So, Nasa said five hours ago that they're planning another mission to the moon.

@TeirdalinFirefall They do have the orbiting lunar observation probes that have taken pictures of the landing sites recently. I know the tracks of the rovers are still undisturbed, so there's a good chance everything is still there. I think the Apollo 11 flag might have blown away by engine exhaust when they left, and it's probably been sunbleached by now, but that should be the only difference.

@FaeLuna Then that would be exciting if they go back there. lol
Rather surprised the tracks didn't get covered in dust by now; but I guess corrosion must be a very, very slow process there.

Speaking of the fact there's at least four active satellites orbiting the moon; I really don't get how some people think it's impossible to spend people to the moon when the only real difference is that we need an air-tight container with oxygen.

@TeirdalinFirefall Yeah, seriously. We've sent probes to every single planet in the solar system, plus a few asteroids and dwarf planets, we have several autonomous cars driving around Mars doing science, we've landed on a comet, have reached interstellar space, and we've had humans living in orbit continuously for almost two decades. It's not that hard to believe we've been to the moon.

@Butterflykisses24 Really kinda is.

@Fernie Tell that to China and the US government.
This pie chart is a bit off due to being a couple years old, as China is producing quite a lot more than that now, but it still gives a pretty good idea.


Really no way to stop either country till we run out of oil and coal though- or maybe increase the science budget so we can discover a new form of power, perhaps using resources from space; or orbital solar collectors, or lunar solar collectors; which would be quite a bit more efficient without an entire atmosphere blocking them.

As much as you hate science; just yelling about how we have problems and not providing any solutions doesn't really accomplish much. Solar on Earth is not efficient in the slightest bit, and efficient forms of clean fuel such as nuclear are still just catching up, but often times put aside due to the costs and bad reputation they get.

Unless you were living in a cave for the past five or so years, electric cars are starting to really become more mainstream; which should hopefully improve the general condition of the planet. But we need electricity for that, and solar is not in the slightest bit a very realistic option for a large scale power grid unless we're willing to perhaps spend trillions or more putting sun-tracking solars onto every structure. And it'd have to be the government buying those solars because businesses and homeowners definitely won't be paying those prices without incentive; and even then it'll not be generating enough electricity to fully replace the need for other energy sources.

Although, considering it is the US government, and they cannot manage to spend $20 without going over $300-$400+ (not even a joke unfortunately); scaling that general estimate upto the cost of sun tracking solars~ trillions may be an underestimation on just how much that itself would cost.

@TeirdalinFirefall I don't need to read all of that BS you're spewing...you miss my point entirely. HUMANS SUCK!

@Fernie And so you blocked me?

Well; judging from your consistently inane ramblings that have no rhyme or reason, I would kind of agree. Uneducated people, like you, are partially what is wrong with our society. Not as bad as the corrupt people in charge, or big businesses with money being the prime motive; but definitely a good third or even fourth place.

@tallpowerhouseblonde you talking about helium3

@St0ut You got it.👍

@Tastyfrzz Unfortunately a lot of it doesn't even really go to defense; but into pockets of people taking advantage of the semi badly structured systems in place.

@Tastyfrzz I suppose also it's sort of Americas way of saying "Don't mess with us, we have a high military budget."; sort of like how Russia has their dead hand which nukes all the major cities in the world, we have a ludicrous military.

By that logic though, it's a bit of a waste. We're in a perfectly reasonably defensive region, and should really be focusing more inwards on improvement instead of meddling as much in other countries affairs on the whim of certain influential industries needs and wants. Just imagine if that was the science budget; at the rate we're going with just 3%.

@TeirdalinFirefall My guess is that all the nukes are dead by now. The material degrades and cracks. The tritrium leaks out. They're dirty bombs but thats's about it. That's why Trump was freaking out and wanted to build more. He knows their all duds.

@Northwest considering there's already four unmanned probes there; doesn't seem to big of a deal to have a trip there. Just seems like a media thing to increase interest in science and space is my guess; as well as to probably see how people handle being sent out there.

Also aren't private companies, such as SpaceX already doing space exploration/research unobstructed as they are?

