Poll: Space Colonization

[feather240]

Space Colonization

Alright it's been around for a while and no one really seems to care. You see space travel is great because it takes care of problems and provides a long term investment. Why spend over 581,000,000,000 Dollars on a war in a different continent? That's enough to fund NASA for at least 52 years! Why don't people care about space colonization? It gives value to Co2, creates international teamwork, provides valuable research, allows cheap solar power, increases the amount of non-replenishble resources that are available, creates high-tech jobs, and lowers urban crowding. (Of course this is all a long-term thing.) It astounds me how few countries seem to have a real interest with it. The only reason the USA ever even got involved with space was because of the Cold War. A country that has a strong holding in space would have access to insanely large amounts of resources, technology, and they might even get away with claiming an entire planet. Imagine owning the moon, with the low gravity it would be cheaper to land there, and use a new ship to get around.

The cons are large though, it could take trillions of dollars wasted on failed voyages, there have also been reports of sicknesses related to low or zero gravity, and interplanetary conflict could be catastrophic. Imagine a civil war with TIE fighters and no Jedi's, droids, or clone troopers. So what do you think? Is space voyage worth the sacrifices or should we stop working on it until we have to.

 

[titanium turtle]

Space Colonization

Alright it's been around for a while and no one really seems to care. You see space travel is great because it takes care of problems and provides a long term investment. Why spend over 581,000,000,000 Dollars on a war in a different continent? That's enough to fund NASA for at least 52 years! Why don't people care about space colonization? It gives value to Co2, creates international teamwork, provides valuable research, allows cheap solar power, increases the amount of non-replenishble resources that are available, creates high-tech jobs, and lowers urban crowding. (Of course this is all a long-term thing.) It astounds me how few countries seem to have a real interest with it. The only reason the USA ever even got involved with space was because of the Cold War. A country that has a strong holding in space would have access to insanely large amounts of resources, technology, and they might even get away with claiming an entire planet. Imagine owning the moon, with the low gravity it would be cheaper to land there, and use a new ship to get around.

The cons are large though, it could take trillions of dollars wasted on failed voyages, there have also been reports of sicknesses related to low or zero gravity, and interplanetary conflict could be catastrophic. Imagine a civil war with TIE fighters and no Jedi's, droids, or clone troopers. So what do you think? Is space voyage worth the sacrifices or should we stop working on it until we have to.

give me the money and the moon and I shall lead us into a new golden age

 

[Jedoro]

Go for it. Get all the dumb bastards in the world to stop fighting and put that money to exploration, and we're set.

 

[Neonbob]

Um...we don't really have the tech needed to go out and fully colonize other planets. Yet.
If you assign all the scientists I request to my division, and give me the location of all their loved ones, I'll get it done in a few years.
Tops.

 

[Florion]

I notice there is no option for "no it is not worth it" in the poll...

 

[fenrizz]

I think space colonization is a great idea.
It costs a lot, sure, but think of the potential benefits.

Base of the moon, then a permanent colony on Mars.
The ultimate goal being to explore the vast universe as a whole.

I notice there is no option for "no it is not worth it" in the poll...

Just out of curiousity, why do you think it's a waste of money?

 

[Casual Shinji]

You've also forgotten; Space-radiation, for wich there is no protection. Plus; zero-gravity turning our bones into jellie.

 

[QuirkyTambourine]

Well humans have almost reached the point where the Earth can't sustain any more population growth. Apparently nobody wants to live in the large, flat areas of America, and instead they decide to build housing Upwards instead of Outwards.

I'd love to see space colonization, or moon colonization, I feel we should outsource our prisons to one big colony on Luna. Controlled by a computer called Mike.

 

[Crimsane]

Meh. Then we'll just war over who gets to colonize what first.

 

[wewontdie11]

If I can't walk on the moon myself in 20 years time I'm going to sue every Sci-Fi show that said we would all be living off pills and frolicking across the stars by now.

