View Full Version : Voyager 1 officially in interstellar space
The findings, combined with other spacecraft data, indicate that Voyager 1 left
the heliosphere on or about 25 August 2012, when the craft was 121
astronomical units (18 billion kilometres) from the Sun.
http://www.nature.com/news/voyager-1-has-reached-interstellar-space-1.13735
Message to Voyager 1 - Welcome to Interstellar Space
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgwzMjp9YA0
:sunny:
soopaman2
09-12-13, 02:16 PM
As a space nut, I am excited.
It is an extension of mankind out so far, kinda epic, amazing to me.
I hope it dont end up like that Star trek I saw, where it came back looking for the creator. Kirk owned it of course.
*nerdmode*
Dread Knot
09-12-13, 02:19 PM
Waiting for its return as V'Ger. :03:
soopaman2
09-12-13, 03:14 PM
Waiting for its return as V'Ger. :03:
According to Star Trek lore V'ger created the Borg. I for one do not wish for its return.
Captain Kirk is not here to save us from it.
Thanks for the links Dowly, simply amazing! Congrats to the Voyager Team also!:up:
Awesome stuff, it's made good speed considering the size of the solar system.
Good luck Voyager! :salute:
Gargamel
09-12-13, 04:18 PM
yay!
Considering the state of technology at the time of Voyager 1's launch, the length of time is has been operational, and the amount of data returned, the project is probably the greatest "bang for the buck" endeavour ever created by the government, if not of all history...
Now, if they can only figure out a way to make those mobile phone batteries last longer...
<O>
Skybird
09-12-13, 04:37 PM
Considering that we have no idea, absolutely no idea about other life out there, and can in no way conclude on this life's intentions and motivations, drives and ambitions, I wonder whether it really is a brilliant idea that we make this much noise and want to let everybody know that we are there, and where we are to find.
Trust and hoping for the best, is kind. Knowing is better. But we know nothing than that approximately 90% of the space within the milky way is dozens of millions of years older than the 10% of space our solar system lies in. So are the solar systems in these regions: much older than our Earth is. That means that life in these 90% of space and solar systems, if such life exists, is much older than all history of life on Earth, and thus most intelligences out there most likely have an advantage in knowledge over us that counts in the hundreds of thousands if not many millions of years.
And who said that that life with its superior knowledge is friendly? Who said we make contact with others on grounds of our conditions, and our superiority? This is no Star Trek. We are not Starfleet officers. This is the real galaxy. Here we are the ants.
We really should stop to make that much noise.
Your concept is based on the intelligence of life forms being based on the length of its existence; ameoba have existed for millions of years on earth and are no more intelligent, on the whole, or threatening than they were at inception. For all we know, there are no "nearby" complex intelligent life forms. If there are, and given how long it has taken Voyager to arrive at the distance it is now, there is no certainty they are any more developed than we are in terms of the necessary technology to "shortcut" the vast distances or to have weaponry to do us any more harm than we could do to ourselves. Additionally, our human construct of "hostile" alien races is more based on our own human rapaciousness as evidenced by our own history than by any known indicators. It is always amusing to hear of the possiblity UFOs already reported over the decades are "hostile"; if a race capable of solving the technological obstacles or faster-than-light-speed is indeed visiting us on a regular basis, they are also technologically capable of devastation greater than any we can cuurently unleash against them in defense of our planet; that there has been no harm done by the UFOs would tend to indicate their intentions are benign...
Now, where is my "How To Serve Man" book?...
<O>
Stealhead
09-12-13, 05:01 PM
Considering that we have no idea, absolutely no idea about other life out there, and can in no way conclude on this life's intentions and motivations, drives and ambitions, I wonder whether it really is a brilliant idea that we make this much noise and want to let everybody know that we are there, and where we are to find.
Trust and hoping for the best, is kind. Knowing is better. But we know nothing than that approximately 90% of the space within the milky way is dozens of millions of years older than the 10% of space our solar system lies in. So are the solar systems in these regions: much older than our Earth is. That means that life in these 90% of space and solar systems, if such life exists, is much older than all history of life on Earth, and thus most intelligences out there most likely have an advantage in knowledge over us that counts in the hundreds of thousands if not many millions of years.
And who said that that life with its superior knowledge is friendly? Who said we make contact with others on grounds of our conditions, and our superiority? This is no Star Trek. We are not Starfleet officers. This is the real galaxy. Here we are the ants.
We really should stop to make that much noise.
