Starship Asterisk*

Now just hold up there for a second! What about Velcro and Tang for heaven's sake!

What profit did we get out of space exploration but Melmac and laser pointers? Look at the freedom we get from war - lots of gasoline for our vehicles to fuel our search for peaceful scenery. If space exploration were more profitable, war would take a backseat.

That's kind of what I meant... the moon is excellent to bypass the gravity of earth, which requires all of the space agency's money just to get up there.

Start refining on the moon and make it your jump point to the other bodies in the solar system, saving millions, and use that money to create new technology to get around and harvest elsewherezzzz. And I'm not talking about Saturn or Jupiter's moons just yet. Those planets are way the heck out there. I mean Mars and its moons, and the asteroid belt. Or possibly setup camp on an asteroid that loops through the inner solar system close to earth (those NEOs that get people so shook up). All those objects could bring salvation, not just annihilation (non-religiously speaking). =b

*remembers Buck Rogers and the Battle for the 25th Century Board game... so much fun*
[img]http://images.boardgamegeek.com/images/pic94352_lg.jpg[/img]
http://www.boardgamegeek.com/game/548

Why its taking 40 years just to get back to the moon to use the resources there is beyond me. Almost $800 Billion dollars used on war in just the recent decade.... OMG. And what has that gotten us. More broken homes and lives than anything with no progress in human understanding our relations with others.

[quote="Arramon"]Mining off-world within 50 years should be an ultimate goal of the human race. With the advancement of technology like it is, especially just within the last 50 years, by 2060, we should be all over the place and then some, wondering how to reach the next star in less than 1 human lifetime.Solar power, fossil fuels... nuclear... come on! If we didn't have to fight the gravity well just to enter open space, things would require so little more, until you land somewherez else that has a formidable atmosphere to require the use of propellants to leave it. Otherwise lets jump on those icey moons and cratered asteroids everywhere and start diggin!Now THAT I can digg..... =b[/quote] While Titan, other moons, and the asteroids may someday be an option I think we should start closer to home. Luna would be the place to start. I would think the areas around the moons axis would be more moderate temperature wise and would be where I would set up a permanent base. Maybe working underground would be practical as excavated space may also double as a shelter. But even so; harvesting the minerals of the solar system will take a while to be practical. Dreams do eventually turn to reality. When I was a kid we were still bound to this planet!
Orin

Mining off-world within 50 years should be an ultimate goal of the human race. With the advancement of technology like it is, especially just within the last 50 years, by 2060, we should be all over the place and then some, wondering how to reach the next star in less than 1 human lifetime.

Solar power, fossil fuels... nuclear... come on! If we didn't have to fight the gravity well just to enter open space, things would require so little more, until you land somewherez else that has a formidable atmosphere to require the use of propellants to leave it. Otherwise lets jump on those icey moons and cratered asteroids everywhere and start diggin!

Now THAT I can digg..... =b

By the time we can efficiently mine the resources of Titan, we probably won't be dependent on gasoline for energy.

Being stuck on earth is what's driving prices up with humans using up all available resources. We would never need to worry about resources if we would just get off of earth and start refining what's out there!!!!

argh!

:o

Who cares the costs... the rewards are a billion fold.. omg.

[quote="orin stepanek"]With Saturn's dense atmosphere; would it be probable to use a winged glider to probe the atmosphere for a substantial length of time? With the high winds there, a pretty sturdy probe could be used. Just a thought. :roll:[/quote]
High winds, per se, would not pose a problem for aircraft; it is rather the amount of strong turbulence and wind shear.

It would cost a few bucks to get there also. :cry:
With Saturn's dense atmosphere; would it be probable to use a winged glider to probe the atmosphere for a substantial length of time? With the high winds there, a pretty sturdy probe could be used. Just a thought. :roll:
Orin

[quote="orin stepanek"]http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080324.html
Rain on Titan may be like gasoline? Anybody need to fill up? :P [/quote]
Gasoline is sure cheap but they charge an arm & a leg for oxygen.

Titan's atmosphere:
98.4% nitrogen
1.6% methane

http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap080324.html
While Titan is larger than Mercury it looks like a pea next to a beach ball in this Photograph. Makes one look in awe at the size of the gas giants in our solar system. :roll: Rain on Titan may be like gasoline? Anybody need to fill up? :P
Orin