First Use of Space? Forum: Spacesettlers
Thread: First Use of Space?
I don't think that's good enough. The only thing which accelarated the grow
and development of space applications was the race to the Moon. In
governmental agencies the speed of developments is quite low compared to the
time of Apollo. When we finally confirm (and if we are lucky enough to have
enough time to react) that an asteriod is going to hit the Earth within
several years, only then will the development of powerfull rockets come to
full speed.
An asteroid is pretty bad, but people hardly talk about the effect of a
Supernova within 50 lightyears. This could be threatening not only the Earth
but the whole Solar System. There is almost no defense possible against such
lethal radiation let alone the high enegized matter reaching the Earth many
years after the radiation.
People should be aware that interstellar space exploration is a neccesary
task for humanity not over 2000 or 2000000 years but now.
Regards
Arnoux
Verzonden: Friday, August 17, 2001 4:22 PM
Aan: 'spacesettlers@yahoogroups.com'
Onderwerp: RE: [spacesettlers] First Use of Space?
From: Leon Neihouse [mailto:neihouse@...]
I submit to all concerned that there is another approach to financing
space. Instead of developing space for the love of space it might be
possible to convince the general public that they must support space
development or risk death.
The problem with using this rationale is that the next big asteroid strike
could occur next Tuesday, or 100,000 years from now. It's very difficult to
galvanize people into immediate action in such a situation.
I agree with you that there's no point in expecting the government to fund
space development, as we are far too small a minority. No matter what
enthusiasm we may have for a particular business plan for space development,
we must be honest and admit that none must be sufficiently risk-free to
stand on its own merits, or else the capital would be flowing.
I hold out far greater hopes that there's some critical research which can
be done that might reduce the risks or the expense sufficiently to make some
business plan attractive on it's potential for profit alone. That's one
reason why I promote SSI more highly than many other organizations, because
that's what they're focused on.
Regards,
Mike Combs
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