I would think that given the vastness there must be life forms out there with far greater intelligence than our own.We are still primitives we can not even get along with each other.
A life form that has been around for much longer say billions of years it would have developed advanced technology many millions of years ago or at least the possibility is there and given the odds something out there must be at that point.
Compare the jump just in the past 70 years in technology now imagine what something could do one million years on assuming that society did not destroy itself or perhaps it did and hashed out the petty issues long ago.
Who knows though perhaps there are many lifeforms that have been wiped out when their Voyager was discovered.What if something that we placed on those discs which is not offensive in any way is to another considered a threat or highly offensive?
Maybe the ant pile gets smashed by something more powerful.Maybe not.
Skybird
09-12-13, 05:15 PM
Vienna,
Imagine mankind to exist not for just 50-100 thousand years, but 10 million years. Imagine we did not exterminate ourselves, and sued thew time to constantly grow our knowledge and scientific understanding and technical capabilities. We poeple of the 21st century probably would not even recognize their technology as "technology", it probably would either miss our perception completely, or would perceive it as complete magic.
And hostility: am I "hostile" when stepping onto an ant when walking in the woods? Am I expressing "hostility" towards cattle when slaughtering cattle and eating it? Or using a rabbit in the lab? Is it hostile when the wolf hunts and kills the deer or sheep?
All your reasoning, vienna, is tremendously proving my point. It is arguing from a purely anthropomorphic standpoint, if I may out it this way. Extrapolating standards about reasonability, good and evil from a human standards and projecting it onto the rest of the galaxy.
I say that right this does not make sense. Or to be more precise: we have no clue whether it could make sense, now, or in the future. The term "alien" here implies a level of strangeness and the unknown that ends any reason for and purpose of formulating assumptions. The human scaling and standards have to be left behind completely. And the question nsi whether we can do that.
There is a reason why Arthur C. Clarke once said, or was it Isaac Asimov, I am not certain, that if we ever meet an alien intelligence between the stars, on a foreign world or our own, or between the stars - we probably would neither recognize it, nor would we recognize the condensate of its "scientific" (their closest equivalent of) and technical (their closest equivalent of) knowledge and abilities. Like the ant on the forest's floor is not aware of our presence, and us observing it, and us putting it into a lab and an artificial labyrinth where it builds its nest. Even if we want, we cannot communicate with the ant. It's mind complexity is much below ours.
Our limit lies in that for us only a reality makes sense in which we can reason about it only in the terms and scientific concepts we are familiar with. Recognising the alien life and intelligence and its abilities and motivations maybe would have us leaving our human nature behind as a necessary precondition!
Let's do not ignore that your scientific understanding and methodology NEVER formulates the final, the last, the ultimate truth about something, but formulates theories. And it is the nature of theories that they are preliminary. Theories are the nature and essence of science. We should be careful to be certain that they explain the universe to us in full. They do not, they cannot, and most likely they never will. Only mathematics allow us to go beyond the limits of our perceiving awareness of the total reality. It is the only tool we know of where by using something of finite reach a precise image of the infinite can be formed.
As far as we know, that is. :03:
One could turn religious when thinking about these things... :)
Stealhead
09-12-13, 05:51 PM
Arthur C. Clarke I think it matches well with the monolith in 2001:a Space Odyssey.The monolith was completely incomprehensible to either the apes or the humans.
TLAM Strike
09-12-13, 06:51 PM
I hope it dont end up like that Star trek I saw...
In terms of disaster that was nothing compared to the other Voyager Earth sent out.
http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/6120/exzj.jpg
Aktungbby
09-12-13, 09:08 PM
Arthur C. Clarke I think it matches well with the monolith in 2001:a Space Odyssey.The monolith was completely incomprehensible to either the apes or the humans.
Actually: all monoliths are totally incomprehensible to any primate. That is why they are MONOLITHS! A comprehensible monolith is essentially an statuesque oxymoron. We comprehend Mount Rushmore but do not totally comprehend Stonehenge or the Moas of Easter Island-the difference between a big statue and a mysterious 'monolith'! Our own ignorance is part of the 'wonderment' Hope this clarifies things...:k_confused:
Wolferz
09-12-13, 09:49 PM
Don't forget folks, Voyager 1 has visited the gas giants too and then used Saturn to slingshot it on out of here. Otherwise it might have reached the interstellar boundary a bit sooner. Voyager 2 will disembark the heliosphere soon also.
Voyager 1 has enough battery left to run until 2025, then she goes dark side of the moon.
