World service ought to cover it though, riight?


Can someone post an update about this tomorrow maybe..

Skylon or SKYNET????

James Cameron's plans are already coming to fruition. He's got plans to "mine" and asteroid with his robots and space ships. *wink wink nudge nudge* Know what I mean?

I don't see much benefit in asteroid mining as it is. The costs of maintaining the operation would probably far outweigh the benefits.

I think we should make some efforts to colonize our solar system. Relatively new research has shown that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Titan_(moon) may have seas of liquid methane. That's just free energy waiting to be picked up.

There has also been speculation to whether or not we could terraform mars to a sustainable habitat.

I think what we nedd is on-site processing of materials like fuels, and some form of battery storage or microwave signal to transmit energy back home.

Some scientists have played around with transmitting energy safely through the air without any wires or cables. They haven't produced anything practical yet but a number of tests and prototypes have shown that it's possible at least.

Yeah, I've read all about that. I'm convinced that it's possible but whether or not it could be done within a reasonable time frame is another question entirely.

We are still sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo far away from the time of space travel. Unless there is a Mass Relay nearby or something buried in Mars, we won't be leaving the Sol-system or leaving Earth really.
The challenge here is mining them. In our lifetime I doubt we will see this happening soon sadly. It would be amazing if such a thing occurred in our children’s life-time or children’s children.

Let's come back to this Topic in 100years. Maybe we will have the technology to fly an asteroid into a planets orbit allowing to stop and allow easy transport for resources back and forth. < This is silly talk.

It will never happen. Not until we are all dead things like this may start.

I don't believe that deep-space travel is feasible at all, but even now we can leave Earth with no problem, so I don't agree with that part of your statement.

You see, with the proper direction I believe we could invent small scale nuclear reactors so that plasma-powered engines could become feasible, which would easily triple space-flight speeds. We could then spend some time exploring our own solar system and setting up some practical mining operations on planetoids like Titan.

The best place to look for rocks initially would be in the various Lagrange points around the solar system. These are dead space areas and as such, the rocks located within would be easier to coral than free flying trojans, which to intercept is like trying to hit a bullet with a bullet..

first thing to mine would be asteroids for water.. hydrogen for fuel and oxygen for the peep's (save some water for drinking and flushing the can..)

whatever else comes outta those snowballs is the real profit -rare metals and the like..

these initial -rather feeble- attempts will do one thing.. they'll kindle man's spirit for taking chances, long shots and adopt long term business model strategies -because really rich people know that the big bucks come from pushing back the frontiers..

also, if we don't start mining space, the Chinese will, so that really a moot point at best (no politics, that's just common business sense)

then some day some lucky bugger will find a rock floating in the leading Legrange zone of the Jovian system (which is one of the solar systems largest dead zones and probably houses thousands of rocks) that turns out to be 18 metric tonnes of pure gold.. and everyone will want in on it.

I want in on it now and I can't even get to it.

Edit
Just think of the new sections added to world record books. The luckiest people to find the largest deposits of x and make off like madmen.

Well, the United States has already built nuclear engines to power thermal rockets, and they were even considered ready for space flight before the Government canned them. So the nuclear reactor part is definitely feasible.

I don't see what the point is. I'm going to die before we colonize the solar system, let alone go to war with Klendathu, or fight the Protoss, Zerg, and the Confederacy.

On a serious note, they were talking to one of the founders of this initiative on NPR this afternoon. I turned the radio up, seems feasible and they seem to have a handle on what they are looking for on these asteroids.

Gee, who would have though. People actually knowing what they're doing. I thought people just herp derped all the time. I mean didn't NASA build those rockets by durrring to themselves in a corner while bonking their head on a wall? Of course they did, because we all know that's how science happens.

I believe it would be possible thorugh worm holes and things like that, but the accuracy would be really awful or something, like you would end of somewhere completely unexpected and die. Then maybe there would be some way to actually navigate, but as of now we will never truly know,

If we go to space for 'economy' or 'making money' we will be going into space for the wrong reasons. I think we should be forbidden to do so until we sort out ourselves first no sense ruining the solar system like we have our planet

Next time you see a wormhole, you let me know.

Must... resist... philosophical trollbait...

http://www.solarevents.com/wp-content/uploads/2006/10/solar-system-diagram-2.gif See that little green line really close to the sun, now make that so small you can't see it. I don't think that is ruining the solar system. I think it is also important to not, that what is show in the picture is only a piece of the full solar system.

It is definately just a theory, but such things could exist. Just like previous advances in science, like the Internet.

Exploration = Opportunity = Profit

That's how it usually is, plus, I highly doubt any governmental body is going to go against that.

Alright, let me know when you have a spaceship that can travel and great speeds. Sounds like you have everything figured out.

Well developing something is never out of the question. I think airplanes are a good example, developed in 1903, the wright flyer flew at 35mph, and for about between 4-15 seconds. In less than 50 years (45 to be exact), we were able to fly faster than sound in the Bell X1 and could do it at speeds around 1,000mph. Who would have guessed? Probably no one.

Given 45 years from now, I think it is perfectly reasonable to be able to fly to another planet.

It may be possible to reach a planet within 45 years, but I find it highly unlikely given the current political climate towards space. We would need to prepare right now for the mission, and launch within a decade or two. Then they would have the long return trip too. So it's definitely feasible, but unlikely.

Don't forget, time in space kills you. The human body evolved on earth, with gravity and pressure. Go too long with out them? Thing start go south...

That's with technology we have now though, maybe there would be something that would make it several months instead of several years.

Edit: Well upon looking it up, scientists guess that it would take about 7 months to get to Mars, so if we really wanted to right now, we could do something to get there in a few years, but there really isn't any reasons as of now.

Certainly the Wright brothers never would've guessed. In the 100 (nearly) years since the Wright bros. first flight, we've come as far as travelling to the moon and beyond (unmanned craft)

In another 50 or so years, given how the first 100 years of flight have gone, I think it's very reaonable to assume that newer methods of propulsion and flight will be developed, paving the way for deeper ventures into space. Eventually (probably not in my lifetime) there will be manned missions to Mars, and if we survive long enough, beyond our solar system. It's only a matter of time before somebody says we can do this, and we will.