 

[wiistation70]

It's not what god wants, obviously.

Honestly, based on the incompatible personalities of people in my CLASSROOM, there's no way in hell people across the world will cooperate. It's just human nature, I guess.

Unless money is involved. That's a terrific incentive.

 

[ThePirateMan]

We should take all assholes from the earth and send them to the moon.. without any oxygen.

Or we should take all the nice people and travel to mars or the moon, with oxygen ofcourse.

 

[SilentHunter7]

Ever since I was little, I've always hoped that I'd see the day man reached another star. Now, I'd just be glad to live long enough to see man go back to the moon.

Space travel is on the back of everyone's minds, at least here in the US. Not that I can blame them. We're in the middle of two wars, we have more debt than we have dirt, the unemployment rate is sky-high, and we have two hostile countries that want to build nuclear weapons.

Any sort of major advances in space exploration will have to wait at least a decade when all this has passed, and only if any new problems don't show up. Or something major happens, or is discovered, where space exploration becomes a necessity worth the investment.

Still, I'm hopeful that one day someone proves Einstien wrong, and invents an FTL drive.

 

[j0z]

We should take all assholes from the earth and send them to the moon.. without any oxygen.

Or we should take all the nice people and travel to mars or the moon, with oxygen ofcourse.

I like your thinking.

I am for it, I would like to someday be able to walk on the moon or fly in space as a civilian, and without paying a king's ransom for it.

Um...we don't really have the tech needed to go out and fully colonize other planets. Yet.
If you assign all the scientists I request to my division, and give me the location of all their loved ones, I'll get it done in a few years.
Tops.

That is a good plan. Let's get started!

 

[the_duke_CC]

I have to say I love the idea of a unified planet using its "Defence" budgets to further our exploration into space, so obviously I would like space colonization if that was the world. Since it isnt, I wouldnt like us to colonize any reigon of space, this may reflect badly on my view on human nature but why leave this planet rought as it is with war only to start wars on others.

 

[somekindarobot]

The real reason that space colonization hasn't taken off is that there aren't that many resources in space that are scarce enough on Earth to justify the cost of bringing stuff to space and back. The only real resources I could think off would be of value would be solar energy collected from space beamed towards Earth, and He-3 on the moon. I personally think He-3 is a vastly overrated as an energy source since there really isn't that much on the moon, the technology to fuse it efficiently doesn't exist yet, and possibly never will, and even if fusion is achieved it is probable that deuterium-tritium fusion is more efficient anyway. So maybe lunar colonization, which is in the works already, could work, but I'm skeptical about anything beyond that.

 

[Thedutchjelle]

I believe we should first fix the Earth, and learn to live with it in a non destructive way, before we set out to ruin other planets as well. If we arrive at, let's say, Mars, and then continu there what we've been doing here for the last 200 years, then we'll have to find another planet because Mars will have fallen prey to wars, millions of poor people and massive polution

 

[feather240]

The real reason that space colonization hasn't taken off is that there aren't that many resources in space that are scarce enough on Earth to justify the cost of bringing stuff to space and back. The only real resources I could think off would be of value would be solar energy collected from space beamed towards Earth, and He-3 on the moon. I personally think He-3 is a vastly overrated as an energy source since there really isn't that much on the moon, the technology to fuse it efficiently doesn't exist yet, and possibly never will, and even if fusion is achieved it is probable that deuterium-tritium fusion is more efficient anyway. So maybe lunar colonization, which is in the works already, could work, but I'm skeptical about anything beyond that.

Titan actually has high amounts of fossil fuels.


I imagine the moon will be a recycling center using compost to terraform and other materials to expand. It would kind of be a jump point since it's gravity is easier to escape. It's easier to go to the moon first and then leave for somewhere else then just a straight path. Especially if we make it a space elevator. (Look up the "space elevator", it's so cool!)

 

[feather240]

Oh wait...