Nobody builds them like we do. :up:
Just think, sooner or later, an alien culture might discover the thing. What do you think they'll say?
"Columbia House has really slow record delivery!"
Jimbuna
09-13-13, 06:26 AM
Just think, sooner or later, an alien culture might discover the thing. What do you think they'll say?
"ET phone home"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyFijjikkeM
I'd love to be around to hear that Voyager had reached the galactic boundary or even another system. I'll be in the ground a long time before either event but it would be great to see.
Penguin
09-13-13, 10:25 AM
I find interesting that there are still people working on the Voyager project who had been doing so since before the launch. That's what I call job dedication.
Aktungbby
09-13-13, 10:29 AM
Awesome stuff, it's made good speed considering the size of the solar system.
Good luck Voyager! :salute:
In this case 'Godspeed' as well. It's going to need it out there. Is'nt there a binary map of our location and a Rolling Stones tune on it? :arrgh!:EDIT: Upon review: there are 28 musical works on the golden disk aboard. In addition to Western and Eastern compositions, 'Johnny B Goode' (Chuck Berry) and 'Dark was the Night'(Blind Willie Johnson) and 'New Guinea Mens' House Chant'(Robert MacLennan)...No Rolling Stones?...hmmm; how did they leave out 'Stairway to Heaven'(Led Zeppelin)...?? I want that 'mens house chant' for my mancave as I zero the convoy...:cool:
Penguin
09-13-13, 10:36 AM
I thought it would have been a Beatles tune, but apparently none of them is on the record, which is also an interstellar map: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/spacecraft/music.html
Kudos to NASA for putting Chuck Berry on it! :rock:
@Skybird
You make good points, but what is to say that the other lifeforms are as selfish and
outright a-holes like humanity? :hmmm:
Now the debate has started over whether or not it has really made it into interstellar space. According to this article, maybe not. But its way out there!:D
"Voyager still has to face the solar system's biggest frontier: a huge haze of comets known as the Oort Cloud. The science team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimates that it could be another 200 to 300 years before Voyager enters the Oort Cloud, and another 30,000 years before it comes out the other side. The Oort Cloud may extend outward for 100,000 astronomical units (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit) (where 1 AU equals the average Earth-sun distance). That's more than a third of the way to the next star over."
Don't think it will run into any aliens anytime soon.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/where-does-solar-system-end-voyager-isnt-officially-there-yet-8C11142403?ocid=msnhp&pos=7
Bad Astronomer/Phil Plait wrote an article about it, good read as usual:
Voyager 1 Reaches Interstellar Space. But Has It Left the Solar System? Wellllll… (http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/09/13/voyager_1_space_probe_is_in_now_in_interstellar_sp ace.html)
:salute:
Its gotten to the point, when they talk about the distance its traveled or how much farther it has to go to reach a certain point, I can't comprehend or picture just how far it has to go to be officially out there in interstellar space.
Kudos to NASA for putting Chuck Berry on it! :rock:
Agreed on that point. Did you know Carl Sagan is reputed to have fought long and hard as Chairman of the committee who put together the disc contents to not have Chuck Berry included on the final disc? And there is a cut by Blind Willie Johnson included, so blues, R&B, and rock are well represented. Also, the depiction of male and female human figures was supposed to be an actual photograph of nude (or for those of you in the Bible Belt, 'nekkid') persons but moral objections were raised by Christian religious groups and silhouettes of human figures were used instead. I wonder, if Voyager were launched today, what would we send up as part of the pacakge representing humanity? Miley 'twerking'?...
<O>
I would give the Borg Miley's and Biebers address for sure,lol
I would give the Borg Miley's and Biebers address for sure,lol
The Borg wish to improve themselves, I think they might just destroy humanity for creating such a thing. :dead:
Wolferz
09-13-13, 12:41 PM
Alien race upon finding the record on voyager with the twerknaut...
WTF?:huh: She gives good sledgehammer but we can't figure out the wrecking ball. Captain Bipto, assemble the battle fleet, we're going to Earth to fix this!
I have to chuckle, looking at the greeting messages on Voyager, with the Amoy (Chinese dialect) message being:
"Friends of space, how are you all? Have you eaten yet? Come visit us if you have time."
I can't help but think of:
http://robliano.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/68191_to-serve-man-21.jpg
"I'll bring the fava beans..."
http://andreirublev.files.wordpress.com/2012/05/drinkshot-silenceofthelambs-01.jpg
<O>
Platapus
09-13-13, 01:16 PM
@Skybird
You make good points, but what is to say that the other lifeforms are as selfish and
outright a-holes like humanity? :hmmm:
Men in Black
Human thought is so primitive it's looked upon as an infectious disease in some of the better galaxies. That kind of makes you proud, doesn't it? huh?
