Re: Sickening Discussion

qed100_at_hotmail.com
Date: 01/03/05 

Date: 2 Jan 2005 22:08:34 -0800

hpywife927@yahoo.com wrote:

> NOW, let me explain: First, I tried arguing with them (not in the
> normative sense, but in the philosophical sense); it got nowhere.
> Next, I agree, exploration of the Jovian system is probably best
> unmanned AT THIS POINT. However, the discussion centered around
> whether or not to return to the Moon, whether manned missions to Mars
> were necessary, and the like. In that respect, in my opinion, it is
> WASTING the lives that were lost which were in pursuit of such
> endeavors to say robots are a far better use of money.

So what you're saying, by implication, is that... if people have given
their lives in the past, we owe it to them as a matter of honor to give
even more lives in the future. What you are saying, is that we must not
learn from experience.

Fact is that 99.999...9% of the Universe will NEVER be set foot upon by
living human astronauts. NEVER. It's simply too large to be otherwise.
So it's a given that the general 'geographical' exploration of the
world will be done remotely, with probes, with telescopes, etc. In
fact, that's the way we always go about exploring- with instruments.
Telescopes, microscopes, particle accelerators, cameras, gravimeters;
it's all instruments. What do the astronauts do? They operate the
instruments.

You think that it's an insult to astronauts to give them pink slips?
What about all the ingenious individuals who create ever better
instruments? Isn't it an insult to them, and even to the general
ingenuity of humanity, to say that killing astronauts is more honorable
than making a machine to do it just as well? Remember, astronauts go
NOWHERE without the engineers to begin with. Astronauts don't design &
build rockets.

There's never been an astronaut in history who did anything on the job
other than execute someone else's program of research. Never.
Astronauts are not good hero-material. They are not good role models.
They are adventurers, and the reason we all want to be astronauts too
is because we envy their rare adventures, to ride powerful rockets and
see first hand new places in the world.

I'm 100% in favor of all the exploration that we, as a civilisation,
can afford. I'm 100% in favor of incorporating paid adventurers
(astrotechnicians) into the whole program of exploration to suppliment
gaps in our probe technology. Overall, exploration is an investment,
and the dividends paid are increases in our knowledge of the whole
world.

But the dividends MUST be profit. We cannot afford to operate at a
constant loss. The space shuttle & ISS are MONEY PITS. They suck down
both cash *AND* people, i.e.: astronauts get killed from time to time.

But for what? What are they getting killed for? The only research being
carried out on the shuttle & ISS... is related to perpetuating the
shuttle & ISS!!! There is NO important science being done on these
spacecraft. None. In the mean time, an entire fleet of UNMANNED
spacecraft are scouring the world, paying off handsomely.

-Mark Martin

Relevant Pages

  • NASAs Newest Explorers Become Astronauts (Forwarded)
    ... NASA's Newest Explorers Become Astronauts ... the Vision for Space Exploration, ... space shuttle and International Space Station systems training. ... Mission Specialist-Educator Richard Arnold: Space station branch and ...
    (sci.space.news)
  • Space exploration from a shirtsleeve environment
    ... Our idea of lunar exploration entirely mimics earth activities. ... The lunar lander encapsulates the astronauts. ... We already have a lot of experience with such vehicles ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: The future of Lunar exploration?
    ... Soon we wouldnt need many astronauts for space exploration, ... explorers will be robotnauts:) CMU is working on giving them AI ...
    (sci.space.policy)