Poll: Space Exploration is it or isn't it a 'waste' of time & money? (Page 3) Azimuth_Predator: That was very intelligent thinking? Hey i did not start the America bashing in here lol (Edited by Azimuth_Predator)  StuckInTheSixties: I would say that the Kepler Telescope is an excellent investment in time and money.  hellbhoy: And why the feck does this site keep red lining even ligitemite spelling FFS.Damn American dictionary. StuckInTheSixties: You've changed your position. Previously, you said (this was your first words upon entering this thread) : "We spend billions or trillions on space exploration while people sleep on the street in the richer Western societies.Unless the investiture gave us "zero point energy" and endless cheap power I see no point in all that money be wasted." So ... you've changed your mind? hellbhoy: NOPE SITS my stance is still that military stuff is a total waste of space pardon the pun there. StuckInTheSixties: This is your ENTIRE first post, copy/pasted for complete, total accuracy: ***************************************************************** We spend billions or trillions on space exploration while people sleep on the street in the richer Western societies.Unless the investiture gave us "zero point energy" and endless cheap power I see no point in all that money be wasted. Billions of pounds or dollars so a scientist can say we we think we have found what looks like a black hole or exploding red super giant.And what is this black hole or other ? 16 pixels slowly fluctuating on the ultraviolet band WTF man.And over the next ten thousand years we can study it in detail ? study 16 pixels !!!,like we will not have destroyed ourselves and the planet by then. What if they found huge gold deposits on Mars ? imagine wearing gold as cheap or cheaper as silver ?. The money would be better spent on sorting the worlds problems first,then after that space is the next big thing. ***************************************************************** Do you see the word "military" in there anywhere? (Edited by StuckInTheSixties) hellbhoy: And your point is SITS ? and yes I may have changed view slightly after our exchanges but didn't change the fact that some space exploration is a waste of time ie military later.I still believe that a 16 pixel picture of what looks a black hole billions of light years away is a waste of time and money,telescopes exploring our solar system yes because we get plenty of data or other close solar systems like the Kepler telescope does because we know the data is good. I've seen some of your posts change as well in other threads when you have been corrected have I not ?.I do from time to time get rebuffed and admit when I was wrong. StuckInTheSixties: hellbhoy says: "I still believe that a 16 pixel picture of what looks a black hole billions of light years away is a waste of time and money,telescopes exploring our solar system yes because we get plenty of data or other close solar systems like the Kepler telescope does because we know the data is good." Despite that gross mischaracterization, I assume you're referring to Hubble, and the fantastic Hubble images that have stirred the imagination in popular culture. Hubble has provided much more than those pretty pictures you've seen. Hubble exploration has led to the biggest leap forward in our understanding of the cosmos since Galileo. Maybe take a look at this link ... http://hubblesite.org/hubble_discoveries/ I'm glad you seem to have some enthusiasm for Keplar. But why would you want to confine our understanding of space to "our solar system ... or other close solar systems"? hellbhoy: The Hubble telescope ! gets scientists excited but not me although Hubble has provided some spectacular images.Scientists are hypothesizing with Hubble data like they did before the days of Cern and the hydron collider if there are things that travel faster than the speed of light.Then the data from Hubble will be become obsolete and new equipment will have to be manufactured meaning the Hubble will have been a waste of time and resources in the end.Do you agree ?. StuckInTheSixties: I disagree in the strongest of terms. The one thing that you said there that is on the money is: "The Hubble telescope ! gets scientists excited ..." And with good reason. You're badly misinformed about the value of Hubble, and the value of the HARD data, not specious hypothesizing, that resulted from it. You're badly misconstruing what we've learned from Cern, and how that relates to astronomy and astrophysics. hellbhoy: SITS how many certificates or degrees do you have on interstellar astrophysics or anything to do with space time and other relevant subjects on the matter ?.Are you like me and have none but a keen follower of it or do you just go by what's posted on websites ?. What happened in Cern will change the way we view calculate and measure everything in the universe or did that just go over your head completely ?. If something can travel faster than the speed of light ! then how does that affect EVERYTHING ?.If there turns out to be things beyond us that travel many times faster than light and affect the true readings we believe are finite THEN WHAT ?. Cerns findings will challenge the distance age and other on the universe and why some radical scientists are totally excited about it.One scientist said we now know that faster than light transport is now possible if we can harness the power of these findings.Also is space actually not just a vacuum but has some sort of mass we humans can't detect yet ? does the superstring theory ring a bell ?. One so called irrefutable modern constant is now under threat .... if you travel faster than the speed of light then time will reverse,Einstein coined that.We can travel faster than sound when it was SO CALLED NIGH IMPOSSIBLE after a sonic boom as they thought the plane would obliterate