Really well done. I was amused by the sort of questions he got from the biology students, particularly the ones tinged of postmodern marxist antihumanism (specifically the one from the girl questioning why we should not just let evolution take its course and wipe us out).
Bennett, I actually think his position is very conservative.
We should go out there to every asteroid which is a threat and install transponders, then change the orbits of every asteroid we can so it will never hit Earth - even make them more convenient for mining.
Trent, I'm with you on that. Since this IS a concern of all the nations of the world, funding what you suggest could be accomplished with no pain to any one nation.
This work, and fuel depot duty, could keep companies like LM/Boeing/SpaceX in full/expanded production for years to come. Not to mention the various international launch providers that have the capability to participate in the task.
If you're anything like me you've probably seen the Disk Not Ejected Properly message so many times that you've forgotten how annoying it is.. despite the fact that you never even wrote anything to the usb drive that you're yanking out of your Mac the operating system insists that you remove it "correctly". You're supposed to click the eject button. Why? I dunno, Apple seems to think that if you can write to it then the operating system might have written to it - and being Apple, they probably have. Well ya know what? Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me. Note: this will not fix your external drive disconnecting when your Mac goes to sleep. For that problem try disabling "put hard drive to sleep when possible" in both the Battery and Power Adapter tabs of the OS energy saver settings. What appears below is a dirty hack for deliberately removing a warning that Apple insists on showing you every single time you yank out a usb stick. ...
Over the last year the space advocate community has splintered into two major groups in answering the question "where should we go next?" Moon First or Mars First . This division was present in the Review of Human Spaceflight (aka Augustine) committee's final report in late 2009, with the surprising conclusion that there isn't the funds for either, suggesting a number of intermediate destinations first - including asteroids. However, as few people consider asteroids to be truly interesting destinations for the human utilization of space ( except me! ), the debate rages on. Many Moon First advocates are "Mars Next" advocates while most Mars First advocates are "Moon Again?" detractors. The former claim that Mars exploration will benefit from lunar exploration, particularly in experience and risk reduction, and perhaps the procurement of propellant. The latter claim that lunar exploration is just a distraction and want to avoid the risk of be...
Deriders of the new NASA direction have latched on to the announced human asteroid mission in the 2025 timeframe as something they "can't imagine" and therefore is not worth doing. Of course, the administration is talking up the "science" that can be done on an asteroid, and how this could better inform us should the need arise to divert or destroy one that threatens Earth. This is good politics as nothing motivates like fear, but for those of us who think the human spaceflight program is really about preparing us to live at the future homes of humanity, asteroids would seem to be just a stop on the way - I disagree. As I've written previously, the new NASA direction isn't about asteroids - it isn't about destinations - it's about going and specifically, it's about going to Mars. I'm not sure NASA knows yet why they're going to Mars, but they're focusing on the technology to get there and get back safely, and some of the ...
Really well done. I was amused by the sort of questions he got from the biology students, particularly the ones tinged of postmodern marxist antihumanism (specifically the one from the girl questioning why we should not just let evolution take its course and wipe us out).
ReplyDeleteI encourage everyone to watch this. You're correct to bring this to greater attention, and lauding it in such a restrained manner (hard to do).
ReplyDeleteBeyond debate is the value of being introduced to the concept of increased risk to an area of the planet that an orbital adjustment brings with it.
A geopolitical issue, indeed!
That the incidence of needing "to duck" is guaranteed to grow in the next 10-100 years adds even more reason to enable BEO skill sets.
Bennett, I actually think his position is very conservative.
ReplyDeleteWe should go out there to every asteroid which is a threat and install transponders, then change the orbits of every asteroid we can so it will never hit Earth - even make them more convenient for mining.
Trent, I'm with you on that. Since this IS a concern of all the nations of the world, funding what you suggest could be accomplished with no pain to any one nation.
ReplyDeleteThis work, and fuel depot duty, could keep companies like LM/Boeing/SpaceX in full/expanded production for years to come. Not to mention the various international launch providers that have the capability to participate in the task.
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ReplyDeletestansbrain, no politics, thanks.
ReplyDelete