Recent content by FromBelow

It's because of the speed, not the distance. Things with mass cannot reach or exceed the speed of light. You can keep on accellerating as long as you want, but weird things happen as you get closer and closer to the speed of light; instead of accelerating faster through space you experience...

I never said they weren't. This is where we disagree. What I'm saying is that even if you threw the same amount of money at a robotic mission you aren't going to get equal results. Robots can't do the 'high quality analysis on the spot' that you're talking about. The technology simply isn't...

I never implied that it was, nor was it the subject of the discussion. The Apollo expeditions recovered far more (and more varied) material than all robotic sample return missions combined, and I don't think you could achieve the same results by simply throwing the same amount of money at...

Is it worthwhile for humans to invest a portion of our collective resources in things like amusement parks, movies, and video games? I'd say yes, and it follows that other things like astronomy and spaceflight are worthwhile as well, for both practical reasons and the sheer joy of learning and...

Why not call it Herschel? It fits with the Galileo and Cassini heritage. The name isn't currently in use, there was a Herschel infrared space telescope but it's now decommissioned.

Look at the troubles they had with the Preserverence rover early on just getting the sample into the tube. With current technology a manned mission can cover more ground faster and acquire more interesting samples than any robotic mission could. You can do a lot of great science with robots...

I can imagine Jeff Bezos starting up a Brown Origin division for routine 'deliveries' once Musk gets some rich folks settled on Mars.

I agree with you that if we're just talking in literal terms, no, it's not impossible to colonize Mars. Discussion over. There is a good point to the original poster's arguments though: If the near-term goal is to preserve humanity, optimize research spending, and/or make money then colonizing...

Moving asteroids or building telescopes doesn't get Musk investor money. Ultra-rich folks are getting bored standing in line on top of Mt Everest. Many of them would love to have a truly 'offshore' bank, too.

It's just human nature, like seeing shapes in the clouds. I find that when you talk to people about science immediately downplaying something they find interesting is a real good way to kill their interest. We live in a universe of spiraling star systems and galaxies, and we're made of matter...

Sure. And those drill holes in the Russian modules some time back were just a QC incident.