New Mars Forums

the problem with the nasa budget over the past 5 years was that we actually expected the ISS to be an international project.

we were even so unreasonable as to expect other countries, *cough Russia cough* to fulfill their portion of the production.  unfortunately, that didnt happen, and we took over, much, to say the least, of their comittments.  thats the biggest reason for the overruns.

or einstein, much closer to our time.  he would be crushed.

you just contradicted yourself within the same post.  you said we should disarm them, yet we cant because china is next door.

who are we to say?  when are we going to disarm some of our thousands of warheads?  when is russia going to do so?  the way our president is handling the situation of nuclear weapons is terrible-refusing to disarm a single american weapon, arbitrarily selecting nations that "threaten" us, and ignoring others.

well, let me ask this:  is there any method of propulsion available in the near future that could provide the same benefits as nuclear pulse propulsion, but with less safety risk (at least, less psychological risk...to be honest, im still not sold on blowing up hydrogen bombs in the atmosphere ??? )?

if you live anywhere but africa, its kind of ironic.  yes, im sure you would have been the one to say, no, lets not go north, we don't want to kill any more animals for food.  its not fair.  and the strongest, most clever people shouldnt be allowed to succeed, because us lazy, whining people dont have the drive or wherewithal to compete.  boo-hoo.

never mow your lawn again.  thats terraforming, buddy.

its funny, i had a lego robot set that could do just that.  well, almost.  it had a photocell that made the robot stop when it came to a black line.  simple progamming, for kids.  well, my guess is that we could make a device extend, say, a yard in front of its legs, attached to the body, that sent sonar beems to the ground.  when it came to a point where the ground dropped significantly, it would stop.

ah, ok 

i dont think something that toxic will be looked upon with any more favor than nuclear systems.  in fact, i think that they will make nuclear systems more favorable, which may or may not be a good thing, depending on your perspective.

actually, approximately 1/2 g is not that drastic.  people who have lived a long time in zero G (which never has to be the case in mars direct) had no problem getting back home, and living normal lives. 

in my opinion, to build an interplanetary colony would be wasting time and resources that we would better be exploiting by living on the planets the resources come from.  if we were to use asteroid material, its a different story, as i dont see asteroids as being a huge destination for colonization.  but a new colony between planets isnt going to solve overpopulation either. 

theres no reason people have to be sent in "sardine cans" forever.  as technology develops, we will be able to have larger, more comfortable transport ships.  you think the british army came to america in the same conditions as the pilgrims?  no.  as an impetus for development of new ideas and technologies arises, bigger and better things are developed.  just look at computers.  in just twenty years, we've gone from bulky machines about the power of calculators, to the PCs of today.

kissinger was a bad choice.

earthlings might not be earthlings.  the major theory ive heard about life's origin on earth stems from a comet (or comets) that brought the organic matter needed for life to earth.

we have enough information on all variables that computer simulations can tell us enough to sway the issue one way or another.