The Last Standing Knight
Member
I didn't want to hijack the other threads on the two astronauts stuck on the ISS but I did want to submit something for all of you to think about.
Fact is we are GENERATIONS away from ANY serious space exploration. There is no Enterprise...no Orville...no Discovery. Only very small and very cramped tin cans whose very safety at any given moment is up to debate regardless of who designs or makes it. I hear much talk on a manned landing on Mars as the next big step.
I am not going into Einsteinian theory here but faster than light travel will NEVER be an option for ANY manned flights...period. It is literally the "slow boat to China" for travel even to the nearest planet. Sorry, Trekkies...warp one ain't gonna happen...or even a fraction of it...with a human being aboard.
To even reasonably explore Mars will require a vessel that will have to be as large as a frigate and manned by a very small crew. To cram five or six people on a mission to Mars in something the size of a small house trailer will result in significant problems and conflicts which several million miles out into deep space are going to have tragic potential. Humans are humans...simple as that. No amount of training will compensate for that.
Humans can't survive without gravity long term. Which means anyone going on such a jaunt without it isn't going to be much when they get to their destination. Until "artificial gravity" is invented we're stuck to Eath/Moon area.
Now lets say all of these factors are ignored and Murphy's Law strikes half way. The astronauts are sending out a mayday. At this point, like the astronauts on the space station, there is little anyone can do...except for Mission Control to listen to men and women pleading for help and no way to do so. Some of us have already been through that here as dispatchers. In this case, such audio will be live and on network TV/internet/social media. Public opinion of ANY manned exploration is going to tank considerably.
No. I DO see (and hope) we get an active moonbase in my lifetime. THAT should be the next big step. I believe we are as far as we are going to get with orbiting space stations at this point. We should be looking to put the star and stripes back on the lunar surface and this time for good. With rotations, we could keep a permenant prescence there and any further exploration could use such a facility as a starting point.
This isn't a rant nor is it a subject usually covered on a forum like this, but I hear plans and schemes based strictly on egos without the foresight or preparations needed to go out further. Although I do have a "list" of who should be on the first colonization flight to Mars but won't go into that here!
Fact is we are GENERATIONS away from ANY serious space exploration. There is no Enterprise...no Orville...no Discovery. Only very small and very cramped tin cans whose very safety at any given moment is up to debate regardless of who designs or makes it. I hear much talk on a manned landing on Mars as the next big step.
I am not going into Einsteinian theory here but faster than light travel will NEVER be an option for ANY manned flights...period. It is literally the "slow boat to China" for travel even to the nearest planet. Sorry, Trekkies...warp one ain't gonna happen...or even a fraction of it...with a human being aboard.
To even reasonably explore Mars will require a vessel that will have to be as large as a frigate and manned by a very small crew. To cram five or six people on a mission to Mars in something the size of a small house trailer will result in significant problems and conflicts which several million miles out into deep space are going to have tragic potential. Humans are humans...simple as that. No amount of training will compensate for that.
Humans can't survive without gravity long term. Which means anyone going on such a jaunt without it isn't going to be much when they get to their destination. Until "artificial gravity" is invented we're stuck to Eath/Moon area.
Now lets say all of these factors are ignored and Murphy's Law strikes half way. The astronauts are sending out a mayday. At this point, like the astronauts on the space station, there is little anyone can do...except for Mission Control to listen to men and women pleading for help and no way to do so. Some of us have already been through that here as dispatchers. In this case, such audio will be live and on network TV/internet/social media. Public opinion of ANY manned exploration is going to tank considerably.
No. I DO see (and hope) we get an active moonbase in my lifetime. THAT should be the next big step. I believe we are as far as we are going to get with orbiting space stations at this point. We should be looking to put the star and stripes back on the lunar surface and this time for good. With rotations, we could keep a permenant prescence there and any further exploration could use such a facility as a starting point.
This isn't a rant nor is it a subject usually covered on a forum like this, but I hear plans and schemes based strictly on egos without the foresight or preparations needed to go out further. Although I do have a "list" of who should be on the first colonization flight to Mars but won't go into that here!
