I’m not anti-intellectual, I was a true space kid, watching every mission after 1965. I was a Apollo 11 super fan. I built models of the Apollo 11 and the Lunar Lander. I kept a subscription to national Geographic for decades because they had such great space photos. I should be loving this.
But it’s pretty obvious that all modern space exploration is mostly about giving future trillionaires an option to get off the planet when we inevitably turn on them.
If we are talking about SpaceX then maybe you are correct. I don’t think that’s even close to true for NASA who are surviving on a much smaller share of the budget than they had in the 1960s.
NASA may still purport to be science-based, but right now, NASA is MAGA, so they are contributing to the knowledge base for “Space Wealth Exploration.”
ALL other American space programs have nothing to do with science, they are simply engineering projects to create successful escape pods from whatever is coming - climate meltdown, revolution, nuclear conflagration, etc.
MAGA like all mainstream politicians support science and technology when it suits them and agrees with them, and tear it down when it dosen’t. That’s just a fact of life. The other parties are no different, nor is the far left. You can see this with all the talk from leftist groups hating on AI and calling for data centers to be dismantled. There are some who call for the deindustrialization of society in general like the whole solar punk movement and agrarianism. The only political groups who legitimately always support science and technological progress in all it’s forms are accelerationists and accelerationists come from all over the left-right spectrum.
Valid, but as a kid, I wasn’t thinking about it that way. As an adult, I am.
I just read where Musk has applied to add a network of one million satellites. The current plant for satellites between Space X and others means that 1 in 15 visible objects in the night sky will be satellites.
That’s for a total of 60,000 satellites. Musk wants to add one million more. That will mean that there will only be one actual, natural star in every 8-10 visible objects in the night sky. Almost all we will see will be Musk’s space junk…
The simple enjoyment of the night sky will be taken from every human now, or who will ever exist in the future. The night sky will be destroyed forever, just so the already richest guy in human history can get even richer. It’s more important to indulge him for the cosmic blink of time he exists on this planet, than allow billions of unborn people to ever contemplate the wonders of the universe.
That makes me think that perhaps we should impose a moratorium on space travel for about 50 years, and spend those resources to save our own planet, which needs it in so many ways - climate, infrastructure, society, etc. All those massive issues need to have the best brains and biggest budgets applied to them for a while.
We should fix our own problems before exporting them into the universe.
giving future trillionaires an option to get off the planet when we inevitably turn on them.
I say we should help and support them in this project in every possible way. Lets help them get to Mars or Venus. Sound awesome. I would love to read the headline “Elon Musk landed on Mars” and then never have to think about that guy ever again.
No, they don’t get to trash this planet, then go to a new one, and trash that. If anything, make them stay here and choke on their destroyed atmosphere, while we escape.
I think you are vastly overestimating the possibilities of living outside of earth. I would argue that theres no way in hell for any of the people alive today to be able to live on the moon, Mars or even LEO comfortably. The rich arseholes won’t change the literal paradise the earth is for the hell of Mars. If they manage to make Mars look like the earth, with vast oceans, breathable air and whatnot, sure. But that’s just not going to happen. The trillionaires are not going want to live in a greenhouse, on a desert on Mars.
Fact is, humanity is stuck here for the next few hundred years at a minimum. So yeah, lets eat the rich and use the money they have accumulated to fix the planet. Once we’ve done that, we can look into doing something on Mars.
I hate to break it to you, but MASA’s goal is to establish a permanent base on the moon. Space X’s public plans have ALWAYS been to get to Mars, and establish a permanent base there. This isn’t science fiction, these are business plans, and they are already well underway.
The NASA moon base is planned to start before the end of the decade, so they aren’t waiting very long. Judging by past NASA projects, it will take far longer that that, but it is out of the planning stages, and well on its way. They have astronauts up there in space right now.
And Space X is making progress, although they are concentrating more on their satellite deployments, because that will create a massive revenue stream that will fund everything beyond. But you can bet that if Musk sees us getting close to landing on the moon, he’ll re-prioritize his focus on Mars.
The future space races won’t be just among nations, it will be against Sociopathic Oligarchs, too, with entirely different motivations. And those Sociopathic Oligarchs cheat, so expect some dirty tricks.
But like I said, no billionaire or trillionaire is going to live COMFORTABLY in the moon or Mars anytime soon. In a few centuries? Perhaps. But not in the next 70-100 years.
Hate to break it to you but the NASA base is not going to be some sort of luxury hotel where people can just go. Its going to be a very uncomfortable and cramped scientific laboratory.
You are missing my point. I agree with you, space bases are going to be pretty sparse for a while, but the Sociopathic Oligarchs don’t see it that way. They are picturing Dubai, Vegas, etc., and they have nobody around them to question that vision.
They’ll have trade with Earth, and other bases, probably forever. No country is an island, all of them have to have trade with each other. No country on Earth is entirely self-sustaining, and bases on the Moon or Mars will be no different. Goods will be expensive, but that’s okay, they can afford it, so gouge the shit out of them. Who cares if a Big Mac is $1000, they can afford it.
