Colonel Cancer posted:

And frankly this whole "but planet killer asteroid! Or a total nuclear war!" talk is just unhealthy and stinks of unreasonable attachment to the status quo. There are plenty of things out there that could fry Earth and the whole solar system drat near instanteously and with no recourse and so what? You can't control everything. (Wandering black holes and massive bursts of radiation from some far away star are pretty sick)

Also let's face it a total nuclear war wouldn't even kill the whole human race. Collapse nations and possibly ecosystems on a large scale and cause untold misery for the survivors, sure! But we are already on that path without any nukes exploding lmao.

CJacobs posted:

Realistic but not optimistic: Moon civilization is not going to happen until humanity is on the brink of death or Earth is uninhabitable because the process of getting it livable is a more enormous money sink than anything else in history and nobody's willing to put up the cash.

Colonel Cancer posted:

Like a bright eyed scifi dork in me thinks that artificial space stations are the best bet for actually living off world (artificial gravity through spin, radiation shielding is simple once you have industry not down a gravity well and complete control over ecosystem) but none of that is going to happen for a variety of reasons.

Also I really don't envy those brave first martians who get the news that killer asteroid carrying like a thousand nukes crashes into Earth and kills everyone so they all starve to death or succumb to the environment.

interwhat posted:

Human salvation is off-planet. Any hesitation now, spells doom for millions in the future.

Shibawanko posted:

How do people even end up thinking stuff like this? What do you imagine space travel involves, and what do you imagine will happen on Earth that makes people buy into the Musk poo poo about colonizing another world?

Colonel Cancer posted:

Also I really don't envy those brave first martians who get the news that killer asteroid carrying like a thousand nukes crashes into Earth and kills everyone so they all starve to death or succumb to the environment.

Opferwurst posted:

Exploring the hollow earth should be a priority IMO, even before exploring the moon

Fojar38 posted:

yeah and what's the plan when we breach Hell smart guy?

quote:

In one of the first steps of the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration plans, NASA announced on Thursday the selection of Maxar Technologies, formerly SSL, in Westminster, Colorado, to develop and demonstrate power, propulsion and communications capabilities for NASA’s lunar Gateway.

“The power and propulsion element is the foundation of Gateway and a fine example of how partnerships with U.S. companies can help expedite NASA’s return to the Moon with the first woman and next man by 2024,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “It will be the key component upon which we will build our lunar Gateway outpost, the cornerstone of NASA’s sustainable and reusable Artemis exploration architecture on and around the Moon.”

The power and propulsion element is a high-power, 50-kilowatt solar electric propulsion spacecraft – three times more powerful than current capabilities. As a mobile command and service module, the Gateway provides a communications relay for human and robotic expeditions to the lunar surface, starting at the Moon’s South Pole.

This firm-fixed price award includes an indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity portion and carries a maximum total value of $375 million. The contract begins with a 12-month base period of performance and is followed by a 26-month option, a 14-month option and two 12-month options.

Spacecraft design will be completed during the base period, after which the exercise of options will provide for the development, launch, and in-space flight demonstration. The flight demonstration will last as long as one year, during which the spacecraft will be fully owned and operated by Maxar. Following a successful demonstration, NASA will have the option to acquire the spacecraft for use as the first element of the Gateway. NASA is targeting launch of the power and propulsion element on a commercial rocket in late 2022.

“We’re excited to demonstrate our newest technology on the power and propulsion element. Solar electric propulsion is extremely efficient, making it perfect for the Gateway,” said Mike Barrett, power and propulsion element project manager at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “This system requires much less propellant than traditional chemical systems, which will allow the Gateway to move more mass around the Moon, like a human landing system and large modules for living and working in orbit.”

Charged with returning to the Moon within five years, NASA’s lunar exploration plans are based on a two-phase approach: the first is focused on speed – landing on the Moon by 2024 – while the second will establish a sustained human presence on and around the Moon by 2028. We then will use what we learn on the Moon to prepare to send astronauts to Mars.

For more information about NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration plans, visit:

https://www.nasa.gov/moontomars

quote:

As a global leader of advanced space technology solutions, Maxar is at the nexus of the new space economy, developing and sustaining the infrastructure and delivering the information, services, and systems that unlock the promise of space for commercial and government markets. The operations of DigitalGlobe, SSL (Space Systems Loral) and Radiant Solutions were unified under the Maxar brand in February; MDA continues to operate as an independent business unit within the Maxar organization. As a trusted partner with 5,900 employees in over 30 global locations, Maxar provides vertically integrated capabilities and expertise including satellites, Earth imagery, robotics, geospatial data and analytics to help customers anticipate and address their most complex mission-critical challenges with confidence. Every day, billions of people rely on Maxar to communicate, share information and data, and deliver insights that Build a Better World. Maxar trades on the New York Stock Exchange and Toronto Stock Exchange as MAXR.

quote:

Inspired by the thousand-year-old fairy tale, China has ambitions to build a real-life lunar palace on the moon, according to its space agency. The China National Space Administration released a video (link in Chinese) on April 24, the country’s third space day, laying out its plans to build a scientific outpost on the moon.

