Judging from the way this forum is going and the world in general, I'd say the only hope for mankind is to get the heck off this planet!

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), April 05, 2001

Answers

LOL!

But seriously, here we are arguing over a few votes in Florida, a few square miles in the Middle East, an airplane flying near a border, a submarine sinking an innocent ship, etc., etc., etc. One day some idiot is going to blow the whole planet to smithereens!

Space, the International Space Station, mission to Mars...that's the future.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), April 05, 2001.

Buddy,

I'd like to see us colonize the asteroids, perhaps with a base on Europa (for water and oxygen). There are enough raw materials out there to make it self-sustaining. Before too long, it would even be vastly profitable, because it could process and return metals to earth.

A huge solar-powered cracker to split water into hydrogen and oxygen would be profitable, too. We could gear up for hydrogen use here on the planet, reducing hydrocarbon use (and emissions) drastically.

It's a win-win situation. Too bad no one in Washington has the guts to push for it.

-- Stephen M. Poole (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), April 06, 2001.

I know! It's 2001, let's do a Space Odyssey!

-- Lars (larsguy@yahoo.com), April 06, 2001.

Stephen, we still haven't worked out how to avoid the physical deterioration humans experience during relatively short stays on the space stations. That seems to be the biggest problem holding us back.

-- helen (lost@e.space), April 06, 2001.

Mission to Mars...that's the future.

Won't solve a thing.

Mars, too, will have to be divvied up, don't you know. There'll be the the right-wing Southern Mars, the liberal Northern Mars...

-- Debbie (dbspence@usa.net), April 06, 2001.

Helen,

Yeah, there'd be a big INITIAL investment in spinning-wheel stations to provide artificial gravity.

But hey, Blood, Sweat and Tears would be popular up there. :)

-- Stephen M. Poole (smpoole7@bellsouth.net), April 06, 2001.

Buddy,

Just happened to come across this article...seems like some scientists agree with you...Heh!

The article.

FRIDAY APRIL 06 2001 Scientists predict Moon base by 2007 BY MARK HENDERSON, SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT MAN could return to the Moon to set up a permanent base by 2007 at half the cost of building the International Space Station, a Nasa scientist said yesterday. A lunar space station staffed by four astronauts would offer unprecedented opportunities to advance human understanding of the Universe at an affordable price and should be a priority for Nasa and the European Space Agency, Paul Spudis told the National Astronomy Meeting in Cambridge.

Dr Spudis, from the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas, said that such a project was already technically feasible and could be accomplished within six years of gaining approval from politicians and funding bodies. It would cost an estimated $50 billion (£35 billion) — less in real terms than the $25 billion spent on the Apollo Moon missions of the 1960s and 1970s.

Once established, an international base would house powerful telescopes to take advantage of the Moon’s lack of atmosphere and clouds and allow detailed surveys of the surface. It would also provide an ideal test bed for technology that might one day sustain astronauts on a mission to Mars.

“There are certain scientific goals that can only be accomplished by sending humans into space,” Dr Spudis said. “The experiments require human intelligence to perform. A return to the Moon would give us a natural laboratory for planetary science and a unique astronomical observing platform on which to set up instruments. There are few earthquakes and there is no wind, cloud or rain. Astronomers can examine the skies constantly and without atmospheric interference.”

He said that the Moon base should be situated on the rim of Shackleton’s crater, near the “south pole”. The location had nearby ice deposits which could be mined as a source of water and oxygen; it also had a stable, if cold (-50C) temperature, and a long, sunlit day allowing the prolonged use of solar panels.

The first team of four astronauts, who would stay for an initial 45 days, would set up a permanent living module buried under the Moon’s surface to shield from solar radiation. That could then be used by future missions, which would take new modules and experiments to expand the station.

Scientists would use the base to build on the knowledge gleaned from the Apollo missions, the last of which landed on the Moon in 1972. A base would pave the way for a future manned mission to Mars. “The lessons we learn through life on the Moon would be invaluable,” Dr Spudis said.

Ian Crawford, an astronomer at University College London, agreed that a return to the Moon should be a priority, but Andrew Coates, of the Mullard Space Science Laboratory at University College, said that money would be better invested in robotic probes. “I would love to send people, but I am worried about the cost and about whether they would survive,” he said. He thought that $50 billion was a “huge underestimate” and was concerned about the effects of cosmic radiation.

--------------------------------------------------

I don't know though...that Dr. Spudis sounds like a real potato head to me...rofl ;)

-- Peg (pegmcleod@mediaone.net), April 06, 2001.

The format gremlins are at it today.

:)

-- Peg (the gremlins @ got. me), April 06, 2001.

Surviving in space seems way out there (no pun intended). Technology isn't here yet and I wonder if it ever will be here. But we can dream. Personally I'd rather travel through time, not space. I'd love to get a glimse of the next century and move back to Homer's Odyssey. TGIF

-- Maria (anon@ymous.com), April 06, 2001.

Luna City, here we come!

(Read Heinlein's The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress where he came up with the name Luna City)

Also, see lunacity.com

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), April 06, 2001.

Wow, Buddy...there are some really nice pictures at that site.

The Dark Horsehead Nebula

For those of you that want to be awed...http://www.lunacity.com/apod. html

-- Peg (pegmcleod@mediaone.net), April 06, 2001.

Yeah, cool pictures, but that's actually just an index to a Nasa site. But, still cool! Dedicated webmaster there.

-- Buddy (buddydc@go.com), April 06, 2001.