NASA's new mission: time to hunker down and design some spaceships. (1 Viewer)

[Jack Briggs]

Blu, the problem is that little matter known as physics. Just because it's portrayed so effortlessly in a Hollywood space fantasy doesn't mean it's going to translate into reality. Think about it: every single atom, every single subatomic particle that comprises you somehow dematerialized and then broadcast to some faraway location and then reassembled perfectly? Do you have any idea what even the most freethinking, credentialed physicist would say about that as a possibility?

Indeed, physicists have said that of all of Star Trek's precepts, the transporter is the least likely ever to come about, to, um, materialize.

Even with a robust space effort, travel to the stars probably is at least a thousand years off, maybe much longer.

Transporters? Probably never coming.

 

[Walter Kittel]

Star Trek introduced the concept of transporters as a means of getting around the budgetary requirements for filming FX sequences of a shuttle landing. While it is a pretty creative work around a production limitation; that is about as far as it goes.

- Walter.

 

[Joe Szott]

That first post of yours was elegant and excellent Ashley, well said.

I think the real problem is, as you stated yourself, the almost complete lack of knowledge of what is out there keeps people from conjecturing on what we want to be out there. Europeans stood on the shores in the 15th century and knew what they wanted to be over the sea (gold.) But how could they have known or planned for what they would get? They couldn't have been prepared. In the same way they ran into America, I suspect we will 'run' into space exploration.

For example, if a group in space was somehow able to catch a passing meteorite that turned out to be loaded with XXX precious material, I could forsee a gold rush type atmosphere of people wanting to get into space to get rich by whatever means are available. Although most of them will fail (like the goldrushers), the people that sold them their tools will likely get very, very rich and help advance space travel even further.

And of course, once a deep space mineral traweler stumbles onto a derelict spaceship with a xenomorph face-hugger inside, well you know where it goes from there...

 

[Blu]

Well back to being a bit serious I still say that the private sector will make the big strides into space before the government will.

I just believe that the private sector will have more incentive to do it.

 

[Ashley Seymour]

Blu, been waiting for a few days for you to come up with some ideas for what the private sector will do in space to make some money. Your lack of response tends to prove my point. I live by the motto "where there's a dollar there's a way." Not many dollars are floating around in orbit.

We actually do face a space race. Can we design a manned space vehicle, space station, and or moon base before robots with AI make our presense in space unnecessary? I bet on HAL.