Why aren't we in space yet!

[Crewman47]

I'm not talking about the odd orbital trip, the spacestation, the one or two trips to the Moon and the satellites that we've launched, I'm talking about manned missions beyond the Solar System.

Apologies if it's been asked before and if what I'm about to ask is already being done, but would it help the space program if instead of locally funding each program (USA, Europe, China and Russia), would it not be better if we combined our resources and globally funded the space program? Wouldn't we then be able to build bigger and faster ships and even begin manned missions beyond our own system within the next five years rather than the way it's done (I'm assuming) that's going to take us at least 10 years to 50 years or so till we get outside the system?

Again sorry if I'm wrong in assuming anything.

 

[Deckerd]

Your problem would be finding anyone who wanted to spend and end their life, and commit their offspring unto several generations to the same, drifting through the void.

 

[Computer]

Unless you can prove there is oil in space and get it hear cheaply then I doubt the government holds space in very high priority.

It really all boils down to politics, as much of a Bush hating Democrat as anyone I was prepared to fully support his idea when he called for new manned missions to the moon. I wasnt only ready to support the idea I was rediculously excited at the concept of my generation having the opportunity to experience a similar feeling as my parents did when Armstrong first set foot on the moon.

For ALL his faults that was an incredibly bold and ballsy move relative to modern politicians.

Sadly that fizzled out a couple weeks later and I havent heard anything about it since.

More directly to your point however I always thought the UN should operate a global space agency (granted with allot of restructuring)

As in Star Trek I think humans need a collective dream and hope, space is really the only thing that can provide that vast sense of world community and cooperation.

 

[flux_29]

we most likley would if not for the hundreds of years science was outlawed as hericy.

 

[FrankR]

To be honest, it will be far longer than 50 years before we leave the solar system. If I were optimistic about it I'd say 5,000 years.

At to why we're not in space, pushing for a space program never got anyone elected president. So very few politicians are willing to push toward it. And the ones looking for a 'cause' will point at NASA as a "waste of money" and move to get it's budget cut.

The reality is we're not going to space anytime soon, because earth is too comfortable and most people are too conservative.

by way of an example, look at emigration to the Americas.
-Columbus "discovered" America: 1492CE
-First European settlement: 1565CE (St Augustine Florida)

That's over 75 years, and they didn't have to bring their entire infrastructure with them. Food for a few months travel time, Cloths, and Tools. That's about it. They didn't need to bring fuel, (wind got them there, native wood was burned once they arrived)

Contrast that with space travel:
-You need to bring along your fuel (for a round trip).
-You need to bring along your food (stored or have room to grow the food).
-You need to re-cycle your waste (or you run out of food)
-You need to generate the power to run the ship/base.
-You need to bring your own shelter. (No trees to cut down)
-You need to bring along repair supplies.

What I'm saying is it was much easier to to go from Europe to America in 1500 then from Earth to <insert space destination of your choice> in 2007. And it still took them almost 100 years before real attempts were made.

-frank

 

[Earl]

No power source to travel that far. What's the use of Men going outside the solar system if it takes decades to just get out of the neighborhood?

Some times we get confused by the fictional time line in Star Trek.

 

[Neopeius]

Crewman47 said:
I'm not talking about the odd orbital trip, the spacestation, the one or two trips to the Moon and the satellites that we've launched, I'm talking about manned missions beyond the Solar System.

Apologies if it's been asked before and if what I'm about to ask is already being done, but would it help the space program if instead of locally funding each program (USA, Europe, China and Russia), would it not be better if we combined our resources and globally funded the space program? Wouldn't we then be able to build bigger and faster ships and even begin manned missions beyond our own system within the next five years rather than the way it's done (I'm assuming) that's going to take us at least 10 years to 50 years or so till we get outside the system?

Again sorry if I'm wrong in assuming anything.

1) Too expensive

2) No, pooling resources would not be effective.

3) There is no technology which can be developed in five years which would propel a ship 40 A.U. in under a decade.

We can't even develop a cost-effective orbital spacecraft. Missions beyond the solar system are in the realm of eternal youth and teleportation.