With the power supply of Voyager 1 going out by 2025, what are the odds of it being discovered by another life form of some kind? A dead piece of tin, traveling through the unimaginable vastness of outer space, the odds against someone or something coming across this small craft would be huge!
Platapus
09-13-13, 01:49 PM
With the power supply of Voyager 1 going out by 2025, what are the odds of it being discovered by another life form of some kind? A dead piece of tin, traveling through the unimaginable vastness of outer space, the odds against someone or something coming across this small craft would be huge!
Would you like that rounded to the nearest zero?
Chances are overwhelming that it will either burn up in some sun, smash into something and be obliterated, or simply drift no where near anything or anyone forever.
I do believe 2025 marks when it can't send messages to Earth anymore.
The data might still survive?
I have no idea how it's stored, someone else who knows hopefully can explain that. :hmmm:
Aktungbby
09-13-13, 01:59 PM
Now the debate has started over whether or not it has really made it into interstellar space. According to this article, maybe not. But its way out there!:D
"Voyager still has to face the solar system's biggest frontier: a huge haze of comets known as the Oort Cloud. The science team at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory estimates that it could be another 200 to 300 years before Voyager enters the Oort Cloud, and another 30,000 years before it comes out the other side. The Oort Cloud may extend outward for 100,000 astronomical units (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astronomical_unit) (where 1 AU equals the average Earth-sun distance). That's more than a third of the way to the next star over."
Don't think it will run into any aliens anytime soon.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/where-does-solar-system-end-voyager-isnt-officially-there-yet-8C11142403?ocid=msnhp&pos=7
1 AU =93,000,000 The Oort Cloud iss (93,000,000,000,000-Space/time doth continuem! Einstein was one of them:know:
I do believe 2025 marks when it can't send messages to Earth anymore.
The data might still survive?
I have no idea how it's stored, someone else who knows hopefully can explain that. :hmmm:
I have no idea how much data it can store, on its computer, but after 36 years in space, it might being hitting its limit soon! I would think JPL would download its data on a regular basis, because of its limitations, but that's just a guess by me. Another thing to think about, Voyager 1 and 2 are using computers from the 1970's. I doubt their storage capacity is any where near what they could have with todays PC's.
Penguin
09-13-13, 02:16 PM
Agreed on that point. Did you know Carl Sagan is reputed to have fought long and hard as Chairman of the committee who put together the disc contents to not have Chuck Berry included on the final disc?
There goes all my respect for Mr Sagan - maybe he got bribed by that Beethoven guy who managed to get two songs on the record :know:. If I'd be an alien overlord and I'd find out they skipped "Johnny B Goode" I'd send in the Vogons to blow this planet up.
Seriously, I haven't heard this song before the early 80s, but its first 30 seconds still give me shivers on my back an an ear orgasm untill today.
Platapus
09-13-13, 02:17 PM
I would have though that the Voyager RTGs would provide power for a lot longer. But I guess even their thermal-couples just wear out.
From Wikipedia:
The radio communications system of Voyager 1 was designed to be used up to and beyond the limits of the Solar System. The communication system includes a 3.7 metres (12 ft) diameter parabolic dish high-gain antenna to send and receive radio waves via the three Deep Space Network stations on the Earth.
When Voyager 1 is unable to communicate directly with the Earth, its digital tape recorder (DTR) can record up to 69.63 kilobytes of data for transmission at another time. As of 2013, signals from Voyager 1 take over 17 hours to reach Earth.
2015: Termination of Data Tape Recorder (DTR) operations (limited by ability to capture 1.4 kbit/s data using a 70 m/34 m antenna array. This is the minimum rate at which the DTS can read-out data.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voyager_1
What I found notable in this information is the storage is on a DTR; the type of tape used must be absolutely amazing to have survived intact this long...
<O>
Platapus
09-13-13, 02:30 PM
"signals from Voyager 1 take over 17 hours to reach Earth." Yikes!
I still have a hard time visioning this.
It's what happens when you have a bad mobile plan... :D
<O>
Platapus
09-13-13, 02:41 PM
Those "out of area" roaming charges must be a bear!
