Space Thread

>>7986979
>NASA should be woried in produce capsules to ferry people to de ISS?
No. Plenty of other people are already further ahead there, and NASA isn't going to be able to compete with them on price.

>And the whole Journey to Mars™.It will work?
No. From what I understand, nothing NASA currently has in the pipeline is going to be capable of that. And NASA doesn't have nearly the budget to start developing anything else as well.

>What would be the best stuff NASA could do now,dump the SLS and start something new?
I don't think so.
The SLS clearly wasn't NASA's call, and if it DOES get canceled it's just going to be replaced with something equally stupid. So stopping it now would just set everyone back even further.

>The SLS seems just a way to keep the shuttle beneffits roling again and not some real next step.
Maybe.
Right now SLS & Orion look pretty useless, but if NASA could make enough promises to actually get them built they might be able to get some use out of them. If they waited until the pointless validation flights they "promised" are over, then stripped out a bunch of the pointless shit a replaced some of the dumber parts then then they might actually be good enough. They'd still cost fucktonnes too much, but they'd fly and they could be the start of an actually decent Moon Base program.

There's plenty of really cool stuff we could do on the Moon, if we had a base there and a super-heavy to throw stuff at it.

I'd write more but I'm out of time.

>>7987286
OP BTFO.

>>7986979
>What should be NASA`s work?

Lunar colonies (step 1 and the only thing they should be doing right now)
Martian colonies
Colonies on all other celestial bodies
Asteroid and planet mining
Generation ships

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>>7989722
>>7986979
Colonies on Luna and Mars: Colonization is important, if NASA isn't going to commit to colonization as a goal humans have no purpose in space. Everything else can be done faster, better, and cheaper by robots. The only reason for human spaceflight is to eventually make humanity a multi-world species, and we should work towards this NOW, as soon as possible. It's ironic that humans are otherwise worthless in space because having humans in space [permanently] is without a doubt the most important aspect. NASA refused to ever consider working on a mission where the crew doesn't come home, but that's exactly what they ought to be doing. There won't be any shortage of volunteers even if they can never return to Earth.

and deep space astronomy, perhaps lay the groundwork for an interstellar probe in 40 years.

>>7990077
>Everything else can be done faster, better, and cheaper by robots.
I'm not sure why everyone repeats this, because it's obviously not the case.

The robots we've sent into space are incredibly limited, slow, and dependent on constant control from Earth. The only scientific experiments they can carry out are those that have been cut down and wrapped up to work as interdependent unit, they don't have a chance in hell of being able to carry out any kind of maintenance or technical task, and if they tip over they're fucked.

A human could do more in a week on Mars than any robot at that site could do in a decade.

>>7986979

>What should be NASA`s work?

Going to the moon and then to mars. Which is the path they are on with Orion and SLS.

>>7990153
>Orion and SLS
That shit will be cancelled before they ever reach the moon.

>>7990153
>Which is the path they are on with Orion and SLS.

In 2004 maybe. All plans to visit the Moon were cancelled by Obama and replaced by some shitty fly around an asteroid and maybe move it to L1 for some reason. The SLS is still being developed but it is now mainly just a gov jobs program since all the cool heavy equipment that the SLS was going to launch to the Moon has been shelved indefinitely.

>>7990178
It wasn't shit, but yes it already has been cancelled. If NASA wants to do something they basically have to sell the idea to the public first and then make sure that it can be done in no more than 8 years.

>>7990178
https://www.tmro.tv/tag/sls/

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>>7990255
>https://www.tmro.tv/
Huh. I've not heard of them before.

Also, bumping the good space thread.

NASA should just be a giant R&D program for private companies.

There needs to be an understanding that the long term goal of human space travel is colonization. As others have said, that's one of the most important goals we can have as a species, and the only real reason to send humans into space. NASA should be in the business of indentifying ways to incentivize companies to work towards this goal, by doing the R&D work necessary to make it profitable.

For example, why is NASA building the SLS at all when there are private companies working towards the same goal? Even though there are lots of great scientists and engineers at NASA, they're always going to be subject to the retarded whims of congress. NASA should be funnelling that money into the pockets of SpaceX and its competitors, and releasing their patents to anyone who wants to get into the space business. The only stuff NASA should be doing in-house is R&D work that for whatever reason can't be expected to be done by private companies, and as soon as that R&D work is completed the results should again be distributed to anyone who wants it.

>>7990077
You're a retard, one-way trips are a meme idea. Soon as one cracks and begs to come home NASA will have a PR crisis on their hands as that person goes postal on the base. Literally the plot of Interstellar.

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>>7990145
Okay, you send up 1 human to Mars to do the job Opportunity is doing and have that human do it for as long as Opportunity is doing it, at the same cost or less. Oh, and when his initial mission is over, don't let him come home, instead make him do that job 50 times longer than his original mission time.

>>7991148
>Literally the plot of Interstellar.

You mean "Moon."

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>>7990178
>>7990153
>>7990255
>>7990861
So, what is this event that is happening soon?

