Discovery ready to fly

[tombogan03884]

But it took the Marine John Glenn to actually ORBIT the earth  

Yea, I know the solar system, via the RB Chaffee "Planetarium" in GR... and I get all that.  

Point being, I don't think we need to leave this particular rock aka "the third rock from the Sun!"...  

There are plenty of things that the aeronautical boys from NASA can do for private industry.  They have a product, their minds and experience.  What they need is a marketing department.

Trivia....what did Shepherd have in common with the Kennedy?  One answer leads to the other...

Can they make more Copper ? Can they create new deposits of Iron ore or silver or ny of the other non renewable resources that we are running out of ?
They can't even create more arable land, or living space for the ever growing population of the planet.
Besides, there is always a portion of the population that is perfectly happy with the status que. But there is also something in the human spirit that needs frontiers to explore.

[Timothy]

Can they make more Copper ?

They can't even create more arable land, or living space for the ever growing population of the planet.

Stop making pennies!

According to President Bogan, upon his inauguration, there will be at least three billion less people on the planet if he can find enough rope!

We've got no reason to leave...

BTW...stop making sense Tom, it really pisses me off!

 

[tombogan03884]

Pennies aren't made of copper any more, haven't been for a while now. it's just plating, same as on ammo.
The only US coin still made of of solid metal is the Nickle. it's the only one that has not lost its actual intrinsic value.
All the rest have been debased.

[Big Frank]

Pennies cost more than 1 cent each to make. They should stop making them.

[JC5123]

Pennies cost more than 1 cent each to make. They should stop making them.

Or just give them their actual value.   

[Sponsor]

[tombogan03884]

A thought that occurred to me is that while aiming for Mars is a good objective, there are other practical goals to be achieved by further Moon trips.
The establishment of a permanent presence on the Moon would be a good test bed developing technologies for living and working in a hostile environment. The specific ideas I had were, permanent habitat, is it better practically and economically to construct a domed enclosure above ground or tunneling into the ground, either way you need to supply Oxygen since living in suits long term is not doable, underground facilities, depending on seismic conditions would be less likely to develop leaks.
Another technology that could be explored is adapting the soil to agricultural use since shipping food over such distances would also be impractical due to time and expense.

[JC5123]

I have seen quite a bit about this. Since native soils on the moon or other planets are unlikely to have many (if any) nutrients.

I was first interested in this technology as something to develop as a survival tool.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeroponics

[Big Frank]

If you have enough plants you don't have to worry about oxygen.

[tombogan03884]

If you have enough plants you don't have to worry about oxygen.

The Sci Fi writers call it "terraforming". Basically you plant huge forests by spraying the seeds by air and let them convert the atmosphere into something more usable to us. the theory seems logical enough on a planet that already has some sort of atmosphere. but on some thing small, like the moon, where there isn't enough gravity to hold the atmosphere in it will not work on the surface.
inside a contained area, such as a dome, or underground facility if enough space were available it could be used as an organic air recycling system as well as supplying food.