Marx and Jupiter and all the fucking planets. I wanna live in the Space Age goddamnit!
Karl Mars and Phobos Engels
probably, yes, but a manned moon base would be cool as fuck and potentially actually provide us with very valuable resources like helium-3
deleted by creator