Chronology Current Month Current Thread Current Date
[Year List] [Month List (current year)] [Date Index] [Thread Index] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Date Prev] [Date Next]

Re: [Phys-l] A solid round of boo to NASA



Hi all-
This is silly. It is silly because it presumes, without much apparent thought, that the way to colonize a planet, presumably at a distance between a few tens to a few thousands of human lifetimes away,
is to attempt to colonize our moon and Mars. The presumption is unsupported by rational human thought and is supported, at best, by current comic strips. If we were to take the mission seriously, the money would be much better fractionally spent, on a couple of decades of rationale planning on how to accomplish such a mission.
Regards,
Jack


On Fri, 30 Mar 2007, Rick Tarara wrote:

No boos from me. The faster we develop the technology and then actually
deploy it to have a colony of humans housed elsewhere than this planet, the
better--IMO. With all the eggs in one basket we are a prime setup for an
extinction event--be it asteroid, super-bug, or self-inflicted. A
self-sustaining colony on Mars is the only (near term) insurance against
such. A moon colony is probably a necessary step towards the Mars one. Too
bad we don't have money to do every last thing everyone wants, but I'm in
NASA's corner on this.

Rick

***************************
Richard W. Tarara
Professor of Physics
Saint Mary's College
Notre Dame, IN
rtarara@saintmarys.edu
******************************
Free Physics Software
PC & Mac
www.saintmarys.edu/~rtarara/software.html
*******************************

----- Original Message -----
From: <Faraday321@aol.com>
The March 16 edition of Science had an article on NASA, where it is clear
that astronomy and science are being flushed down the toilet and so
called
"exporation" is being pushed. We are going to the moon to put a station
there: a
bolder and more expensive boondoggle than the SSI space station.
Deploying
gravity wave detectors, optical telescopes, particle physics/cosmic ray
detectors, are out and programs to explore the moon for human habitation
is in.
Then there is this:

http://bcast1.imaginova.com/t?r=2&ctl=D442:499E4

Inflatable lunar habitats! Yes Buzz Light year this will stop those
nasty
KeV protons release by solar fares --- its a faith based thing. Of
course the
moon initiative is rubbing out other programs, in particular Earth
observation systems.

_______________________________________________
Forum for Physics Educators
Phys-l@carnot.physics.buffalo.edu
https://carnot.physics.buffalo.edu/mailman/listinfo/phys-l


--
"Trust me. I have a lot of experience at this."
General Custer's unremembered message to his men,
just before leading them into the Little Big Horn Valley