How we blew a $700 quintillion opportunity
donsurber.blogspot.com,
by
Don Surber
Original Article
Posted By: Chris Jr.,
6/28/2019 1:06:21 PM
This summer's 50th anniversary of America landing a man on the moon depresses me because we so quickly gave up on space.
We should have been to Mars, Venus and one of Jupiter's moons by now.
Instead, Democrats pulled the plug on manned space exploration. They said the money could be better spent here on Earth fixing our problems.
They were wrong.
Reply 1 - Posted by:
zephyrgirl 6/28/2019 1:24:41 PM (No. 108970)
Actually, we have explored all the planets including Pluto - only by unmanned satellites, a much more economic approach. The New Horizon (satellite) mission to Pluto took 12 years, and Cassini to Saturn to 6 years. Given the distances and time involved, manned exploration is out of the question with today's technology. It would be a suicide mission. A manned mission to Mars would take at least a year round trip, and most likely longer due to the relative orbits of the Earth and Mars. Until someone develops a warp drive, manned space travel is limited to the moon.
5 people like this.
Beam me up, Scotty!
s/
2 people like this.
This is what happens when government is the vehicle of choice for "commercial opportunities" and sole access. And if that asteroid holds a $700 quintillion value in today's commodity markets, one can be assured that the value would prove much less after flooding those markets with "massive quantities of gold, iron and nickel." The exploitation of space belongs to private investment.
3 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
klezmer 6/28/2019 1:42:09 PM (No. 108999)
Gold has the value today because of supply and demand. If there was suddenly a massive supply of it, the value would drop... massively.
3 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
A.I. 6/28/2019 1:50:00 PM (No. 109006)
A quote from the British publication, Telegraph, dated July 6, 2010: "The head of the Nasa has said Barack Obama told him to make 'reaching out to the Muslim world' one of the space agency's top priorities.
There you go!
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/space/7875584/Barack-Obama-Nasa-must-try-to-make-Muslims-feel-good.html
2 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
hoosierblue 6/28/2019 3:24:20 PM (No. 109058)
We should put off more moon trips and voyages to Mars, etc and concentrate on being able to destroy or deflect meteorites that could impact Earth and entirely destroy our planet.
1 person likes this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
Rumblehog 6/28/2019 3:54:38 PM (No. 109096)
The Federal funding hogs would have bloated up NASA and done nothing, just like all other government bureaucracies. There's little value in sending "men" on a death mission outside lunar orbit. Cosmic rays, micro-meteorites, health effects of extended zero gravity, all would kill in due time.
There's little sense in even going back to the moon, and the ONLY reason we would do it would be to send a: 1) woman, 2) black man, 3) black woman, 4) hispanic, 5) trans-gender, .... Going back into space exploration is only about making up for what liberals see as America's discrimination in our space program.
Send robots instead. At least then we all get the benefit of the developed technology into things like medicine, fire-fighting, law enforcement, etc.
2 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
red1066 6/28/2019 4:04:19 PM (No. 109105)
Just got done reading about the restored mission control room used for Apollo missions. Those were exciting times. Now look at today. We stopped flying the one vehicle to get people into space before there was a replacement which leaves us having to hitch a ride on our once space rival's rocket to get to OUR space station. Nice going Obozo and the Socialists garbage ruining our country. Yes unmanned vehicles are less expensive, but being there is just better. Any country can put an unmanned vehicle into space, even India, but putting people into space is a sign of a country's advanced technology. Something that kept this country safe for decades.
2 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
HotRod 6/28/2019 4:06:27 PM (No. 109107)
''Actually, we have explored all the planets including Pluto - only by unmanned satellites, a much more economic approach.''
To me, that is about like having telephone sex! It may be better than nothing, depending on your desires, but it is far from the real thing!
2 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
bad-hair 6/28/2019 4:43:26 PM (No. 109139)
Yep. I usually agree with Mr. Surber, but supply and demand determine value. Overload the world with gold and its value is determined by actual usefulness, not rarity. Before you drag this thing back to Earth the price of gold will drop to 2 cents an ounce.
1 person likes this.
Below, you will find ...
Most Recent Articles posted by "Chris Jr."
and
Most Active Articles (last 48 hours)
Comments:
Some "Interesting" Thoughts/ideas here...