>>7991186
Main link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9lZnqcvN2A

>>7991173
In both films the mission got fucked up by a colonist wanting to return home and either hallucinating or trying to kill the others. It's not a good idea trust me.

>>7991191

Not only is it not a good idea, it's also pointless for the foreseeable future. It's going to take decades for any Martian colony to reach a point where it's truly a self-sustaining community; why not continue to rotate colonists out as desired during this period?

>>7991186
I think that was their live show where a lot of people can chat with the hosts.

It attracts a lot of Redditors that say stupid shit and are properly ridiculed.

>>7991251
>It attracts a lot of Redditors that say stupid shit and are properly ridiculed.

I may have too much empathy to watch that. I don't really get off on cringe-core.

>>7991191
Oh I see. I was considering the stuff in Interstellar to be a subplot to the main plot while Moon's main plot was that specifically.

>>7991173
>you send up 1 human to Mars to do the job Opportunity is doing and have that human do it for as long as Opportunity is doing it, at the same cost or less.


Not just send. You have to feed him, house him, and give him air for all those years as well.

>He meant "The Martian"

>>7991275
>Not just send. You have to feed him, house him, and give him air for all those years as well.

I didn't include the on purpose.

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>>7991269
Simple solution: when choosing a crew for a long duration spaceflight how about not choosing people with a wife and kids back home waiting eagerly for their return? Just recruit focused introverted geniuses.

NASA always picks extroverts for PR reasons and so the crew can giggle together for their short loops in orbit; but true exploration is for loners.

>>7991305
There's a book I read recently called, "A World Out of Time" by Larry Niven. In it the main protagonist is selected for a 20ish year space flight, but during his testing he is essentially put in a constant situation where he's around extremely, sexually loose women. Later he finds out that if he'd actually had sex with one of them, he'd have been disqualified, and "killed." The logic was that if he needed female companionship during that time, he'd eventually go crazy during the space flight. It was more complicated than that, but that's the jist of the that small plot angle.

>>7991275
The Martian dude covered 3,000 km, Opportunity didn't do a fraction of that. Mars is big you know. Imagine trying to use a little RC rover to explore all of North America.

>>7991305
This is a terrible idea I heard that during the cold war single men were banned from flying the SR-71 because if they had no ties to home they could just fly off to Russia. Single men are a bad idea because no reason to stay loyal to Earth and married men are a bad idea because they will miss their family therefore it's a bad idea all round. The only thing that might work is sending the whole family there because is pretty much how the colonization of America worked.

>>7991329
The Martian dude HAD to cover that distance and he barely pulled it off.

If NASA does do some BS flags-and-footprints mission on Mars the astronauts will never travel more than a mile or so from where they land. Either colonize or leave it to bots. Plus you could send a dozen different rovers to a dozen different locations and it will probably still be cheaper than one manned science mission.

>>7991335
>The only thing that might work is sending the whole family

Netflix is remaking Lost in Space, it's a shame the result of such a mission would be incest.

>>7991350
Why don't they MIRV rovers?

>>7991381
too heavy to launch

>>7990889
The most important reason to not have NASA involved in colonization is because they would bring tons of shitskins

>>7991190
>>7991186
9 mins until live, for whatever.

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>>7991769
wait, they've started, kek

>>7991771
>>7991769
>>7991190
I--I don't think they realize they are live.

>>7991190
who's this fat woman? who's the edgy retard with a mohawk

>>7991781
No clue, a few mins until they are starting I think, no real clue what it will be about.

>>7991326
Interesting, maybe I'll read it. That's pretty sad, that I would fail such a task.

I don't mind being alone for extended periods of time but I need to empty the semen reservoir regularly. If not for the PR issues they should launch a lifelike sex doll with a single man.

>>7990077.
>deep space astronomy,
>the groundwork for an interstellar probe >in 40 years.
This. (20 years please)

>>7991264
I saw something like that a few weeks ago and felt really bad for the poster.
>the guy who said SpaceX should use a rocket cam with a really long extension cord

>>7991787
>Please
I know, I'm sorry but even 40 years is naively optimistic.

kek and now they are live

>>7991793
>the guy who said SpaceX should use a rocket cam with a really long extension cord

oh my

>>7986979
>What should be NASA`s work?
Developing FTL travel and anti-gravity.

>>7990077
>>7991787
>interstellar probe

Thing is, even if we just send it to Alpha Centauri, we'll still have to wait over four years for it to send a signal back to us.

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>>7986979
Fucking nothing. All things space related is the hugest waste of money conceived by man.

>>7991806
>What should be the military's work?
Slaying dragons and stopping undead hordes.

muh sci fi fantasy

>>7991813
Astronomy is the key.

At best it would probably take us decades to reach Alpha Centauri and years to receive the data, fortunately we can always observe from a distance and learn a great deal that way. It's a shame the TPF was cancelled. I truly hope JWST doesn't explode or suffer a glitch, I'd be heartbroken.