I’m not anti-intellectual, I was a true space kid, watching every mission after 1965. I was a Apollo 11 super fan. I built models of the Apollo 11 and the Lunar Lander. I kept a subscription to national Geographic for decades because they had such great space photos. I should be loving this.
But it’s pretty obvious that all modern space exploration is mostly about giving future trillionaires an option to get off the planet when we inevitably turn on them.
If we are talking about SpaceX then maybe you are correct. I don’t think that’s even close to true for NASA who are surviving on a much smaller share of the budget than they had in the 1960s.
NASA may still purport to be science-based, but right now, NASA is MAGA, so they are contributing to the knowledge base for “Space Wealth Exploration.”
ALL other American space programs have nothing to do with science, they are simply engineering projects to create successful escape pods from whatever is coming - climate meltdown, revolution, nuclear conflagration, etc.
Also didn’t Trump want to cancel some of the NASA moon missions?
MAGA like all mainstream politicians support science and technology when it suits them and agrees with them, and tear it down when it dosen’t. That’s just a fact of life. The other parties are no different, nor is the far left. You can see this with all the talk from leftist groups hating on AI and calling for data centers to be dismantled. There are some who call for the deindustrialization of society in general like the whole solar punk movement and agrarianism. The only political groups who legitimately always support science and technological progress in all it’s forms are accelerationists and accelerationists come from all over the left-right spectrum.
And Apollo was about planting the flag before Russians. Manned spaceflight was never about science.
Valid, but as a kid, I wasn’t thinking about it that way. As an adult, I am.
I just read where Musk has applied to add a network of one million satellites. The current plant for satellites between Space X and others means that 1 in 15 visible objects in the night sky will be satellites.
That’s for a total of 60,000 satellites. Musk wants to add one million more. That will mean that there will only be one actual, natural star in every 8-10 visible objects in the night sky. Almost all we will see will be Musk’s space junk…
The simple enjoyment of the night sky will be taken from every human now, or who will ever exist in the future. The night sky will be destroyed forever, just so the already richest guy in human history can get even richer. It’s more important to indulge him for the cosmic blink of time he exists on this planet, than allow billions of unborn people to ever contemplate the wonders of the universe.
That makes me think that perhaps we should impose a moratorium on space travel for about 50 years, and spend those resources to save our own planet, which needs it in so many ways - climate, infrastructure, society, etc. All those massive issues need to have the best brains and biggest budgets applied to them for a while.
We should fix our own problems before exporting them into the universe.
I say we should help and support them in this project in every possible way. Lets help them get to Mars or Venus. Sound awesome. I would love to read the headline “Elon Musk landed on Mars” and then never have to think about that guy ever again.
No, they don’t get to trash this planet, then go to a new one, and trash that. If anything, make them stay here and choke on their destroyed atmosphere, while we escape.
I think you are vastly overestimating the possibilities of living outside of earth. I would argue that theres no way in hell for any of the people alive today to be able to live on the moon, Mars or even LEO comfortably. The rich arseholes won’t change the literal paradise the earth is for the hell of Mars. If they manage to make Mars look like the earth, with vast oceans, breathable air and whatnot, sure. But that’s just not going to happen. The trillionaires are not going want to live in a greenhouse, on a desert on Mars.
Fact is, humanity is stuck here for the next few hundred years at a minimum. So yeah, lets eat the rich and use the money they have accumulated to fix the planet. Once we’ve done that, we can look into doing something on Mars.
I hate to break it to you, but MASA’s goal is to establish a permanent base on the moon. Space X’s public plans have ALWAYS been to get to Mars, and establish a permanent base there. This isn’t science fiction, these are business plans, and they are already well underway.
The NASA moon base is planned to start before the end of the decade, so they aren’t waiting very long. Judging by past NASA projects, it will take far longer that that, but it is out of the planning stages, and well on its way. They have astronauts up there in space right now.
And Space X is making progress, although they are concentrating more on their satellite deployments, because that will create a massive revenue stream that will fund everything beyond. But you can bet that if Musk sees us getting close to landing on the moon, he’ll re-prioritize his focus on Mars.
The future space races won’t be just among nations, it will be against Sociopathic Oligarchs, too, with entirely different motivations. And those Sociopathic Oligarchs cheat, so expect some dirty tricks.
There are no rules in space, anything goes.
I know what NASA’s plans are.
But like I said, no billionaire or trillionaire is going to live COMFORTABLY in the moon or Mars anytime soon. In a few centuries? Perhaps. But not in the next 70-100 years.
Hate to break it to you but the NASA base is not going to be some sort of luxury hotel where people can just go. Its going to be a very uncomfortable and cramped scientific laboratory.
You are missing my point. I agree with you, space bases are going to be pretty sparse for a while, but the Sociopathic Oligarchs don’t see it that way. They are picturing Dubai, Vegas, etc., and they have nobody around them to question that vision.
They’ll have trade with Earth, and other bases, probably forever. No country is an island, all of them have to have trade with each other. No country on Earth is entirely self-sustaining, and bases on the Moon or Mars will be no different. Goods will be expensive, but that’s okay, they can afford it, so gouge the shit out of them. Who cares if a Big Mac is $1000, they can afford it.