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Post by pacific on Aug 24, 2023 10:30:14 GMT -5
Is an established Moon Base/City considered a prerequisite for further expansion? Only in my idiot mind, I keep thinking if we can mine, refine and build ships there, it’s lesser gravity might help launch larger craft to Mars? Immediate issues I can think of would be time, and it’s own orbit affecting potential launch windows? Yes I think this is pretty much it. Not so much for building ships there (although mining of hydrogen and other materials has already been mooted), but using it at the very least as an engineering exercise and proof of concept for what the eventual trip to Mars will entail. A few days travel to the Moon vs. 6 months to Mars, and establishing a lunar satellite (NASA talking about doing this as next stage after the Artemis missions, and apparently China too) which you could then use as a 'base' to move people and materials between the lunar surface and back. I think there is also the fact that we have not been to the Moon in over 50 years now; even the plans for the Saturn rockets had apparently been lost over the years, and a whole new generation of engineers are needing to cut their teeth and proof the technology again. In some ways though apparently an established base on the Moon would be much more of a challenge than mars - the more difficult conditions for one, Mars at least has some atmosphere, much smaller temperature extremes, even the dust on the moon will need engineering solutions, as it's an incredibly fine powder that caused lots of system problems during the Apollo moon landings. As a side tit-bit, apparently Von Braun had plans for a Mars mission in the early 70s immediately following on from the Apollo landings! Thought the rocket technology at least was already there, but it was sidelined in favour of the Shuttle program and earth orbit missions. I think rapidly diminishing budgets also played it's part, and of course since the wellbeing and safety of the astronauts (we're no longer thinking about getting people just there and back, but also about their loss of muscle mass, exposure to solar radiation and even keeping them entertained during the mission) now plays a much larger part.
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Post by punishedmcbogus on Aug 24, 2023 21:14:31 GMT -5
Pretending to be a space superpower IS the point. This, but also a "yes, and..." The return to space and space race antics, though also shrouded in the inevitable billionaires trying to flee the unwashed masses space-colonization rhetoric, imo is happening for much the same reason as the first space race. As noble as nations plowing funds into scientific research may seem, anything to do with space is just downwind of military tech nearly all of the time. As the US proved in the Global War on Terror, for any advanced military power, satellites are an invaluable asset, whether they be gps and navigation, imaging and intel or for targeting or communications, any significant military power wants satellites. If you are India, a rival like Myanmar, Pakistan, Bangladesh or Shri Lanka is going to be able to struggle to compete with the kind of coordination and fast-paced intel gathering you can get out of a satellite. While China can do the same, being able to level the playing field, even a little, would be invaluable to the Indian military. While the US didn't have to worry about the Taliban Space Programme ever threatening their low-orbit assets, and in the kind of asymmetric wars we mostly saw at the beginning of the 21st century, there is reason to doubt that the enemies of major powers even understood what these assets were, or if they even existed, (I have an ex-military intel friend who was operating in [area redacted] and a rumor spread among the enemy that if you covered your [asset redacted] in mud like in The Predator, the Americans couldn't be able to see it. Safe to say those [redacted insurgent group] got "lit the fuck up" (technical term), while covered in mud, probably feeling a bit silly, and the rumor died off after a short while) as we've been able to see in Ukraine, some modern troops will simply route if they suddenly can't get support that is provided by those networks. With this in mind, peer-to-peer military satellite combat as a theatre is a priority, and one that is opening up fast. The US, Russia and China have all made explicit steps forwards in testing their capabilities of satellite combat. Earth's orbit is being militarized today faster than at any point in history, even the cold war. While getting something into orbit is a bit unsubtle, engineering something that is a one-and-done type of satellite-killer orbital combat platform is broadly easy enough (space junk not withstanding, shoutout to those baseballs the US put in orbit years ago 'to see what would happen' that still regularly take out satellites at random), but VERY costly for what they are, and as far as I know (I don't know super far here) not something anyone has found a better alternative for. While not quite atomic bomb levels of game-changer, there is a good chance that anyone who successfully develops a multi-attack capable (and possibly also durable - most satellites, even the combat ones are relatively lightweight and flimsy) combat satellite would be in a kind of dreadnought position, and it's not far off the kind of anxiety around the development of effective hypersonic weaponry. India, being a significant regional, economic, military and nuclear power (and also Modi and the BJP being barely left, politically, of just straight up being fascists), the Indian government presumably want to join this "space race" in part to show that they are still in the running. Much like landing on the moon was also in part making sure everyone knew if you could get an ICBM to the moon and back, you could certainly plant one anywhere in their back yard, India is probably keen to point out to rivals such as China and Pakistan (as well as possible buyers?) that they too, can get into orbit and beyond, and thus certainly have the capacity to deploy not just good old fashioned military satellites, but also potentially down enemy satellites. That they have managed to do it, as other users have pointed out, for less than the price of your run-of-the-mill triple A popcorn darkroom fun, is significant though, as it hypothetically would allow a nation with a tighter budget and less resources to enter the orbital theatre, especially when India has more than enough hostile neighbors and border disputes.