@TeirdalinFirefall There's really no need for increasing interest in science. Every single university in the US, is receiving several time more applications, in science, than they can handle.

Several private space companies, 3 within an hour's drive of my home, are well on their way. Other companies are engaged on related technologies. We need to stay the course, laid out by the Obama administration, to take NASA out of the production business.

Another company, in my town, is doing some pretty innovative research, following a pattern established, during the Oregon Trail days. Setting up trading posts, to extend our reach, little by little. Astroids can provide water, fuel, and construction material. It can enable space ships to take off, with very little supplies, and reduce the length of a trip to Mars to a little over a month. And that's the start.

We face a real danger to our existence. We have a President, and a large group of people, who do not believe that we're damaging the planet beyond repair. We have about a decade, to figure out how to execute a soft landing, that will give the planet another 300-400 years. If we don't act, that will be reduced to 100 years.

@LittleBlueAngelBoy Maybe, I think it's mostly just that they rather not waste money and time on it. They have satellites around the moon and Mars, and of course have unmanned rover missions they've done. But from a functional standpoint there's no real reason for manned missions anymore outside of it just being a big symbolic gesture about our progress; and allowing a human outside the vessel to preform repairs.

Personally I'm totally fine with manned missions to the moon and beyond, but a lot of people are a bit less happy about such things; if it increases interest in science and space exploration then it's definitely a big step forward though; since of course learning about a 2nd manned mission to the moon is a lot more interesting to the media and general public than hearing about the 5th satellite setup in orbit of the moon.

@SW-User no. We need to advance science and figure out a way off this rock

@St0ut It's extremely ill advised to seek a way off the best and only chance we have as a species for survival. There isn't going to be colonizing of other solar systems.

@SW-User I find our own government is pretty good at doing that themselves. lol

[media=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMAtgwzS-Q8]
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@TeirdalinFirefall Seemingly it takes so much fuel to break away from Earth's gravity that there isn't a lot left to get to Mars, but refueling at the moon would make the trip more realistic. So, from what I understand, they want to put a gas station on the moon kind of thing along with a research lab and stuff like that.

@gmatthewb 90% of the cost is into the fuel if I recall; so yep a moon base is the most logical thing to do. But not necessarily just a fuel station; there's metals and other materials in the moon, so if possible a fabrication plant there would make the entire process way cheaper and easier in the long run.

Considering two-three stages of the rockets are spent getting out of Earth's orbit, if they were able to build rockets from the moon that'd be a lot better in general too.

@TeirdalinFirefall We will have to see. They are still only in the planning stages. Space agency here has put out tenders already though.

@cultofaction Livestreaming it would be nice. This time at least they're not trying to just outdo Russia though; so less incentive for it to maybe be fake.

@TeirdalinFirefall How does livestreaming it prove that it's real? They do that with ISS already

@cultofaction Considering the only real difference sending up as astronaut to the moon and one of the handful of satellites that orbit it already is pretty much just that we're risking lives with sending people~ it doesn't seem too far fetched, especially if something goes wrong and they die there.

@St0ut I think the national budget does a pretty good job of destroying Nasa on its own.

@TeirdalinFirefall when she handed over manned space flight to Russia that doomed nasa

@St0ut
So, now we're extending the "but Hillary" to space? She was secretary of State, and had nothing to do with NASA.

Manned space flight, must be transferred to civilian hands, and it's been happening organically, under President Obama. Should air travel have been limited to a government agency? If that had happened, a flight between Seattle and San Francisco, would cost $3M, and there would be only one flight every 3 weeks.

@Fernie Not even any Olympic standard athletes thete to bring back and give American passports too.😄

@SW-User

@TeirdalinFirefall It's true

@SW-User It's not impossible to make an airtight steel container that can withstand being in a vacuum, even engineering students made a handful for the low budget hyperloop scam.

Unless you mean it's impossible to send objects into space- in which case that's also incorrect, there are at least four satellites in orbit of the moon; and are sent the same exact way a manned mission would be. (Albeit a bit more useful than a manned mission)