Re: Barack Obama Publishes His Space Policy

Fred J. McCall wrote:
jacob navia <jacob@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
:
:But even if it is possible to send humans to the moon, progress in
:robotics and computers make such a trip unnecessary since we can
:travel around in the moon using robots much cheaper than going
:in person.
:

And if you want to send toasters to space rather than people, that's
the perfect position.

Now remove your agenda and try again.

:
:Humans can't survive in the moon for longer periods (3-4 weeks or
:more) if they have no radiation shielding. BEFORE humans go to
:the moon they need to build the moon station using robots, THEN,
:longer trips to the moon are possible.
:

Silly. Even if your 3-4 week claim is right, there's a whole
Moon-load of rock and such there. Ever heard of 'craters' and
'caves'?



Obviously you just go into a moon cave and make a good fire,
you hunt around for food, and live from the land...

Look man, can you think a bit seriously?

Even if you find a good cave (you have to FIND it first using
robots), you have to construct a whole environment for humans
in that place:

o air-tight so that humans can breathe.
o with enough water and food so that humans can live for a
while
o With enough "amenities" so that they do not go crazy:
showers, waste disposal, communications, fuel, solar
panels, and a big ETC!

All that must be there BEFORE the humans arrive. Or you
are seriously considering sending astronauts with shovels
to the moon? How they could survive when constructing
the moon base if there is no moon base yet?

It is obvious that sending construction workers to the
moon in temporary habitats carried at great expense from
earth is so silly nobody is seriously considering that.

NASA, by the way, is not even considering a moon base
at all.

:
:Radio delay to the moon is just 1 second, short enough to make
:very easy driving a robot there.
:

Not so much, no. Try walking across the room and examining objects
doing a 'step-look' sequence of a second for each one. See how long
just exploring the room takes.


You get used to it in 1-2 hours practice.

:
:My point is: robotic missions allows us to explore NOW, and
:develop the technology to enable the trips to space by humans
:LATER.
:

But what are we exploring for if people aren't going? Exploring can
wait in that case and we can kill planetary science for the
foreseeable future.

You are not interested in knowledge or science. You just
want to send people there, and there is a lot of profit
to be made (not by you of course) in doing that, that is
why sending humans is proposed by certain people.

Personally, I do not give a dam about some guys jumping around
in the moon. I am interested in exploration and science.

I know, that is very old fashioned and not so "gee-whiz".
But, as said, I do not care about people getting disappointed.


--
jacob navia
jacob at jacob point remcomp point fr
logiciels/informatique
http://www.cs.virginia.edu/~lcc-win32
.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Barack Obama Publishes His Space Policy
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