 

[The Mule]

in the 1950s we had pretty much everything you needed to build an Orion Drive ship. if we had done it then, such a ship could have reached Alpha Centauri by now. of course a few people would die from nuclear fallout from the Orion Drive being engaged in our atmosphere...

 

[Neopeius]

The technology didn't exist in the 50's. It might have been developed in the 60s except, politically, it was suicide to lob a ship which used A-bombs for fuel into orbit.

I know the motto was "Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970" but I've heard lots of cute expressions like that, none of which have panned out. Either way, if it would take months to reach Saturn, which is only a billion miles away, such a ship certainly wouldn't have been able to reach Alpha Centauri in forty years.

 

[Spider]

Until we learn to get around the law of physics as we now understand them, traveling to other star systems will remain only in scifi stories.

 

[Brent]

Well, we do have nuclear power, and ion drives. A nuclear powered ion drive would be pretty fast. The problem is money to build it.

 

[Samurai8472]

you ask why we aren't in space yet? well its because of those damn Vulcans and their logical mind

 

[Spider]

Brent said:
Well, we do have nuclear power, and ion drives. A nuclear powered ion drive would be pretty fast. The problem is money to build it.

All that still runs in normal space, not even close to light speed, so it still takes a very LONG time to get anywhere.

It took New Horizons (a very fast craft comparied to some our of probes) 14 months to get to Jupiter. But because of the distance, it won't get to Pluto until 2015.

 

[scotthm]

Crewman47 said:
I'm talking about manned missions beyond the Solar System.

Why? You tell me why we should be sending men out beyond our solar system. There is no reason at all to do so, that's why it isn't being done.

---------------

 

[Brent]

Spider said:

Brent said:
Well, we do have nuclear power, and ion drives. A nuclear powered ion drive would be pretty fast. The problem is money to build it.

All that still runs in normal space, not even close to light speed, so it still takes a very LONG time to get anywhere.

It took New Horizons (a very fast craft comparied to some our of probes) 14 months to get to Jupiter. But because of the distance, it won't get to Pluto until 2015.

Yes, I know, but we need nuclear just to properly explore our own solar system, and of course something way beyond that to go extrasolar.

Honestly, we really need fusion to properly explore and colonize our own solar system, not to even speak of going outside it, but nuclear fission is the best thing we have right now, so....

We have nuclear power and ion drives, they should built a fleet of nuclear powered ships so we can explore and colonize our own solar system.

Why don't we have it?

Money

It all comes down to that green stuff unfortunately, money is holding back our exploration and colonization of space

 

[Spider]

scotthm said:

Crewman47 said:
I'm talking about manned missions beyond the Solar System.

Why? You tell me why we should be sending men out beyond our solar system. There is no reason at all to do so, that's why it isn't being done.

---------------

We have the tech to do this, if someone wants to spend the billions upon billions of dollars to build a self sustaining environment for the crew. You would have to go about this with the idea of building a permanent home in space, which means gravity, total recycling of everything, and the ability to somehow find and refine fuel. Yes we can do that now, but at what cost?

Just the idea of the cost involved of sending men on a return trip to Mars is beyond our budget as it is, let alone this. Humans aren’t going anywhere except low Earth orbit and the moon for quite some time.

The human race would have to have a sudden change in their priorities, and that isn't happening anytime soon either.

 

[Brent]

money money money

damn money for holding us back

 

[Spider]

Brent said:
money money money

damn money for holding us back

I would rather spend the money on cleaning up the only home we have right now, rather than this. As it is, we are getting pretty good with our probes. The Saturn Cassini mission is an outstanding success, as was the somewhat crippled Galileo Jupiter mission. Not to even mention those rovers on Mars that are still working. Although I am against it, there will probably be a sample return mission to Mars within 10 to 15 years.

 

[Brent]

Probes are great, but nothing beats manned missions in space, it is just something man HAS to do.

Even for probes though, faster propulsion is always welcomed. I am impressed with what they are doing with ion drive engines, but to really show their potential they need a lot more energy behind them. I am all for nuclear powered ion propulsion.

 

[Bill Morris]

It has to be done with antimatter, and not necessarily antiprotons. Positrons are easier to produce and deal with, and research on that is going on. Getting that working could make space travel a lot easier, at least within our solar system.

A company that is doing research in this area is called Positronics Research LLC.

LINK