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>>7991821

>>7991833
>will blow mind
No, probably not. That's not how people like him think.

>>7991833
False equivalence. Because in this case nothing other than wasted money and a couple of robots doing useless shit will come out of the rubbing of the sticks.

>>7991860
I'm sorry that you think that scientific exploration is "useless shit". Living without any curiosity or interest in the world must be exceptionally dull.

>>7991860
The only reason you are alive is because of the advancements made in the previous space race.

>>7991860
Yes, because before rubbing sticks together it was immediately obvious that it would produce something incredibly useful. You can't know how useful it could be until you see what comes out of it.

>>7991877
>Living without any curiosity or interest in the world must be exceptionally dull.

Many people do this. They derive pleasure and purpose in life from commitment to something (usually family, religion or some organization) or physical pleasures.

Not everyone wants to be an intellectual, or even cares to.

>>7991877
>spending millions of dollars because of "muh curiosity"

>>7991887
Because people didn't live before the space race right? Full retard.

>>7991897
Rubbing sticks also didn't cost millions upon millions of dollars.

>>7991956
>Rubbing sticks also didn't cost millions upon millions of dollars.
There's your false equivalence. Nothing cost "a million dollars," but it did cost time that could have been spent catching food to eat. Rubbing sticks together is a priori incredibly unproductive.

>>7991956
>Because people didn't live before the space race right? Full retard.

Because the technology developed during the space race helped keep your parents alive.

>>7987280
>And NASA doesn't have nearly the budget to start developing anything else as well.

I don't think it's all about money, rather the fact that NASA is a huge bureaucracy and when they plan a new roadmap or proposal, everyone wants their pet technology involved in the mission so the costs spiral.

Then you have launch vehicles that will never be used designed by politicians in the pay of ATK, Boeing, Aerojet, ect and a huge wad of cash goes to waste there too.

NASA needs to be goal-oriented. They need to ask 'we need X booster or Y spacecraft, which contractor can build it?'.

The contractors shouldn't come to NASA and say 'you are obliged to buy our overpriced shit, see what BS 'use' you can think of'.

>>7992001
Trying to make a government agency be a private company is never going to work out

>>7991793
Im afraid to ask this....but could you elaborate?

http://www.competitivespace.org/issues/the-senate-launch-system/

how exactly does any of this force nasa to keep using shuttle contractors/infrastructure/shuttle equipment?

>to the extent practicable
>as necessary

Is this just a lie to defend NASA being corrupt?

>>7992153
>posting a biased as fuck source
>>7991578
Hence why we need the SLS
>>7991787
>40 years to plan the mission
>10 years to setup the mission
>100 years to get there
Yeah you will be super duper dead once a probe gets to Alpha Centauri.

>>7992187
>Yeah you will be super duper dead once a probe gets to Alpha Centauri.
We need to be studying and testing new propulsion systems and faster methods of space travel so ridiculously badly it hurts. What will it take to get some organization to pour in the cash and manhours needed?

>>7992187
Who cares about the source
The wording of the act does not in any way force NASA to use shitty shuttle contractors
Looks more to me like its easy to blame congress/senate for the incompetence of NASA

>>7992197
Like what? Our best rockets barely made it to Pluto let alone another star system. It's over son you will die and never see Alpha Centauri.

>>7992217
That's what I'm saying. Jack shit is being done in propulsion research right now when we ought to be hunting down the best physicists and engineers on the planet and sticking them on next-gen space transportation R&D.

Space travel has barely advanced past the 1960s because damn near nobody has been working on it.

>>7992223
But what can we do though? The rocket equation is what is keeping us from going further not incompetence.

>>7992135
Didn't the USSR do that with their space agency? And, now they are the leading company for space shit.

>>7992230
An honest push towards putting decent reactors in space, along with development of VASIMR-like engines or big fucking Ion engines?

>>7993258
Still cockblocked by the rocket equation

>>7993258
There's been some interesting research on using laser arrays to propel small solar sails to about .2c. It seems fairly feasible provided you can get the lasers funded and in orbit.

>>7993671
>.2c
Bullshit

>>7993672
If the lasers are large enough and can focus on the sail for long enough without some outside force working against it, it is possible.

However, breaking is going to be a real bitch.

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>>7986979
Genes in space!

>>7993724
What happens when a space rock pierces the sail?

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>>7994200

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>>7994220

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>>7994228

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>>7994232

>>7994214
It leaves a hole and the sail becomes x% less efficient than before based on the size of the hole.

>>7994238
Got any of her feet?

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>>7994238

>>7986979
>There's plenty of really cool stuff we could do on the Moon
Like what?

[spoiler]inb4 Helium-3 mining[/spoiler]

>>7994336
Actual Lunar geology, that isn't just grabbing four pebbles off the surface.
Long-term studies on the effect of low-g environments on plant growth.

>>7994336
There could easily be very large quantities of valuable metals to mine from asteroid impacts

Producing fuel in space that doesn't need to be lifted off earth is valuable