Its amazing what the people at JPL can do, even at the distance these spacecraft are from Earth! Voyager 2 had a glitch with its computer program some time ago.(Back in 2010) They couldn't read the data it was sending back. They believe it got hit by cosmic ray, and it affected its programming. Its all done in 1 and zero's and they believe it flipped a zero to a one. So they figured it out, and sent a signal to it to correct itself. It took (at that time) 13 hours to send a message and the same to receive it. So they waited a whole day to see the result, and they had fixed it! They could read the data being sent back again, and it was only 8.6 billion miles from Earth!:huh:
http://www.universetoday.com/65683/voyager-2-update-from-dr-ed-stone/
Skybird
09-13-13, 02:49 PM
@Skybird
You make good points, but what is to say that the other lifeforms are as selfish and
outright a-holes like humanity? :hmmm:
I do not even assume these^ "qualities" in alien intelligent life. My argument is we have no clue about what others are like, and that maybe we could not even recognise them as "intelligent life". Maybe they also cannot recognise us - not only too superior but also too inferior intelligences are hard to be recognised as "intelligent life", for both are beyond the perception standard of the observer.
We can and do not know, and I advise caution, therefore. We should not project human reason, nature and motives onto the rest of the cosmos, including other life forms. "Alien" does not mean "human just with green skin, four legs and a third eye". "Alien" means: beyond all experience, and beyond all standards one knows to compare to. To say it in germa, I do not know how to put it in English: "unfaßbar fremdartig. "
Aktungbby
09-13-13, 03:00 PM
Are you implying the Fuhrer is an alien!?:arrgh!:
Penguin
09-13-13, 03:02 PM
I would have though that the Voyager RTGs would provide power for a lot longer. But I guess even their thermal-couples just wear out.
In yesterday's press conference (http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/38651239) they gave a little oversight about the timeline.
They stated the following:
In 2020, the team will begin shutting off the remaining science instruments one by one to use the remaining power most efficiently. This will go on until 2025. After that, we may get engineering data back for another 10 years.
So they turn off all the unneccessary stuff to save power, the cam has already turned off in 1990, it's last shot being this fascinationg one:
http://media.npr.org/assets/news/2010/02/12/paleblue_custom-b200d49e728a183a8622779513762ba435508898-s6-c30.jpg
I'm still fascinated that all the tech stuff which is basically based on late 60s/early 1970's technology, is still working till today.
We are soooo small in this big universe!!!
Aktungbby
09-13-13, 03:09 PM
We are soooo small in this big universe!!!
Yes but we are the center of it!:sunny:
Voyager 1 has recorded its first sounds from this region of space!
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/voyager-1-captures-first-ever-sounds-interstellar-space-8C11147747
We are soooo small in this big universe!!!
Neil deGrasse put it so I feel like crying whenever I hear it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9D05ej8u-gU
Just.. I can't even describe it... amazing...
:salute:
Platapus
09-13-13, 03:57 PM
Voyager 1 has recorded its first sounds from this region of space!
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/voyager-1-captures-first-ever-sounds-interstellar-space-8C11147747
Well space is only mostly a vacuum:yep:.
Thanks for that link Dowly, that is a must see video. Like you said, just amazing!:up:
Thanks for that link Dowly, that is a must see video. Like you said, just amazing!:up:
It is, and then there's the Carl Sagan's "mote of dust(Pale blue dot)" speech:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nl5dlbCh8lY
We are NOTHING.
Skybird
09-13-13, 04:29 PM
We are NOTHING.
You'd make a psychiatrist-ant proud! :D
Aktungbby
09-14-13, 01:53 AM
Just think, sooner or later, an alien culture might discover the thing. What do you think they'll say?
" Hey check this gold disk map out! Yup, lets stop over for a quick bite! Yeah... looks kinda like Sol 3 in Mutter's spiral.. The DNA mod we did to those Sasquatches awhile back musta' caught on!" :Kaleun_Salivating:
Cybermat47
09-14-13, 03:02 AM
We are NOTHING.
No, we are carbon based lifeforms. There's quite a difference. :O:
soopaman2
09-14-13, 05:23 AM
Today we got much better power sources and equipment, much longer life, and telemetry, better batteries, fuel sources,etc...
Have we tried to launch more such probes, updated with modern equipment?
It would be a great gift for future generations, just as the makers of the Voyagers did for us.
I really hate that we abandoned space exploration. :down:
People want immediate return these days, no want or wish to invest long term in anything,... Gimme now, gimme now.
Putting men on the moon got boring by the end, we (all of us, mankind I mean) were never greater explorers than we were then.
We (humans) lack balls.
