As much as it sounds like science fiction, the resources of Earth are finite, and we do not manage them well. At some point the human race will need to expand out into the solar system. For that water is a vital commodity. Obviously this will not be in any of our lifetimes, but some day... To infinity and beyond!
A Guy
Yep Bill I get hat you mean but I think we are such a wasteful lot that it wouldn't matter where we went - if indeed we could because to get anywhere one needs to travel at close to the speed of light and I think out time could be better spent making the best of a bad job now.
Hi John,
I can see from your fixation on “making the best of a bad job now”, that there is nothing no one can say to change your thinking, and that is okay with me; After all, you are entitled to your opinion, right?
Allow me to offer mine...
It has always been in Homo sapiens (Sapiens) nature to explore. Archaeologists, anthropologists, geneticists, and biologists have discovered that Sapiens evolved some 200,000 years ago thru artifacts Sapiens unwittingly left behind. These artifacts show that around 60,000 to 70,000 years ago Sapiens emerged from Africa and traveled over three major and twelve sub routes, the question is, why did they do this?
These scientists have a theory; About that time the Earth was undergoing major climatic shifts driven by the onset of one of the worst parts of the last Ice Age. In other words, they migrated and explored other areas to find better living conditions. Ever since then Sapiens has gone on to populate and explore the world.
When did Sapiens lot turn into, as you say, “a bad job”? Do you mean Sapiens penchant for avarice and lack of compassion towards his fellow man?
I do not believe anyone can determine a starting point, we could speculate that it happened in the earliest of beginnings 200,000 years ago. Sapiens has always had in himself a want for sustenance and comfort and I can see this turning into a need for more in case of food or shelter shortages. Over time this need turned into desire and Sapiens started his downward spiral to malevolence towards other tribes.
How do we change generations of traditions that were originally meant to help and protect the people? I believe it begins with a change in not only the mindset of the worlds governments, but also in the mindsets of their populations; A tall order indeed!
Yes, the nations that can afford it do come together to fight problems like Ebola, potable water, CO2 emissions and terrorism, but when the threat is over they go back to their customary ways of who is top dog in their respective governments and fight over how they will doll out the funds available to their nation. In a manner of speaking; The dog that is biggest and barks the loudest gets the biggest bone.
I feel your frustration, but; I do not believe this exploration is being done for the sake of plain curiosity on the part of the intellectual science community; This curiosity to explore the Universe. Just imagine where we would be if it was not for that curiosity.
https://Bringing NASA Technology Down To Earth | spinoff.nasa.gov
I for one of many was sorry to see America stop going to the Moon, but at the time we reached our goals and there were more pressing matters to attend to, like racial discord, a war in Southeast Asia, and the beginnings of the OPEC crude oil rationing.
I agree with Bill, none of us will see major change in our lifetimes unless something cataclysmic happens, but with a bit of individual effort we can improve our station in life.
May you always have clear skies!
Steve
I could not agree more. First time ever in Chillout section I am thinking it's a shame I cannot rep!
If you ask me what's the purpose of the life, your, mine and everyone's, I would answer that it is to find out more about our existence and universe.
I like the way of thinking in Eastern cultures: "I'll start building this garden now for posterity so my descendants in next millennium and millenniums after that can enjoy it". The same applies to exploring our universe; it's not done for us but for the generations to come.
Kari
I have just lost two long replies and I am not going to retype them suffice to say I think we have our priorities wrong when it come to space exploration except for the health benefits that any come from it and the deplorable lack of health care delivery here on this spec of blue in the universe.
One only has to look at the state of the health system especially in the US and I am not having a go at that great country but you would have to agree that health care is so grossly money orientated and if one does not have the funds then the care is just unavailable.
So yes we are hell bent on avarice and apathy - sorry to be so cynical but being in health are for 40+ years I have seen it go from bad to even worse and it is not going to stop getting worse anytime yet. But we can see the hills and dinks in Plutos surface so I suppose we have to be happy a about something.
In a nutshell if it came down to the health of one of my family and sending some camera loaded vehicle to some planet we shall never get to then I know which I would pick.
This has been happening since last week but tomorrow morning is the best. The Waning Crescent Moon will be 15% of full. All screenshots from Stellarium Planetarium program.
Tomorrow morning, October 9th at 5am EDT:Guide to October’s Conjunction Mania, See Venus in Daylight
Tomorrow morning might be a good time to call for extra celestial traffic control. A slip of a crescent Moon will join a passel of planets in the dawn sky for the first of several exciting conjunctions over the next few days.
Source: http://Guide to October’s Conjunction Mania | www.universetoday.com
At 6am:
And 7am: You'll notice by 7am the bodies are starting to wash out due to Sunrise.
For London UK it's at midnight, other areas will need to adjust their times accordingly:
Clear Skies!
Steve
Full article: The Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy - The AtlanticThe Most Mysterious Star in Our Galaxy
Astronomers have spotted a strange mess of objects whirling around a distant star. Scientists who search for extraterrestrial civilizations are scrambling to get a closer look.
In the Northern hemisphere’s sky, hovering above the Milky Way, there are two constellations—Cygnus the swan, her wings outstretched in full flight, and Lyra, the harp that accompanied poetry in ancient Greece, from which we take our word “lyric.”
Between these constellations sits an unusual star, invisible to the naked eye, but visible to the Kepler Space Telescope, which stared at it for more than four years, beginning in 2009.
“We’d never seen anything like this star,” says Tabetha Boyajian, a postdoc at Yale. “It was really weird. We thought it might be bad data or movement on the spacecraft, but everything checked out.”
Kepler was looking for tiny dips in the light emitted by this star. Indeed, it was looking for these dips in more than 150,000 stars, simultaneously, because these dips are often shadows cast by transiting planets. Especially when they repeat, periodically, as you’d expect if they were caused by orbiting objects.
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