“China’s dream of residing in a lunar palace will soon become a reality,” said the video, which recapped the country’s achievements and plans in space.

The proposed lunar outpost would be made of multiple tube-shaped cabins where scientists would live and conduct their research. The agency didn’t provide a specific timeframe, but Wu Weiren, the chief designer of China’s moon-exploration project, told state broadcaster CCTV in March that it could happen by 2030 (link in Chinese). The ideal location would be the moon’s south pole, which might have water and enough sunlight, he added.

quote:

China has already built a prototype for its lunar palace on earth. A project, known as Yuegong-1 or Lunar Palace 1, has student researchers living in a moon-like environment and subsisting on mealworms and crops they cultivate using fertilizer made from their own waste. The experiment is expected to finish next month.

Still, China’s first colonizers to the moon won’t be human. Instead, seeds of potatoes and arabidopsis—a small flowering plant belonging to the mustard family—along with silkworm cocoons, will hitch a ride with the Chang’e-4 lunar probe.

quote:

BACK TO THE MOON THE SUSTAINABLE WAY

09 May 2018

To live and work on the Moon, humans need oxygen, water and other consumables for life support, propellant production and building habitats. Making use of local resources may be the key to a truly sustainable stay on the lunar surface.

ESA is looking for the technology that can turn indigenous material into oxygen and water as these are critical resources for sustaining long-term human operations in deep space. Engineers and scientists are also investigating ways to produce construction materials on the Moon.

The extraction and processing of local resources into useful products and services on another celestial body is often referred to as In-Situ Resource Utilisation or ISRU.

ESA is currently preparing a lunar surface mission to demonstrate technologies needed for in-situ resource utilisation on the Moon. One goal is to show by 2025, that it is possible to produce water or oxygen on the Moon. The mission may also create the opportunity to deliver scientific payloads directly to the lunar surface.

ESA aims to foster new models of doing space business. Rather than developing a complete lunar mission from scratch, this new approach contemplates the possibility of buying a ride on a lander developed by the private sector to deliver European payloads safely to the lunar surface.

Working together with commercial partners may open the door for new ESA mission concepts.

quote:

29 November 2018

The purpose of the present Joint Request For Information (RFI) is to identify and map existing scientific activities and opportunities for cooperation between European and Chinese scientific teams to support the missions of both agencies, enhance the overall scientific return and to prepare for an international lunar research station.

Moridin920 posted:

lol let me tell you about California's rail project

Trumps Baby Hands posted:

Every planet is doomed on long enough of a timeline. One way or another the earth is going to become uninhabitable for humanity, probably by our own hand. Escaping that requires us to make baby steps out into the solar system over many centuries.

quote:

The tech that makes that possible won’t spontaneously appear when we make a certain level of terrestrial progress: it’ll only come about with another space race for resources.

That space race will also produce tech that we haven’t imagined yet that’ll also have other applications on earth

And on the most basic level it’s safer for our long term survival to not all be clustered in the same place

It’s the right thing for us to do as a species. What the next few generations do will decide if we all die here or if we populate the galaxy.

Colonel Cancer posted:

This "human race seeds the galaxy' is just manifest destiny bullshit and you should know better.

Shibawanko posted:

Space is cold we're better off staying here forever

Helical Nightmares posted:

Zippy the Bummer posted:

it would be cool if we had a moon base, so i'm in favor of it

basic hitler posted:

That downer assessment completely ignores the finite nature of so many resources we are burning thru and wasting that can't be replenished or recycled. We're probably gonna have to bring stuff back or go offworld to get more stuff

Colonel Cancer posted:

And frankly this whole "but planet killer asteroid! Or a total nuclear war!" talk is just unhealthy and stinks of unreasonable attachment to the status quo. There are plenty of things out there that could fry Earth and the whole solar system drat near instanteously and with no recourse and so what? You can't control everything. (Wandering black holes and massive bursts of radiation from some far away star are pretty sick)

Moridin920 posted:

NASA was supposed to be working on a mission that could land on an asteroid for study and to possibly test viability of such a landing in case maybe they need to redirect something in the future but idk what ended up happening with that. Probably dead because of funding.

Jose posted:

I can't wait to go see this next month when it's released to the UK. Only uses original footage and interviews that were restored and then new music


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RSTucPDS0-8