Dread Knot
09-14-13, 05:39 AM
Putting men on the moon got boring by the end, we (all of us, mankind I mean) were never greater explorers than we were then.
We (humans) lack balls.
78,000 people have already signed up for the one-way trip on Mars One. ( I think only four is the number they will pare it down to)
Their motives may vary, but it sounds pretty ballsy to me.
We have a constant presence in space now, with the always over-looked International Space Station. Most people don't bother to notice.
I think part of the problem is our short attention spans. There is a great deal always going on but we only wake up to the milestones. When Curiosity landed on Mars last year there was a nice burst of interest for a few days or hours. ( would it crash and burn or would it pull off such an unlikely landing? ) However, once the probe starting rolling and the hard science started getting done, interest quickly waned.
BrucePartington
09-14-13, 05:58 AM
78,000 people have already signed up for the one-way trip on Mars One. ( I think only four is the number they will pare it down to)
Their motives may vary, but it sounds pretty ballsy to me.
We have a constant presence in space now, with the always over-looked International Space Station. Most people don't bother to notice.
I think part of the problem is our short attention spans. There is a great deal always going on but we only wake up to the milestones. When Curiosity landed on Mars last year there was a nice burst of interest for a few days or hours. ( would it crash and burn or would it pull off such an unlikely landing?) However, once the probe starting rolling and the hard science started getting done, interest quickly waned.
Reading your post made me think it's mostly the media's fault.
Space exploration, cosmology, etc is probably what fascinates me the most.
I regularly browse Youtube searching for the latest videos on the theme. And the web in general, for videos or just plain text info.
I can never have enough.
I suspect it's a case of the media 'think tanks' believing that the public has no interest in such matters. Reminds me of CSI being offered to ABC: "Before it was acquired by CBS, the show was first offered to ABC in 1999, but was rejected as "too confusing for the average viewer".(IMDB - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0247082/trivia)
soopaman2
09-14-13, 05:59 AM
78,000 people have already signed up for the one-way trip on Mars One. ( I think only four is the number they will pare it down to)
Their motives may vary, but it sounds pretty ballsy to me.
We have a constant presence in space now, with the always over-looked International Space Station. Most people don't bother to notice.
I think part of the problem is our short attention spans. There is a great deal always going on but we only wake up to the milestones. When Curiosity landed on Mars last year there was a nice burst of interest for a few days or hours. ( would it crash and burn or would it pull off such an unlikely landing? ) However, once the probe starting rolling and the hard science started getting done, interest quickly waned.
You are right, short attention span, and profit...
We send money to foreign countries, but rely on the Russians to get us into space.
I can buy a short attention span, but you can put in greedy politics as well.
We beat the russians to the moon, now we use 1960s Russian tech to get us to our own space station, and pay them for the pleasure.
I amend my statement, America has lost its balls. :O:
On a side note, I would go to Mars, my motive is the same as Ponce De Leon, Maggellan, Cristopher Colombo, John Smith, Louis and Clark..etc.
To see what I can see.
Human curiosity.
Dread Knot
09-14-13, 06:29 AM
We beat the russians to the moon, now we use 1960s Russian tech to get us to our own space station, and pay them for the pleasure.
Well, the nice thing about that Russian tech is that it is straight forward and it works. That's why it's still around. Soyuz is sort of the space equivalent of the AK-47 assault rifle. Can be slightly improved upon, but hard to replace completely. ( On a side note, who in 1956 thought the B-52 bomber would still be in active duty in 2013?)
However, NASA is working on a future manned vehicle, the Orion, but it is still a few years off. It's not sleek and doesn't have wings, but maybe the Shuttle was one of those temporary dead ends in human technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(spacecraft)
soopaman2
09-14-13, 06:36 AM
Well, the nice thing about that Russian tech is that it is straight forward and it works. That's why it's still around. Soyuz is sort of the space equivalent of the AK-47. Can be slightly improved upon, but hard to replace completely. ( On a side note, who thought the B-52 bomber would still be in active duty in 1956?)
However, NASA is working on a future manned vehicle, the Orion, but it is still a few years off. It's not sleek and doesn't have wings, but maybe the Shuttle was one of those temporary dead ends in human technology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(spacecraft)
The shuttle is a huge dead end. A flying brick, way too much money to launch (fuel) Not killing the Russians, I am just disappointed in our lack of want to innovate, and the killing of the space program irks me.
I kinda like what Virgin is doing with space planes, while not great for interstellar travel, great for getting to low orbit. They are working more on passengers and not cargo, so kinda irrelivant, I guess.
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