Space Exploration - do we need it? - Page 3

Originally posted by: Jatayu

I suppose they're safe so long as Myth of Hyd doesn't lecture them on space exploration 😆

 Jatayu Uncle.... Leave the Co-workers.. Think about yourself now!!!😆 She is going to give a detailed lecture on Space explorations to you...😛

 Hey, Where is my safety hat, my hide-out, my defensive material............... Now Standing position Captain, Ready for hiding!!😉

😆😆😆

Originally posted by: MNMS

Jatayu Uncle.... Leave the Co-workers.. Think about yourself now!!!😆 She is going to give a detailed lecture on Space explorations to you...😛Hey, Where ismy safety hat, my hide-out, my defensive material ... Now Standing position Captain, Ready for hiding!!😆

HAH!!! I am not afraid of Aunty Myth from Hyd ...

... wait for meeeeeeeeee ......................

Originally posted by: mythili_Kiran

Will come back later with detailed reply on Space explorations!!! Right now in office.Will edit this post later ...

Yeah yeah yeah ... now we all gotta wait for Aunty to catch up ...

Hmmm...good idea. Get rid of space explorations.

No, no...get rid of reasearch and universities too.

You will be saving hundreds of poor students from daylight robbery! 😆😆😆

Originally posted by: T.

Hmmm...good idea. Get rid of space explorations.

No, no...get rid of reasearch and universities too.

You will be saving hundreds of poor students from daylight robbery! 😆😆😆

Well said.

Dear Friends!!

This is my favourite topic and I'm really waiting for ample time to post on this issue.Any inquisitive person is really fascinated by looking at the Sky.We wish to know what's there in it.Some times we really wonder "Ah!!! Is Sun so far to us...","How much far is this star from Earth...".From several centuries people have been wondering about heavens and this made humans find several things and that process is never ending as long as there are humans and as long as there is Sky.

Let us see the beauty of the explorations people have been trying to make:

ANCIENT INDIAN ASTRONOMY:Please refer this link,really good one..

 http://www.crystalinks.com/indiastronomy.html

Now have a glance at Egyptian perspective of Astronomy: 

http://astro.wsu.edu/worthey/astro/html/lec-ancient.html

Reason for posting the above things.In my Science text books it was given in view of Westeners

Now have a glance at the western perspective of Astronomy:

http://www-scf.usc.edu/~kallos/gravity.htm

---

All of who are really interested about these topics have a glance at those weblinks in your leisure.They are pretty good.

Now have glance at the space explorations made in modern era:

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/histintr.htm

Benifits of Space Explorations:

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/hqlibrary/pathfinders/spinoff. htm

One needs to understand the beauty of these space explorations only then they really enjoy the beauty or greatness of the Space explorations.Agree!! these things are costly but a Somalia or Nepal(with due respect to these nations) is not doing these things.Well established,developed nations are doing these explorations.Somethings are above the knowledge of common man ,even the person enjoys the advantages of those things its not necessary for him to learn about those things.

I watch TV and its not necessary for me to know the mechanism of TV or I need not bother much about the electromagnetic radiations.Nor I should'nt agrue that I will not agree with these modern inventions I want to watch dramas in nearest theatres .

Cheers,

Mythili

Mythili

 

 
 

Edited by mythili_Kiran - 17 years ago

Originally posted by: mythili_Kiran

Well said.

Couldn't agree less.

T's tongue-in-cheek argument is based on the following tongue-in-cheek logic:

1. Jack the Ripper was a killer
2. Jack the Ripper was a man
3. All men are killers

Originally posted by: T.

Hmmm...good idea. Get rid of space explorations.

No, no...get rid of reasearch and universities too.

You will be saving hundreds of poor students from daylight robbery! 😆😆😆

probing mars spending a billion dollars and getting excited about traces of water has nothing to do with research done to help and improve life on earth.

i agree with Dr. AS and Jatayu ji.   Since they have taken care of the educated and informed arguments and counter arguments, I will just add my 2 funny cents.

1)  Even if Dubya hits Petroleum on any of these planets, it won;t be cost-worthy to import it.

