The future of manned space travel.

[Daniel_Bingamon]

One of the problems with the space elevator is electrical discharge. Just like having a long wire out in a storm that develops thousands of volts.
The Ionospheric discharge to the elevator will be like billions and billion of volts. Pay close attention to that sign, "High Voltage - do not touch" bzzzt.

I think a moonbase should be established for low gravity takeoffs. The moon's lack of an atmosphere would be a good place to establish a space communications repeater for future Mars excursions. It would also be a good place for training for a Mars mission.

Also, put a communication relay on Cruithne, an asteroid that is referred to as Earth's other moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne

[fearfaoin]

One of the problems with the space elevator is electrical discharge. Just like having a long wire out in a storm that develops thousands of volts.
The Ionospheric discharge to the elevator will be like billions and billion of volts. Pay close attention to that sign, "High Voltage - do not touch" bzzzt

Oh, just tie a key on the end.

[Dale]

If and when the Japanese succeed in making a space elevator, that one innovation can catapult the entire planet ahead many decades towards space colonization. The estimated price tag is a modest $10 billion USD. Even at five times that price, it would likely pay for itself very quickly.

...
As for the naysayers, declaring that humans will probably never colonize beyond Earth ... seems short-sighted, from a retrospective viewpoint. We've made that stubborn claim about many scientific visions, but still got there eventually.
The things we do today which would have been unimaginable to people a century ago, you know. ...

Someone sent me an email about life in the U. S. in 1908. Here are a few highlights:

>>
The average life expectancy in the US was 47 years.

Only 14 percent of the homes in the US had a bathtub.

Only 8 percent of the homes had a telephone.

A three-minute call from Denver to New York City cost eleven dollars.

The average U.S. worker made between $200 and $400 per year.

There were 8,000 cars in the U.S., and only 144 miles of paved roads.

The maximum speed limit in most cities was 10 mph.

Only 6 percent of all Americans had graduated from high school.

>>

There are almost sure to be some amazing innovations in the next 100 years.

This reminds me of something I probably have posted about before. My grandfather was born in 1894 and died in 1987. I boggle at how the world changed just in the span of his lifetime.

[djm]

But look at how much the world has changed in your own lifetime. How much time do you spend pondering that, or do you just take most of it for granted like the rest of us?

djm

[Coffee]

Also, put a communication relay on Cruithne, an asteroid that is referred to as Earth's other moon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3753_Cruithne

I like the name of that asteroid for some reason...

[Nanohedron]

My grandfather was born in 1894 and died in 1987. I boggle at how the world changed just in the span of his lifetime.

Every now and then I think about how I might explain all this to, say, Ben Franklin. I have no idea how I'd satisfactorily account for "Project Runway".

[I.D.10-t]

I have no idea how I'd satisfactorily account for "Project Runway".

Com on, the Dandies and Victorians may have been a bit after his time, but I am sure being a well traveled man of the day he could have talked your ear off about the equivalent. Some things never change.

[mutepointe]

Old Ben Franklin would have enjoyed glimpses of the models getting into their outfits on Project Runway.

[peeplj]

Mankind always needs a frontier. By our nature, we push against boundaries; we don't really have a choice in this, it's just how we are. We can't leave well enough alone, we can't leave an experiment untried, we can't leave something unknown if there is any possible way we might try to find it out.

We find the concept of "not knowing" to be so bitterly uncomfortable as to be intolerable. Again and again we have shown that if we can't find a real answer, we'll make up an answer, and then believe our own lie, just to ease the horrible mental discomfort of uncertainty.

We need to go; when we talk about manned space exploration, we talk about times and destinations, but a destination isn't what we so desperately need.

We need the going. We need the dream. We need the challenge--even if it's impractical. Even if it's impossible.

Especially if it's impossible: if human history teaches us anything, it teaches us that nothing stays impossible for long, and what to one generation is unthinkable, their descendants will one day find to be routine.

--James

[Nanohedron]

I have no idea how I'd satisfactorily account for "Project Runway".

Com on, the Dandies and Victorians may have been a bit after his time, but I am sure being a well traveled man of the day he could have talked your ear off about the equivalent. Some things never change.

Yeah, true. But I dunno about the bad hair and the crying.

[jsluder]

But I dunno about the bad hair and the crying.

Bad hair, you say?

French Hairdress of the 1770s:

[Nanohedron]

That's not hair. Those are spaceships.

[jsluder]

That's not hair. Those are spaceships.

Ooh, nice job of getting back on topic!

[Nanohedron]

That's not hair. Those are spaceships.

Ooh, nice job of getting back on topic!

Slick, huh?

[peeplj]

On the subject of interstellar travel:

Everybody worries about propulsion, and it's a real challenge alright, but another significant challenge even once you had a valid means of interstellar propulsion is navigation.

All those planets and starts aren't just sitting still out there. They are moving at...well...astronomical speeds.

So what's your point of reference when everything is always whizzing around?

Or, worded another way, how do you navigate really long distances with no point of reference at all?

--James