"Brian Gaff" wrote in message
om...
Well, I'm not optimistic. This sounds almost as romantic as a science
fiction story to me.

The one salient fact about humans is there is no real reason to go out
there and explore. Nobody seems to know why we want to do it. Because its
there, as many say about mountains, but I think, much like the so called
arts, exploration is something humans need to do. I don't know why, and if
its all boiled down to money then nobody would invent anything unless it
was salable.


I think there's plenty of reasons to explore the solar system, but I'm
impatient. I know that if you put a human explorer and robotic one
side by side the human wins hands down. But that isn't worth the
extra time. Robots get there much faster and cheaper, and their
abilities are ...good enough given the rapid march of electronics.


So, lets just say, we have evolved in the way we have, and are still doing
so. For whatever reason, we have succeeded by going to new places. We have
no idea if the strategy is still useful when applied to off planet, but at
the very least, lets remove the bean counting aspect and go do it.


I agree, it needs to be the world which does it. We really do not want to
create the divisive borders and territories we have here on earth again.
Maybe this is the reason we are driven, is it to get away from it all, or
to cooperate in a new society?

One thing to me is certain though. We need a better less energy wasteful
and dangerous way to get off planet. Maybe the physicists can actually
find the source of gravity and let us harness the force instead of
fighting it.


They have, it's called lift! Lift can get a ship out of the bulk of the
atmosphere anyways. I wouldn't be surprised if some sort of
air dropped launching ends up being the cheapest and easiet way.



Brian

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"Jonathan" wrote in message
...

President Obama ends NASA's Moon missions.
Leaving the US manned space program in limbo.

I believe this decision signals the end of an significant
fifty year long era in space policy.

Unfortunately, the notion this Space-Era was about exploring, or
colonizing or various forms of pure research are the result
of looking at the US Space Program through nebula-colored glasses.
The 'Hank-ian' view, as in Tom.

Grow up please!

The manned space program is, and always has been, a military oriented
program. The civilian cover stories of the early rocket days became
institutionalized.

The finish line in the cold-war race with the Soviets was unabashedly
on the Moon. And it would be again, but this time a missile defense
race to the Moon with the Chinese. This decision brings hope that the
next fifty years will NOT be defined by the incredibly wasteful and
dangerous military spending spree between the two richest nations
of the world. A cold-war that helped generate a world full of
negative-sum games, or one ..horror.. after another.

Now we have an opportunity to not just change the focus of space policy.
But to entirely change the nature of superpower competition.
From military to economic, to positive-sum games.

The difference between positive and negative sum interactions
between the superpowers is nothing less that the difference
between ....Barbaric and Civilized.

Thank God this era is over!

Our space policy now has the opportunity to turn itself towards the
needs of the many, instead of the military. Such as creating a new
energy future.

Thank God for the 'new' era. It cannot help but be better than
the last one...now!


Jonathan


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