Mars exploration

[cbwing0]

But you have to admit, this *is* a great thing, isn't it?

Of course.

[Shinja]

The Mars Rover taking amazing pictures and sending them back to Earth
from Mars. The interesting thing is the vehicle is only expected to last
90 days before it breaks down completely and falls apart. Apparently
the rover was a joint venture between NASA and Kia.

i would have said ford

[madphilb]

I was looking at some of the Mars photos on the NASA site last night... really cool when you think about how those rocks, that horizon, the hazy skyline, all that dust.... it's on ANOTHER PLANET!

By itself, those things don't look at that impressive, but when you take into consideration how far away they are..... it's almost as cool as looking at web-cams over in Japan and the land down under from here in the US.

[Bobtheduck]

<Eg. The pursuit of quantum physics - the quantum physicist is a typical "curiousity" scientist, unlike the parmaceutical scientist who has curiousity as a virtue, and uses this to drive towards preset goals that have a clear practical use in the real world. The quantum physicist's work has provided us with some awesome medical analaysis tools. Without this research, healthcare would be a long way behind what we see today.>

Isn't qauntum physics the study of alternate realities? Or is that qauntum mechanics?

<Let's stick to the discussion about the probe, you guys.>

Yeah, let's.

Quantum physics is a branch of physics saying everything is Quantifiable... It isn't in and of itself to do with alternate realities, but dimensional study (dimension does NOT mean PLACE but rather DIRECTION, or more accurately, a SET OF DIRECTIONS) is part of it...

One thing I know about Quantum physics is that of "quantum leaps" that electrons don't travel... They have only so many postitions they can be in, and they are instantly in one place or another (well, at the speed of light, but they don't "travel" in the process) Also, they can move from one set of positions to another, another "shell" as it's often called, and when that happens, they usually reset back to their starting positions, and create an electromagnetic wave... That's what I remember from Physics, but that was 4 years ago...

[Orange Kitten]

Commenting on the early posts:
Let's try not to be near-sited on space exploration. Many people are quick to say things like "I don't care 'cause by the time it happens, I'll be dead" (not just about space, but about many other issues too)

Of course we're not going to be able to be landing on and/or living on a planet anytime this generation. Nothing that big happens all at once.

This type of a job requires many baby steps such as the probes we've witnessed in the past few years and currently.

If we don't do it (because it's a waste of money, as many of you claim) then some other country (such as Russia) WILL do it. And as said before, the US (even though many of you don't live in the US) has an obligation as a nation to keep up with new technology.

How do you expect us to be living the way we see life in Sci Fi movies, such as Cowboy Bebop as someone mentioned, if we don't have these "early" explorations? Not like we'll all of a sudden hear in the papers "Family raises first child on Jupiter" (unless it's some bs tabloid) without what we're doing now.

Look at very early technology in the 1700s and 1800s...took a while to get there. Didn't happen overnight. Just cause right now we're at an exponential stage in technology, doesn't mean that everything will happen in this lifetime.

Just my two cents

[Straylight]

Definately gotta agree with you there.

[Bobtheduck]

Commenting on the early posts:
Let's try not to be near-sited on space exploration. Many people are quick to say things like "I don't care 'cause by the time it happens, I'll be dead" (not just about space, but about many other issues too)

Of course we're not going to be able to be landing on and/or living on a planet anytime this generation. Nothing that big happens all at once.

This type of a job requires many baby steps such as the probes we've witnessed in the past few years and currently.

If we don't do it (because it's a waste of money, as many of you claim) then some other country (such as Russia) WILL do it. And as said before, the US (even though many of you don't live in the US) has an obligation as a nation to keep up with new technology.

How do you expect us to be living the way we see life in Sci Fi movies, such as Cowboy Bebop as someone mentioned, if we don't have these "early" explorations? Not like we'll all of a sudden hear in the papers "Family raises first child on Jupiter" (unless it's some bs tabloid) without what we're doing now.

Look at very early technology in the 1700s and 1800s...took a while to get there. Didn't happen overnight. Just cause right now we're at an exponential stage in technology, doesn't mean that everything will happen in this lifetime.

Just my two cents

If russia does it first, more power to them. The cold war is over. We're not enemies anymore...

I don't see the need to live in space or have the "first child on Jupiter" or any of that... As for medical research? Let our allies do that... It's not like medical findings are top secret. Medical findings made in the US make their way to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, Canada, etc... Why do WE have to find them? The days of the American superiority complex should be over soon... Hopefully. Save our money for the needs of our people, and let the other interested countries make those discoveries... It will be big for countries that don't have as many discoveries under their belts as the US, and we'll reap the rewards without paying a dime.

The idea of looking for life on mars and on Jupiter... It's interesting, but serves no real purpose. It's a waste of billions that should be going to other things.

