Space travel

[Steezie]

Should our planet invest in space travel?

Considering the vast ammount of resources space travel requires and the vast array of problems on our own planet, should we focus on using these resources to better our own world first?

Personally I think space travel is a noble goal and potentially beneficial to mankind, however we have far too many problems on our own world that needs resources.

 

[Shemjaza]

Personally I think space travel is a noble goal and potentially beneficial to mankind, however we have far too many problems on our own world that needs resources.

I agree 100%.

I just hope I live long enough to see humanity get out of this hole we're currently in, clean up our lifestyles, clean up our mess and then get on with the exploring the cosmos.

 

[ImaginaryVoyager]

Hmmmmmm. I'm not so sure it's a competing situation. Can we not continue to develop aerospace technologies while still working on improving the planet. I think that in some cases, such as more efficient food production, better fuel sources, etc. that they can compliment eachother.

I do agree that the ills of Earth should take priority, but I think we should, and can work on both concurrently.

I'd rather see us quit spending on warfare technology than space travel, but I'm just a dreamer..........

 

[Paulos23]

If we want to continue with our current biological freedoms (i.e. unlimited population grouth), we need to look at going out to space. The planet can only handle so much, even with current improvingments in farming and recycling we are along way from being able to substain our current world population growth.

 

[Vylo]

Too many people, we need to spread out, and geologically speaking, fast.

 

[Robbie_James_Francis]

I think space travel is good and important and, if I'm not mistaken, it was journeying into space that allowed us to identify many underground wellsprings in Africa, with obviously benefits to local villages. However, I certainly agree that we have to be very careful to ensure that humanity's permanent short and long term wellbeing is by far the utmost priority.

peace

 

[jayem]

It we have to prioritize spending on science, my preference would be to support research into substance addiction. Some or our thorniest social problems--crime, urban decay, and health care costs, to name a few--are directly or indirectly related to chemical dependency. And I include alcohol and tobacco addiction, which have enormous medical and personal costs. Despite all the counseling, rehab centers, 12 step programs, etc, we still don't have efficient and reliably effective treatment for these problems. Mainly because we don't understand how the brain acquires and maintains chemical dependence. If we could figure out the physiologic mechanisms involved in addiction, and learn how to safely block them at the neural level, it would be, beyond a doubt, the greatest advance in public health since the discovery of antibiotics.

 

[LouTheWicked]

To infinity and beyond.

 

[Voegelin]

Personally I think space travel is a noble goal and potentially beneficial to mankind, however we have far too many problems on our own world that needs resources.

If resources are going to be left with those who earned and own them, then junk the manned space program.

If the goal is to take all that money being spent over there in manned space flight and move it to some social program over here then put more men and women into cans and toss them into orbit or to Mars.

It is less dangerous.

 

[EnemyPartyII]

The dinosaurs are extinct because they did not invest sufficiently in their space program

 

[meebs]

Should our planet invest in space travel?

Considering the vast ammount of resources space travel requires and the vast array of problems on our own planet, should we focus on using these resources to better our own world first?

Personally I think space travel is a noble goal and potentially beneficial to mankind, however we have far too many problems on our own world that needs resources.

i agree.

i think its worth investing in because of our limited resources. We need more space (pardon the pun >.< ) If we could colonise we could provide more space and grow more resources down here on Earth too, and bear in mind more space for the rest of its inhabitants.

Hypothetically of course. I think its a part of the solution, not the problem into providing help for those who need it on Earth.

There are many other reason why i think space travel would be beneficial - though i can also think of cons too.

 

[Steezie]

To those who think we need space travel in order to create more space to live, do you think there is enough time to fully develop a safe, affordable, effective, and fast way to colonize other worlds and make a liveable place before we reached critical mass of population here on Earth and our food and water supplies ran short?

 

[meebs]

To those who think we need space travel in order to create more space to live, do you think there is enough time to fully develop a safe, affordable, effective, and fast way to colonize other worlds and make a liveable place before we reached critical mass of population here on Earth and our food and water supplies ran short?

Sadly i think that time is running out swiftly, we might make it and colonise at some point, and actually im surprisingly quite confident - but this may occur after. seems we still have much research to do and its a shame we've decided manned missions are not much of a priority. I mean we could have started having bases on the moon for example and started research there already. Experimented with hydroponics, mining, engineering...

Seriously, staying on this planet the way we are is like putting all your eggs in one basket.

Like i said before - there are other reasons for space travel.