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nfe
OT Initiate
Posts: 142
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Post by nfe on Aug 25, 2023 3:51:15 GMT -5
I don't think we should be taking over any other planets until we can take care of this one. Boy am I jaded. Don’t worry. Those who trust the word of pig ignorant shepherds wot lived *a long long time ago* wouldn’t bother joining more rationale minds. Build the interstellar ship, get me a seat. If it goes wrong and I die by my own hopes and dreams? Still beats dying for some moron’s “hopes and dreams that came from a book written thousands of years ago and when ‘god’ speaks to them it’s apparently not schizophrenia’ Ancient shepherds aren't famous for composing literary texts and the guys destroying the planet aren't religious leaders - they're the guys funding extraplanetary exploration. That said I am all for science for science's sake - funding bodies, particularly national ones, could do a far better job of prioritising support, though.
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Post by pacific on Aug 25, 2023 4:57:15 GMT -5
Interesting post there punishedmcbogus. I completely agree about the spin-offs from military tech - if you think the first man-made satellites were launched on re-purposed ICBMs. The Soviets had more advanced rocket technology in the early 60s than the US, simply because their nuclear weapons were less advanced, larger, and so needed a more powerful rocket to get them into orbit. The US had to develop new rocket technology and had some big missteps along the way, which I think no doubt led to them losing the 'man into space' race. That then, in turn, feeds back into military applications. The 'Star Wars' program may have been a science fiction, and a concept far ahead of the technology, but militaries are always looking for their next 'big step' that will give them a big advantage over their peers. Some sort of hypersonic missile, completely indefensible, launched from orbit might be something along those lines. I think India successfully carrying out this mission, while Russia fails, is almost a microcosm of the sea-change in world power. The failing super-power, trying to carry out a futile war of aggression on its neighbour, while it's space program fails to complete the task, while the new kids on the block (India and China) have succeeded with theirs. At this point I would not be surprised at all if the 'man to the moon' missions, between the US and China certainly, are a very close run thing in terms of who gets there first. Current dates are 2025 for Artemis and 2030 for China, but the US date just keeps on being pushed back and a lot depends on the success of the SpaceX Starship/Human Landing System.
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Post by easye on Sept 7, 2023 10:08:38 GMT -5
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Post by easye on Sept 25, 2023 10:49:58 GMT -5
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skyth
OT Cowboy
Posts: 329
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Post by skyth on Sept 25, 2023 11:23:42 GMT -5
I believe this is from an asteroid that might collide with the Earth in ~60 years.
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Post by pacific on Sept 25, 2023 11:35:33 GMT -5
It is pretty low odds! Although I am sure they will do something to make sure those odds reduce still further. Hopefully not re-direct the asteroid into earth orbit once they realise it contains rare earth minerals that are worth trillions.. (thinking of Don't Look Up here) I absolutely marvel at the technology involved in that mission - seven years of travelling through space and landing back for collection. Yes lets now hope no viruses
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Post by easye on Nov 9, 2023 10:33:48 GMT -5
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Post by Disciple of Fate on Nov 22, 2023 7:56:36 GMT -5
Saw this come by and thought that it might be a 'humorous' obstacle to space exploration, given the sensitivity around said body part. It turns out spending prolonged periods in space can cause (among other things) erectile disfunction, which might not be entirely treatable. faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1096/fj.202300506RR
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Post by crispy78 on Nov 22, 2023 11:52:14 GMT -5
Yeah, kind of scuppers the idea of a generational colony ship doesn't it??? Maybe they just need more hot chick astronauts...
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Haighus
Ye Olde King of OT
Posts: 875
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Post by Haighus on Nov 22, 2023 12:04:14 GMT -5
Yeah, kind of scuppers the idea of a generational colony ship doesn't it??? Maybe they just need more hot chick astronauts... Nah, add sildenafil to the water supply
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Post by Disciple of Fate on Nov 23, 2023 12:15:39 GMT -5
Yeah, kind of scuppers the idea of a generational colony ship doesn't it??? Maybe they just need more hot chick astronauts... Generational sperm bank colony ships seem like an accessible workaround if we ever reach that stage of space travel.
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Post by pacific on Feb 20, 2024 5:18:33 GMT -5
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Post by easye on Mar 6, 2024 10:45:09 GMT -5
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