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itiwhetu said:
That is a shame, Star Trek will teach you a lot more than you may realize at first. The same way as Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is most probably the most important thing that has ever been written.
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You’ve jumped the shark there earthling. THGTTG is puerile student nonsense.
 
Talking Hitch hikers.... Had this been a textbook when I was at High School my grades would have been so much better. It really should be used for all subjects through High Schools around the world. Just imagine how intelligent our young people would be, they would leave school with "The Answer" 42
 
My other half has said that he has heard (query from Brian Cox?) that we have only been able to explore a swimming pool sized area of space if c9mpared to all of the seas and oceans in the world….
 
NannaLou said:
My other half has said that he has heard (query from Brian Cox?) that we have only been able to explore a swimming pool sized area of space if c9mpared to all of the seas and oceans in the world….
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There are still vast swathes of our oceans that have never been explored

I quite like the TV series Draining The Oceans where they use animation to expose the entire seabed and what has been hidden away from view. Fascinating series.

There is alot that we still need to learn about the evolution of Earth before we should be exploring away from it.

Space is nothing more than a billionaires playground now and that is a shame cos there is quite enough debris and space rubbish hanging around up there already.
 
Tbh...I would much rather the money being wasted on continued space exploration and playtime for billionaires to be spent on projects such as finding the wreckage of Malaysian flight 370 so that the families can finally find out what truly happened to their loved ones and not have to endure the constant speculation.

At the end of the day, for me at least, I just think that there are far more important things to find answers to on Earth than there is on other planets where we as humans have no intention or need or ability to inhabit

All those billions of wasted money from Musk, Bezos and Branson could be diverted from their space play to something useful like finding out where flight 370 is and why it went missing and returning loved ones to their families cos it sure as heck did not just vanish into thin air......

I guess I get annoyed when so much money is used on totally useless projects that actually do nothing by way of progress. The three billionaires are just repeating the old chestnut of the US vs USSR oneupmanship game...and for what good will it do?

I find it quite pathetic that three grown men are wasting money on what is just a game of oneupmanship that is not going to have any scientific value whatsoever.
 
NannaLou said:
@wasmewasntit - I watched the Earthshot Awards on Sunday night if only people put their money into some of the “runner up“ projects instead of trying to get into space the whole world would be much better for many, many people….
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Vanity projects...thats all they truly are. A chance to get names in lights and to be able to boast that they are doing something wholesome and worthwhile for the planet......all complete tosh really but it looks good on their company websites and makes all the right headlines...."OOOOOH...look at ME!! I'm buzzing about in space!!"
 
wasmewasntit said:
I guess I get annoyed when so much money is used on totally useless projects that actually do nothing by way of progress.
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Except its not an either/or situation. You want to get annoyed at money being wasted have a look at your countries defense budget or the salaries of whatever ruling class you have.

Also not wanting to be disrespectful but saying they do nothing by way of progress is, for want of a nicer word, pretty ignorant. I'm not saying that to be offensive but it is literally possibly to find big lists of "practical" things we have got from the various space programs.

There are literally thousands of things that have come from space exploration that have improved the lives of us regular folks. Hell modern life is pretty much reliant on satellite technology at this point.

Even if there was no "practical" use from anything we are gaining from out current space exploration/study just the knowledge itself is worth it.

wasmewasntit said:
The three billionaires are just repeating the old chestnut of the US vs USSR oneupmanship game...and for what good will it do?
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Lets take a look at some of the "practical" things, literally just off the top of my head, that could come from these various programs.

Suborbital flight (Virgin/Bezo) -
Much faster than current methods of transport. This has more wide ranging impacts then just being able to move people about.

Potentially could end up being a much more environmentally friendly form of long distance travel.

Technology used in suborbital flight can be used in the regular aerospace industry to improve efficiency and safety.

Reusable Rocket tech (beoing/Space X)
Is solving one of the biggest issues with getting to space.

Having reusable rockets means:
Less environmental impact.
Ability to lift larger payloads
Ability to lift more payloads
Technology from these rockets such as their thrust vectoring can be used in other industries.

Larger payloads and more frequent payloads is massive for expending our ability to be able to do anything in space. Everything from being able to send up satellites to study weather patterns and climate change to eventually being able to set up manufacturing in micro gravity.

Talking about micro gravity. There is a TON of research and manufacturing (including medical) that can only be done in microgravity. Growing protein crystals in microgravity for example could be the key to creating cures to a number of diseases and early research is looking incredibly promising.

Then you also have to consider the number of people being employed by these companies. It's not just the scientists and engineers, its cleaners, cooks, security, drivers, etc, etc.

I could literally spend all day typing up things that have come from these space programs that are benefiting humankind as a whole. That is why I use the word ignorant earlier, not as an insult, but as in a lot of people are genuinely ignorant of exactly how much amazing stuff has come and will come from these space programs.

Even ignoring all the actual physical things we are getting just learning about the universe is reason enough to be doing all of this.
 
If the billionaires REALLY cared about true exploration, science and technology they would not be competing with each other and boasting of doing this and that before the other. "My rocket is bigger than your rocket" etc.

They would work TOGETHER and pool their knowledge and resources....THAT would be worthwhile and perhaps lead to a greater understanding of spaceflight and subspace flight potential

But they are far too busy doing their individual vanity projects and oneupmanship
 
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