[NEWS] nasa eyes urstar fish for missions in 2030s

[SeventhSandwich]

I'm only interested in science as far as it allows us to get cool stuff and have cool homes in cool places.

Well, science and engineering are kind of inseparable at this point, so you'll get that no matter what. Remember though that NASA's engineering feats are driven by scientific curiosity, so if you want people on Mars you're going to have to let them do their research.

I'm willing to bet that had we not undergone the rapid technological advancements that came as a side effect of World War II, our current level of technology would be on par with the 1970s or 1980s.

Probably? But NASA is itself evidence that careful government spending can produce comparable tech booms to a war that killed off 3% of the world population. Something to consider I guess.

[Ad Bot]

[Planr]

Well, science and engineering are kind of inseparable at this point, so you'll get that no matter what. Remember though that NASA's engineering feats are driven by scientific curiosity, so if you want people on Mars you're going to have to let them do their research.

I guess you could say, you gotta let Jimbo do his math homework before he can pass the class

Probably? But NASA is itself evidence that careful government spending can produce comparable tech booms to a war that killed off 3% of the world population. Something to consider I guess.

The only reason NASA has been so successful, let alone that it even exists, is because of the cold war. It only took just under 11 years after it was founded, in the dead heat of competition with the Soviets, for NASA to land us on the moon. The communists were so embarrassed by what we had acheived they tucked tail and never went to the moon.

The spirit of competition is the cornerstone engine of civilization's progression.

[SeventhSandwich]

The only reason NASA has been so successful, let alone that it even exists, is because of the cold war. It only took just under 11 years after it was founded, in the dead heat of competition with the Soviets, for NASA to land us on the moon. The communists were so embarrassed by what we had acheived they tucked tail and never went to the moon.

I don't think we've seen a massive stall in progress just because we aren't on the brink of nuking each other anymore. On the contrary, I think organizations like the ESA and NASA have managed to become even more productive by working collaboratively and peacefully. It's true that their history is rooted in wartime competition, but so much has been done in times of peace.

I'm very excited to see what India's fledgling space program will accomplish. They've already managed to develop similar technologies, but on a much more efficient and cheaper scale given a significantly tighter budget. This kind of work is very important as we start sending people really deep into space, where a depression or a cut in funding might literally mean leaving people stranded or without proper support.

http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-29341850

[Drydess]

maybe we could reallocate some of the ridiculous military fund to research

the thing about this is that the branch of the air force that actually launches and builds for nasa is extremely underbudgeted (or rather mismanaged), so that wouldn't particularly help

[Red Spy]

maybe we could reallocate some of the ridiculous military fund to research

we spend as much if not more on social security can we ditch that too

[Drydess]

we spend as much if not more on social security can we ditch that too

no because social security is frankly more important

[SeventhSandwich]

we spend as much if not more on social security can we ditch that too

but it's overwhelmingly more popular and successful.

Military spending is obviously important, but I think most people would agree it's grown to a degree that's no longer justifiable.

[beachbum111111]

It's a double-edged sword. Military spending does produce spin-off technologies in the same way that NASA does. It's just that nothing really gets the jingoistic fever of an overweight congressman going more than a nice missile or aircraft carrier. Same can't be said about better space tech :(

See if we were allowed to militarize space tech this wouldn't be a problem. But no cold war era laws get in the way of that. I hope your looking forward too never seeing us colonize another planet

[Nonnel]

the thing about this is that the branch of the air force that actually launches and builds for nasa is extremely underbudgeted (or rather mismanaged), so that wouldn't particularly help

reallocate money to fund NASA and NASA-supporting entities, then, honky

we spend as much if not more on social security can we ditch that too

I don't see how there's even a problem with social security. Everyone gets out what they pay in, so shouldn't it be fine? Is the gov taking money out to use on other stuff and not being able to put it back?

[Drydess]

See if we were allowed to militarize space tech this wouldn't be a problem. But no cold war era laws get in the way of that. I hope your looking forward too never seeing us colonize another planet

man if we could militarize space tech and someone decided it would be a good idea to shoot someone else's satellite, there'd be a metric assload of debris in orbit of us

[SeventhSandwich]

See if we were allowed to militarize space tech this wouldn't be a problem. But no cold war era laws get in the way of that. I hope your looking forward too never seeing us colonize another planet

If this is satire like I think it is, then you're spot-on lol.

man if we could militarize space tech and someone decided it would be a good idea to shoot someone else's satellite, there'd be a metric assload of debris in orbit of us

A kessler syndrome scenario would basically render us incapable of ever leaving Earth, unless we can come up with some sort of ship that's resistant to 20,000mph missiles flying around everywhere.

[Deus Ex]

maybe we could reallocate some of the ridiculous military fund to research

That'd be nice
Maybe after we don't have to spend money defending other countries while they bolster their own social programs we can change up the military budget
That's wishful thinking though, knowing our gov't the military budget will always be bloated

[Juncoph]

it's also virtually impossible, in terms of engineering, to make a vehicle that goes to Urstar fish and captures methane from the atmosphere, escapes the planet's gravity well, and then returns back to Earth, having gathered enough fuel to make the entire trip economically worthwhile.

asteroid mining and stuff seems cool but I have virtually no faith that we will ever see commercial resource gathering in space. It is simply too expensive to put things in space, and there's no known way to take things super heavy and return them to the surface without them exploding.

that wasn't the point i was addressing

WW2 brought several new technologies, including nuclear power and aircraft technology, but that doesn't mean that the war was a good thing. Spending billions of dollars to build spacecraft and fuel for it to fly around and gather information is a waste of money. It'd be better spent actually building the new technologies like the list of things NASA built, not funding a useless mission that will sprout technologies as an accidental biproduct

I guess in the name of discovery, checking out urstar fish is a good thing, but at this exact moment we don't have any need for methane or anything urstar fish can provide. Even though it can fuel things like cars, the combustion isn't complete enough for it to be sustainable, and that money that could be spent on gathering methane can be better spent on developing more sustainable and cleaner energy options. In the end, it's an objective waste of money. It does provide some profit and gain, but the amount spent on gathering it is far greater than what's being returned

are you really comparing a science organization to ww2