[madphilb]

Hopefully this isnt' too big for the site... Mods... clip it if it is...

Took the press photo of the landing site and croped it down to a nice size for desktop use... setup for 800x600. Enjoy, I think it looks pretty cool (I may fiddle with it more once I've got GIMP re-installed).

[Orange Kitten]

If russia does it first, more power to them. The cold war is over. We're not enemies anymore...

It's competition]
I don't see the need to live in space or have the "first child on Jupiter" or any of that...
[/quote]
Not yet. You're thinking short term. Think a little further down the road when the world is way overpopulated, or in a nuclear winter, or when we run out of natural resources. As George Carlin puts it; "the planet is fine..the PEOPLE are ****ed...the planet isn't going anywhere...WE are."

As for medical research? Let our allies do that... It's not like medical findings are top secret. Medical findings made in the US make their way to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the UK, Canada, etc... Why do WE have to find them?

The more people researching cancer, the faster it'll take to find a cure

The idea of looking for life on mars and on Jupiter... It's interesting, but serves no real purpose. It's a waste of billions that should be going to other things.

I completely disagree but won't go into it. PM if you want a battle ^_~

[Shinja]

overpopulation will never happen, currently everyone could stand togeather in the space of jacksonville a town in my home state, some say only 11% of the worlds unfrozen land is inhabited. but the real overpopulation theory killer is the fact that, even though the population of the world continues to increase, it is doing so and a decreaseing rate, and what has helped sustain the population number so far is a an increased life span due to medical and sanitary advancements, meaning before long your looking a a world where the average age will be middle aged individuals.

abortion which in america alone ends 1,500,000 lives anualy , combined with increased infertility world wide, and overpopulation plans in other contries, is severly hurting the population for the future.

in truth overpopulation only exist in cities, especilly those like in britan and in a few cities in america where the government due to enviromental regulations wont alow citizens to expand the city limits, and its almost imposible to live in the country anymore due to laws wich require enourmus parcels of land to be bought. in florida to live in the country you have to buy "X" number of acres, and the farther you go out the more land you have to buy in order to build a home. it is all trying to keep people living in cities.

[Technomancer]

Trouble with the project...

http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/01/22/spirit040122

[Straylight]

overpopulation will never happen....

This isn't true at all. The examples that you've given are mainly rich, western countries. In the third world, people have a LOT more children. There are serious population problems in these coutries despite all efforts by the government to try and control the numbers.

India is an extremely good example of this.

I think it matters less about overpopulation and more about whether people are living in the right conditions as well. The UK is very densely populated but there aren't loads of nasty diseases and famines going around. America isn't a good benchmark for population density anyway because people are distributed quite sparsely. (England is about the size of one American state yet we have 1/5th the population of America)

Anyway I seriously don't think overpopulation is a problem. All you need to do is build up. Take a look at Hong Kong and Singapore.

[Bobtheduck]

[quote="Orange Kitten"]It's competition]

1. It's human nature, but that would actually point me to "bad" not "good." Not that competition is bad, but in extremes it is.

2. I just dont' think that will happen. That can't be proven or disproven at this point, so it's conjecture, but mankind isn't going to kill themselves off. I believe biblically, and biblically this just isn't so. There will be catastrophies and great portions of the population dying, but we won't ever NEED to go to another planet.

3. But if we let others go do the research, they can do the more expensive research while we work on things that the earthbound can discover for much cheaper, but many more discoveries, as well as on much needed civil changes and budget problems... Considering Republicans have had a bad history economically and Bush isn't changing opinions in that matter, I don't think using more money to have America do something others can do is a wise thing...

4. You disagree. Well, I won't argue about it but I won't retract, soften, or water it down. I think looking for life on other planets is worthless, and the entire reason that it is being done is to disprove the Bible. They're really looking for the scientific Rosetta stone that will show them what they think they've been missing to put the final nail in the religious coffin... The one thing that will prove to everyone that God doesn't exist... That he didn't make life and mankind. And, it sounds like an academic Jihad to me.

BTW: I only said that about Bush because I support him for other reasons. Money isn't the prime thing on my mind, but he won't get elected unless he shows some more wisdom with the economical situation. I suppose there's not point to arguing politics, but I don't feel I'm doing that, just expressing an opinion...

[Orange Kitten]

3. But if we let others go do the research, they can do the more expensive research while we work on things that the earthbound can discover for much cheaper,

So basically you believe in the "let others do the harder work" Even though we might be more "physically fit" to do it ]
the entire reason that it is being done is to disprove the Bible. The one thing that will prove to everyone that God doesn't exist... That he didn't make life and mankind
[/QUOTE]
Yes, the ONLY reason NASA exists is to disprove God. That is their motive for living. They have no love for science whatsoever, they're just hardcore atheists. *note the sarcasm* :-P