2)  Curious mind should never be satisfied.  Are we really planning intergalactic travels?  Can we discriminate between science, science fiction and extreme science??  

3)  Last but not the least, curiosity killed the cat.   I always wonder just if there are hostile aliens out there that may trace us thanks to our poking probes in their business😉

I respect and am proud of space technology.  It has benefitted many forums of life on earth.    But one needs to define what is "necessary", what is "hobby/ plain passionate determination just because we can attempt something" Judicial use of limited resources that we have is always welcome.
mqt
Edited by mermaid_QT - 17 years ago

Actually, I was being truthful in the last line of my post. I think post-secondary education is a rip-off in the name of academic research. (No reference to Jatayu's tongue-in-cheek ripper rebut) 😛

Going back to the topic at hand, why single out space exploration? Why call it useless, when we really dont know about the kind of things that are possible in the future?

ANY kind of new project costs a lot of money. We are talking about space explorations, which are futile because we don't succeed half the time. But, the fact is that even a company in the business of digging oil wells will spend millions in R&D and dig up "duds" before it hits the jackpot.

From ancient times we have been researching and exploring. Do you think that we would have known ANYTHING about the earth being round or anything about other cultures without spending money to build ships, etc. and sending people on voyages?

Some of you have argued that this kind of research is good as its for planet earth. Well, I'm sure that if that argument was put forth in the past, none of the people back then would agree. They did not even know if anything that lay beyond the ocean was good or bad; most of them thought the earth was flat and that ships would fall off its edge! They would say that the Monarchs were wasting their time and tax money by funding futile expeditions instead of improving a country's welfare.

Its true that space explorations cost a lot more than voyages in the 12th century. But, for those people, that was A LOT of money. For example: Passage across the Atlantic (from England to North America) would cost a normal worker 4 years of indentured servitude!

Today, we don't even bother travelling by ship...We fly from England to North America.

Space explorations are there for a good reason. Perhaps there are other planets which can also be inhabited by humans. Perhaps, these poor people can be rehabilitated there. Similar to how most of current day North America was settled by the English, French, Portugese, Spanish, etc. You may laugh at this argument, you may call it preposterous.

That's fine. People laughed before the airplane was built too.

Originally posted by: T.

Actually, I was being truthful in the last line of my post. I think post-secondary education is a rip-off in the name of academic research. (No reference to Jatayu's tongue-in-cheek ripper rebut) 😛

Ehh?? the other lines were not true?? 😲  😆😆😆 Kidding..

I agree with you on that.  It indeed is.  Sadly, highschool education is much better in India as compared to several other countries, yet whatever happens to University!  I know someone who was taught that "nucleas is ROUND in COLOR 🤢 "at undergrad level and no.. it wasn't slip of tongue.

Originally posted by: T.

Going back to the topic at hand, why single out space exploration? Why call it useless, when we really dont know about the kind of things that are possible in the future?

Space explorations are there for a good reason. Perhaps there are other planets which can also be inhabited by humans. Perhaps, these poor people can be rehabilitated there. Similar to how most of current day North America was settled by the English, French, Portugese, Spanish, etc. You may laugh at this argument, you may call it preposterous.

That's fine. People laughed before the airplane was built too.

I don't have a lerned capacity to decide what is futile and what is judicial use of national resources.  Although I find your post a very positive vision of the future of space technology, and truly admire it,  I really would like to hear from economists how apt the usage of money is.  

I can tell you from my professional experience that  80% of the extremely ambitious, realistic projects, backed by solid data aimed at a better understanding of cancer do not get funded anymore in the United States.

The reality is that one step in the future is great, but one has to jujstify the consequences.  A war can inflict cutback on biomedical research, yet we have money to send probes on MARS in search of planets to inhabitate in future?  I hope you understand where i am coming from.

Your example of aeroplane is very apt.  Someone should make analyses of the economy of the world back then and what part of it was consumed by aviation reserach,  while neglecting other needs at that time!  One should also comprehend what life on earth was like for most.  How many areas such as darfur, AIDS in developing countries ongoing wars in other countries existed.  I don't know, but would surely love to know. 

mQT
Edited by mermaid_QT - 17 years ago