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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
And the hilarity of the "Moon was a hoax" conspiracy theorists! And the MTV award's shape! And the yearning for the ever abounding chaos that whirls above and below us consuming our minds in its inextricable abyss peppered by the sight of hellion stars! And polandball! And Matt Damon IN SPACE!
edited 4th Mar '16 1:28:54 PM by Aszur
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothes![]()
Most of those are in the private sector, though, not the government. I think we meant "luxuries for the state".
Did someone just badmouth space? You do not badmouth space. Ever.
Even Ronald Rheagan's ludicrous "orbital defense" project(he wanted to establish a system of orbital defense against nukes, that failed because no system can account for even the 10% of the nukes it'd have to handle) had advanced so many technologies. Laser technology alone for surgery and data storage advanced so much from that project alone.
Dropping the insane benefits(especially proportinate to their budgets) of space programs is downright moronic and suicidal(actually, apocalyptic would be a better term), considering, you know, neither this planet nor this sun is going to last forever.
edited 4th Mar '16 1:30:26 PM by Luminosity
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Veering into Conspiracy Theorist territory a little, it was said that SDI had Potential Applications pointed outwards.
edited 4th Mar '16 1:38:18 PM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling OnMore importantly, NASA does a lot of basic research. Basic research is hard to get for-profit corporations to do, because it usually doesn't pay very well, but someone has to do it or it'll never get done. Space X wouldn't exist if NASA didn't do all the hard, profit-less work for them to build on, for example. Here's a whole list of stuff that was originally developed by (or for) NASA
. NASA is also the source of a lot of data on important issues like climate change.
International standing is obvious. As you pointed out, the original space race was mostly a dick-waving contest with the Soviets. Having an active and ambitious space program is a great way of saying to other nations "hey, look how awesome we are at science and technology". Working together with other nations' space programs is also an excellent diplomatic tool. It fosters cooperation between countries, and cutting diplomatic ties to the point where joint projects are jeopardized is not something most governments want to do.
Military applications are also obvious. The US has a large and active system of spy satellites. The space program also gave us things like the GPS network, which has both military and non-military applications. The military also benefits from a lot of NASA's basic research.
One thing that's hard to quantify but none the less extremely important: NASA is cool, and seeing scientists doing cool things inspires people to become scientists themselves. People like Bill Nye and Neil Degrasse Tyson have spoken about this. Baby boomers watched the moon landing as kids, and virtually every person of that generation in a STEM field can cite that as a big influence for why they went into the work they did. More people going into STEM fields is pretty much never a bad thing, and if sending a person to Mars, or establishing a permanent lunar base, or whatever other awesome space things we can get up to will help encourage that, then all to the good.
Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.I admit, I have a certain fondness for the Rods From God weapon I've heard about. An orbital platform for dropping guided tungsten rods on enemies, effectively serving as weaponized meteors.
Neither is the universe. I disagree on the grounds that if we can't stabilize our economy before the sun explodes, we kinda deserve to be caught in the blast.
That's all good points, though.
edited 4th Mar '16 1:53:45 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.Space exploration really needs to be more competitive though. This whole spirt of international cooperation is taking the soul, not to mention money, out of the various agencies.
Edit: More importantly, the future of humanity is in space. And the US must guarantee that our ideals, capitalism, democracy, the rule of law, and FREEDOM!!, rule that future, as opposed to say Chinese style social order and all that tyrannical harmony BS. It is literally the US's cosmic duty to be the first nation to colonize space.
edited 4th Mar '16 2:08:24 PM by JackOLantern1337
I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.Well, the sun won't explode, it'll turn into a red giant.
However, building a space program because "eventually the sun'll turn red!" isn't very logical since there's threats to humanity that are far more urgent (such as nuclear warfare and global warming. In fact, even the possibility of an alien invasion poses a more immediate threat to humanity than the sun dying).
However, every planet we colonize lowers our chances of going extinct. Let's say there's a 50% chance of humans on Earth going extinct in the next 200 years (there's not, but let's pretend there is). If we colonize mars, our odds of survival practically double.
Also, some threats to humanity can be staved off with technology in space-for example, an asteroid. NASA's also done research into global warming. And, in the unlikely event of an alien invasion, we better have some SPACE MARINES.
edited 4th Mar '16 2:23:43 PM by Protagonist506
Leviticus 19:34The ideals of a Scottish man, A French man, an English man, and again, a french man respectively are U.S ideals?
Yes. The US is an amalgamation of all the best aspects of every culture.
edited 4th Mar '16 2:26:58 PM by Protagonist506
Leviticus 19:34![]()
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Europe is a retirement home for washed up ex empires that can barley hold onto the present, let alone look to the future. Call me when ESA, or any Euro Space agency or company can independently put a person into space. You landed a probe on an asteroid, we sent one to fucking Pluto, which I'm still convinced was stricken from the planet list because the Euro's were but hurt about their being a planet they didn't discover first.
edited 4th Mar '16 2:28:26 PM by JackOLantern1337
I Bring Doom,and a bit of gloom, but mostly gloom.
That's cute.
edited 4th Mar '16 2:28:56 PM by TheHandle
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.Damn it I was going to edit the democracy bit to Greece but you had to go ahead and call me out on it.
Also, the U.S does not have delicious costa rican Salsa Lizano so your amalgamation of the best things is an incomplete frankenstein's monster. FALSE PROPHETS.
It has always been the prerogative of children and half-wits to point out that the emperor has no clothesIn seriousness: Yes, American ideology has a place in space. I view America as a nation of frontiersmen, and space is the final frontier. I therefore declare Manifest Destiny, IN SPACE.
Leviticus 19:34
At least Europe has a legacy. The US helped out in the World Wars (And stole the credit from everyone else) and got in a dick-measuring contest with Russia, and that is about it outside of the occasional invention (Which tend to actually be made by foreigners). Only reason they are the only current superpower was because the others lost their status after being weakened by the World Wars.
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Got to half-way agree with you on that one.
But, please, let's not turn this into a "bash Europe/America thread". It's not a competition.
edited 4th Mar '16 2:38:38 PM by Protagonist506
Leviticus 19:34~.~ I hope we can overcome at least some of those ideals before we even think about colonizing space.
"We have a hull breach, you idiot! What possessed you to bring a GUN into space?!" "You can't tell me not to, I'm an AMERICAN!" "What are you expecting to need to shoot out here anyway?!" "Space terr'rists, mostly."
edited 4th Mar '16 2:42:02 PM by TobiasDrake
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.

Existential Risk.
Also, the US is choking with luxury enterprises. Apple. Manhattan. The F-22. Supercarriers. Hummers. Las Vegas. Heroin. Hollywood. San Francisco. And so on. Conspicuous Consumption is your flagship dream.
Y'all even got Space "X". A step in the right direction.
edited 4th Mar '16 1:24:43 PM by TheHandle
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.