G-spotter Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 Same name as the earlier project that would have used nukes for propulsion. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29 Quote
Fairweather Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 The race is on! (That is, will we middle-aged folks live to see humans set foot on Mars.) Quote
ivan Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 4 years to the next test flight? - jesus, god knows i love the dream but what a half-hearted hand-job - why not pump the program up to apollo levels of funding (shit, in an age where anger-riots seem as in the offing as they once were in the 60s, mayhap the space program could again offer reprieve to those pent up passions?) Quote
ivan Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 emmigration has always been the solution for human political woes - it didn't happen by accident that the human-bean done went and sprouted all of the world after its humble african origins - we ain't ever been able to put up w/ each others shit, so spread we did, always over the next hill, the next ocean, the next desert, wahtever it took to get the fuck away from grandpa - the problem is we done run out of world to wreck - time to move the malice on to maelstrom above us! Quote
Fairweather Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 Well now, Mars ain't exactly the Hoh fucking Rainforest. Quote
Fairweather Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 emmigration has always been the solution for human political woes - it didn't happen by accident that the human-bean done went and sprouted all of the world after its humble african origins - we ain't ever been able to put up w/ each others shit, so spread we did, always over the next hill, the next ocean, the next desert, wahtever it took to get the fuck away from grandpa - the problem is we done run out of world to wreck - time to move the malice on to maelstrom above us! Not sure this is entirely true. I think human nature and the desire to find out what's over the next hill had more to do with it than being pissed off at the patriarch. In fact, human culture typically became more stratified as humans began living in more hostile climes. At least until the Enlightenment and Protestant work ethic partially freed us from the tyranny of the preacher--and our own fucking families. Quote
tvashtarkatena Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 NASA's budget is 1/12 (as a percentage of GDP) of what it was during Apollo, so there's that. Still, it's hard to imagine that outsourcing things to the Chinese wouldn't get a big ole project like this done faster, but the UI might not be as quite as groovy. I've got to wonder if the Moon, Mars, and an asteroid or two will be our only options for meat puppet visitation in this neck of the woods. That's probably as far as we'll get before the robots come for us. Quote
Fairweather Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 (edited) It's a conflict, for sure. Probes are much more bang for the buck. Then there's always that whole absurd distances speed of light limit thing. So, we get to Mars. Then what? We're still no closer to the nearest habitable world--wherever it is. The robots will have to suck out the code of our souls and carry us across the void in mechanized form. It's a long fucking trip. :: Edited December 6, 2014 by Fairweather Quote
ivan Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 don't mater how far you travel, the universe likely still has an expiration date Quote
Fairweather Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 Like, if it's real at all: http://www.cnet.com/news/is-the-universe-a-2d-hologram-fermilab-intends-to-find-out/ Quote
G-spotter Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 Still, it's hard to imagine that outsourcing things to the Chinese wouldn't get a big ole project like this done faster, but the UI might not be as quite as groovy. I'll take Opportunity & Curiosity over Yutu any day. Quote
ivan Posted December 6, 2014 Posted December 6, 2014 sure, though the jade wabbit wasn't too bad for a very new space power, no? shame there ain't no worlds worth conquering in our neighborhood, might give us earthlings something to agree on Quote
G-spotter Posted December 8, 2014 Posted December 8, 2014 (edited) there ain't no worlds worth conquering in our neighborhood, it's hard for any terrestrial power to fight back against a space-based power; falling rock killed the dinosaurs, right? more like we still have no idea how to live sustainably down here let alone up there think about how fucked up Biosphere 2.0 would have been if it was in orbit Edited December 8, 2014 by G-spotter Quote
ivan Posted December 8, 2014 Posted December 8, 2014 more like we still have no idea how to live sustainably down here.... all the more reason to find someplace new to ride hard n' put away wet pronto, no? Quote
Choada_Boy Posted December 8, 2014 Author Posted December 8, 2014 None of this will matter anyways, after we build the Higgs Machine on the moon and inadvertently call The Other from beyond. Quote
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