after it ! so when you break the light speed barrier is there a flash of light explosion ? who knows this is a new era dawning.Is a proton drive a thing of the future for space travel ?.We know a speck of dust on the earth about the universe and if that turns out to be a speck on the size of the sun then what the feck do we actually know. I make it my business to be at the cutting edge of everything even if it makes me look silly.And don't post I'm silly coz that would make you totally ignorant. StuckInTheSixties: Here's an example: NASA science launches tree study Arborists find new use for technology developed to investigate shuttle tragedy September 11, 2012 By Erin Meyer, Chicago Tribune reporter http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-09-11/news/ct-met-nasa-tests-on-trees-20120911_1_tree-study-nasa-experiments-arborists NASA's space shuttle program may be grounded, but technology used to explore the solar system is making history in ways that may surprise you. Think baby formula. Think bras. But first think trees. Aeronautic engineers and arborists gathered Monday morning in a rather alien-looking patch of woods at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle to figure out where trees are weakest and what makes them fall. "This simply had never been done ever, period," NASA's Matt Melis said of the joint effort. "We are making history." After stripping the bark from a handful of specimens infested by emerald ash borers, they painted the trunks white with black dots. One at a time, the scientists trained two high-tech digital-imaging cameras on each, creating perfect 3-D computer images of the trees before arborists pulled them down with cables attached to a winch. By measuring the movement of each dot as pressure built on the tree, scientists could pinpoint areas of weakness — a great tool in helping experts determine risk assessment about how and where a tree might come down. The experiment is just one of the most recent uses of NASA science — the agency holds 907 current patents — to spin off scientific applications and even a constellation of consumer products. Those efforts include developing a nutrient contained in nearly all baby formula, strengthening the durability of bras and improving crime scene detection, to name a few. NASA experiments also have been used to develop blue-blocking sunglasses and cellphone cameras. Closer to home, the fabric roof at Navy Pier in Chicago is made from the material developed for astronaut suits more than 40 years ago. "Our primary goal is to create innovative approaches to technology transfer that benefit the American people," said Dan Lockney, who works for NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist in Washington. Melis is a longtime NASA engineer who directs the space agency's Glenn Research Center Ballistics Impact Lab in Cleveland. Much of his career has been focused on making spaceflight safer, he said. The tree experiments are based on tests designed to figure out what went wrong with the Columbia — the shuttle that disintegrated on its return to Earth in 2003, killing seven astronauts. After decades of space exploration, NASA is charting a new course in the wake of major budget cuts and a decision last year by the Obama administration to quash plans to send a manned spacecraft to Mars. But its core mission remains, Lockney said. "Partnerships with industry, academia, other government agencies and the public at large ... will be valuable tools NASA can use to meet the grand challenges the space exploration of tomorrow poses," he said. Participating in this week's Morton Arboretum experiment are scientists from France, England and Germany. "We want to know how much trees can resist wind and weather," said Gary Watson, senior research scientist at the arboretum. Because of the guesswork involved, Watson said arborists tend to "play it on the safe side," cutting down trees that pose even the slightest risk. He noted that the test trees had been overtaken by parasites and "were not long for this world." The data being collected might not constitute a "giant step for mankind." But it does have the potential to change the world of tree care by preventing the needless destruction of trees that are not likely to come crashing down on a house, car or person, Watson said. "Too many trees get taken down," he said. "Knowing when a tree is safe is the ultimate goal." StuckInTheSixties: Try actually reading some of the posts in this thread ... Oh ... without the space program, you wouldn't be able to do that ...  Silvered: I think it's a rather good investment. Back in the heyday of the Apollo program, (I don't have the exact figures pulled up atm) every $1 spent on the space program generated about $11 of growth for the US. The last figure I heard, although a good deal lower, was in the mid-2000's of about $4.50 generated in economic growth for every dollar spent towards space exploration. Besides, if it weren't for the space program, most of the modern electronics industry around the world would be years, if not decades further behind without the HUGE push for miniturization and computerization of everything that was sent into space.  Hedgie: We need to clean up this world and try to all get along BEFORE we go out into space and destroy another planet like we have done to this one.  LiptonCambell: Lol I tried giving my hedgie away for free(we were about to have a child, so it seemed like one of the worst kinda pets to have around an infant)- i ended up giving it to my step-sister, but we put up an ad on Kijiji...hundreds of responses in days.....some people are still asking for em.... Where'd you get yours? I see that you're local.... Hedgie: I dont have an actual hedgehog...its a nick name a sorely missed friend used on another site. Ive taken it as a tribute to him. | Science Chat Room Similar Conversations |
