New Mars Forums

I thought I'd point out that the image on the MS main site is not the Orion Nebula.  That's a galaxy.  Someone might fix the error.

I was thinking if we did build maglev type trains on Mars a lot of new settlements would probably spring up next to the tracks over time in the same fashion that old west towns often propped up next to railroads.  The train could keep these settlements supplied.  I'd like to see a section of the tubes that the maglev trains would use sectioned off and pressurized so people could actually walk in them from settlement to settlement.  It might be a good cure for claustrophobia especially if they use big radiation resistant windows.  The tubes would be huge but I think it would be worth it in the long run.

I'm still waiting for somebody to find a giant string floating around in space.  Hey, it's theoretically possible if the string is made energetic enough and I think I'll put my new scope the challenge.   I hope physicists make a lot of technological breakthroughs so they can test a lot of this stuff experimentally.  Imagine the technology we might be able to create if we could unlock and test more of the aspects of string theory, etc.  We might gain insight into how to tamper with space-time in ways we couldn't even think of before hand.

To get back to dark matter, there's a Boston Globe article http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/365/s … shtml]here about some evidence the Chandra x-ray scope found concerning darkmatter.

True, I think space elevators in the long run will prove primarily useful for carrying huge payloads the way freight trains do now.  People don't really rely on them for transportation but there essential for getting goods around.  If we want to make large space settlements a reality I really think we're going to need space elevators to get goods to them.  I think to that elevators might be good forms of transportation for people who couldn't withstand the high g=forces imposed by a rocket.  Since I'll prolly be a 100 before I get to go into space I'll prolly be taking the elevator.

Actually you won't need a new big heavy lift rocket for putting up the space elevator.  The plan is to launch a small counter weight and a minimal amount of ribbon.  For the first year or so climbers would ride the ribbon and reinforce it with additional ribbon until the ribbon is at it's intended width.  And the extended climbers from that operation would park themselves up at the counterweight location until it was sufficient for commercial operation.  The Russians already have the rockets needed for putting up the elevator.

I bet that idea of using a sail might work great at a place like Titan.  If Titan actually has oceans of liquid and strong winds it might be the first place we send an extraterrestrial sailboat.  I like the idea of a sailboat probe that would scale the depths beneath. Anyone wanna go sailing on Titan?

A lot of scientists think dark matter is just an exotic form of matter that only interacts with normal matter in a minimal number of ways like exerting a gravitational influence.  I remember reading somewhere that dark matter might interact with nuetrinos(?) somehow and that that relationship might shed light on dark matter in the future.  I don't remember if it was nuetrinos exactly but I think that was it.

Here's some abbreviations I can think of, add more if I left anything off:

ISS - International Space Station (also known as International Budget Buster or IBB)

LEO - Low Earth Orbit

GEO - Geosynchronous orbit

HLLV - Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle

ISP - Specific Impulse

VASMIR - Variable Specific Magnetoplasma Rocket

MPD - magnetoplasmadynamic rocket

MDRS - Mars Direct Research Station (I think )

Yeah, the capsules would have to be completely enclosed life support systems with leg room because it would take several days to get to GEO a 100,000km high.  I'm thinking the capsule could be largely inflatable since that would make attaching it to the climber a lot easier.  Some people think sending an Apollo command module type vehicle up the elevator might fit the bill.

I agree.  A Martian elevator would probably be more complicated because it would need to avoid the Martian moons but I doubt if that's insurmountable considering that Brad Edward's design for Earth's elevator can actively avoid orbital debris.

When you speak of the future are you speaking of it as an alterable state?  If the future as God has seen it can't be altered than giving people tips on how to live is pointless and the concept of freewill meaningless since our paths would essentially be pre-determined or known.  Before quantum mechanics came along a lot of scientists used to believe that it was theoretically possible to determine the fate of everything in the universe if we could plot with precision the location and speed of every atom and subatomic particle.  In that kind of universe,where everything can be predetermined in advance, freewill is an illusion.

I second that.  What the hell was I thinking when I mentioned martinis.  I'm like strawberry daquiris a lot more myself.   I've tried growing strawberries in flower pots before.  They didn't do very well but then again anything that live by photosynthesis seems doomed under my care.

Agreed, I don't want to spend all my of time picking rust flakes out of the water when kicking back. 

Cernan seems to be making waves lately.  The last I heard he was approached by some physicists asking about the possibilities of obtaining He3 from the moon for use in fusion experiments and he himself has long advocated extracting this fuel from the moon.  If physicists could get a good amount of He3 to experiment with we might find ourselves with a fusion breakthrough before we know it.  And since that material doesn't exist on Earth (except as a byproduct in nukes) it could be a powerful factor in motivating us to get back to the moon.

Awesome idea about sending 17 year olds up on the Shuttle.  Maybe NASA could have high school students propose experiments to be done in space and pick as the winner the one with the most interesting experiments.  I think we should send up high school students with every mission.  I can't think of a better way to motivate high school students to consider space related careers. Of course there'd be a lot of objections because of the danger and no doubt the opponents of such a plan would bring the fate of McAuliffe, so I'm not sure how far such an idea would actually get.