There is another way but that would be hard to do and run out quickly and still cost money. Make places in our oceans. Yes i know sounds crazy.

 

[tocis]

Personally I think space travel is a noble goal and potentially beneficial to mankind, however we have far too many problems on our own world that needs resources.

Basically right.
On the other hand, until we have a self-sufficient colony somewhere in space, we have all our eggs in the same basket. If tomorrow a large asteroid should impact, or big bad Yellowstone erupt (no, ERUPT), et cetera, humankind will be but a footnote of history. A colony on Mars, or a planet orbiting Proxima Centauri, or wherever else, will give us a backup base to re-start from.
Unless you don't care a flying (beep) about the fate of our species, that's (sadly) of quite some concern.

 

[Allister]

it seems that the fate of space travel is now in the hands of corporations such as Virgin Galactic.

I believe this is the quickest and safest way of space travel. in the near future we shall have orbiting hotels and regular space flights. how long before Richard Branson sets his sights upon the moon.

 

[Voegelin]

If we must toss people into space, limit it to people under 5 feet tall and under 100 pounds. We can put three of them in space for what one NFL tackle would cost.

 

[Spherical Time]

To infinity and beyond.

I find that I agree with this response, even though I know where it comes from.

To infinity and beyond.

 

[~A.Pure.Heart~]

Should our planet invest in space travel?

Considering the vast ammount of resources space travel requires and the vast array of problems on our own planet, should we focus on using these resources to better our own world first?

Personally I think space travel is a noble goal and potentially beneficial to mankind, however we have far too many problems on our own world that needs resources.

Yes.

I understand your argument about the problems on earth needing to be fixed first. And wouldn't money spent on space exploration etc. be put to a better use. But, let's face it...if there were a surplus of money, do you really think the world would spend it on fixing the world?

Mankind just does not care about fixing anything. People throw trash on the ground. Don't recycle. Waste and throw away everything. Spend hours a day on the computer or television. Drive to the corner to pick up their mail instead of walking there on their own fossel fuel free power. We as a species, use all kinds of fossel fuels that burn up the ozone layer. The polar ice caps are melting. The coastal regions will be under water soon. The weather's changing dramatically. Whole species of animals are losing their natural habitat. We're headed for a cataclysmic end. And do we as a species care about fixing it?

**I take this time to remind you that you're on a computer talking about this...computers use electricity. Electricity creates the Carbon Dioxide that is burning up the ozone layer.**

We're killing this planet. So yes, I would like to think that before we do, we'll figure out how to get off this rock!

 

[Voegelin]

Mankind just does not care about fixing anything. People throw trash on the ground. Don't recycle. Waste and throw away everything...

It is taught that way in government schools but recycling is not a good in itself. It can and had has been a waste of resources.

There are roughly six times the number of people on the planet as there was 100 years ago. There is more of everything. People are healthier, the air and water is cleaner and there is more wealth and leisure time than our ancestors could have dreamed of.

Yet some preach we are doomed.

How odd.

 

[ScMay]

I understand your argument about the problems on earth needing to be fixed first.

"If we wait for the moment when everything, absolutely everything is ready, we shall never begin."- Ivan Turgenev, I think this is rather appropriate. Yes we have bad things on Earth that need fixing, but we will ALWAYS have something bad happening (it just might be less so than now, just like the problems today are less severe than they were 100's of years ago)

And wouldn't money spent on space exploration etc. be put to a better use.

Depends what that use is. At present I don't think space exploration money is spent efficiently but that is a problem with the goals NASA has in y opinion. Space exploration is a long term investment into our future, it will have little return for decades but eventually it will pay up and it will pay up BIG for whoever invested in it. There are many valuable resources in space that could help us on earth an help us spread from earth, removing the whole 'all the eggs in one basket' problem. Earth NEEDS this and while we have problems here today we should not be short sighted and ignore the problems of tomorrow.

Electricity creates the Carbon Dioxide that is burning up the ozone layer.

This is a little nit picky but CO2 doesn't deplete the Ozone layer, its a greenhouse gas and contributes to global warming. In fact western countries have largely phasd out ozone depleting emissions and in a few decades we will hopefully see the ozone hole disapear (atm all the stuff we pumped out is still up there and it last a long time). Its the greenhouse effect that is the problem and in many countries there is a growing awareness in the voting population that governments should do something to fix this (It happened a while ago in some countries and is just starting now in Australia, the US is lagging a bit but could change)