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Answers To: Space Exploration Advantage
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- Answers To: Solvency
Answers To: Space Exploration Advantage[____] [____] Colonization yields no real resource benefits since planets are uninhabitable and resources are almost impossible to mine.Lynda Williams, M.S. in Physics and a physics faculty member at Santa Rose Junior College, 2010 “Irrational Dreams of Space Colonization”, Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice, 22.1, Spring, pg 5-6 What do the prospects of colonies or bases on the moon and Mars offer? Both the moon and Mars host extreme environments that are uninhabitable to humans without very sophisticated technological life- support systems beyond any that are feasible now or will be available in the near future. Both bodies are subjected to deadly levels of solar radiation and are void of atmospheres that could sustain oxygen-based life forms such as humans. Terra-forming either body is not feasible with current technologies and within any reasonable time frames (and may, in any case, be questioned from an ethical and fiscal point of view). Thus, any colony or base would be restricted to living in space capsules or trailer park–like structures that could not support a sufficient number of humans to perpetuate and sustain the species in any long-term manner. Although evidence of water has been discovered on both bodies, it exists in a form that is trapped in minerals, which would require huge amounts of energy to access. Water can be converted into fuel either as hydrogen or oxygen, which would eliminate the need to transport vast amounts of fuel from Earth. According to Britain’s leading spaceflight expert, Professor Colin Pillinger, however, ‘‘You would need to heat up a lot of lunar soil to 200C to get yourself a glass of water.’’ The promises of helium as an energy source on the moon is also mostly hype. Helium-3 could be used in the production of nuclear fusion energy, a process we have yet to prove viable or efficient on Earth. Mining helium would require digging dozens of meters into the lunar surface and processing hundreds of thousands of tons of soil to produce one ton of helium-3. (25 tons of helium-3 would be required to power the United States for one year.) Fusion also requires the very rare element tritium, which does not exist naturally on the moon, Mars, or Earth in the abundances needed to facilitate nuclear fusion energy production. Currently, there are no means for generating the energy on the moon needed to extract the helium-3 to produce the promised endless source of energy. Similar energy problems exist for the proposed use of solar power on the moon, which has the additional problem of being sunlit two weeks a month and dark for the other two weeks. Answers To: Solvency[____] [____] [____] Constellation was a design failure. It could barely have made it to the moon. Harry Spencer, founder of the Canadian Space Society and conducted mission analysis for the Canadian Space Program, 2/11/2010, “NASA moon plan was an illusion, wrapped in denial,” http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18515-nasa-moon-plan-was-an-illusion-wrapped-in-denial.html Exploring with robots looks cheaper only because we set our expectations so much lower. Bolder goals need humans on the scene. Nevertheless, I'm not shedding tears for Constellation. Why not? Because it wasn't going to get us there. First, it probably wasn't going to work. Even so early in its life, the programme was already deep into a death spiral of "solving" every problem by reducing expectations of what the system would do. Actually reaching the moon would probably have required a major redesign, which wasn't going to be funded. Second, even if all went as planned, there was a money problem. As the Augustine committee noted, Constellation was already underfunded, and couldn't ever get beyond Earth orbit without a big budget increase. Which didn't seem too likely. Finally, and most important, even if Constellation was funded and worked ... so what? The programme was far too tightly focused on repeating Apollo, which was pointless: we already did Apollo! Early ideas of quickly establishing a permanent lunar base had already been forgotten. Constellation was going to deliver exactly what Apollo did: expensive, brief, infrequent visits to the moon. That was all it was good for. Answers To: Solvency[____] [____] The Constellation Program overemphasizes human missions at the expense of robotic exploration of the solar system which is net worse for scientific knowledge. Spencer Rinkus, Staff Writer for the Medill Report, 4/20/2010, “Moonwalkers disappointed with NASA budget but scientists side with Obama,” http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=163282 But scientists are siding with Obama, citing the efficiency and safety of robotic exploration of the solar system and pointing to the success of the Pioneer, Voyager, Cassini and Mars rover missions, among many others. “The opinions of astronauts should not be the bulk of the story,” said Dan Hooper, an astrophysicist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory. “It is like asking Navy pilots whether the new jet fighter program should be canceled. The scientists who are making use of the data collected by NASA missions are in a much better position to compare the merits of manned and unmanned space programs,” said Hooper. [____] [____] The Ares I rocket that was part of the Constitution program was faulty and extremely unsafe. Robert Block, Sentinel Space Editor, 10/26/2008,“ Sentinel exclusive: Is NASA's Ares doomed?”, The Orlando Sentinel, October 26th, http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2008-10-26/news/ares26_1_rocket-ares-program-cape-canaveral Bit by bit, the new rocket ship that is supposed to blast America into the second Space Age and return astronauts to the moon appears to be coming undone. First was the discovery that it lacked sufficient power to lift astronauts in a state-of-the-art capsule into orbit. Then engineers found out that it might vibrate like a giant tuning fork, shaking its crew to death. Now, in the latest setback to the Ares I, computer models show the ship could crash into its launch tower during liftoff. The issue is known as "liftoff drift." Ignition of the rocket's solid-fuel motor makes it "jump" sideways on the pad, and a southeast breeze stronger than 12.7 mph would be enough to push the 309-foot-tall ship into its launch tower. Worst case, the impact would destroy the rocket. But even if that doesn't happen, flames from the rocket would scorch the tower, leading to huge repair costs. "We were told by a person directly involved [in looking at the problem] that as they incorporate more variables into the liftoff-drift-curve model, the worse the curve becomes," said one NASA contractor, who asked not to be named because he wasn't authorized to discuss Ares. "I get the impression that things are quickly going from bad to worse to unrecoverable." NASA says it can solve -- or limit -- the problem by repositioning and redesigning the launchpad. Engineers say that would take as much as a year and cost tens of millions of unbudgeted dollars. What happens with Ares I is crucial to the future of the U.S. manned space program -- and of Kennedy Space Center. KSC is looking at thousands of layoffs after the space shuttle is retired in 2010. Its work force won't grow again until a new rocket launches. In addition, huge expenditures on the rocket could bankrupt the agency's moon plans and prompt a new president to halt the program, delaying America's return to space. Directory: wp-content -> uploads -> 2011 2011 -> Voices of the Old Sea Norman Lewis 2011 -> Malevil Robert Merle 2011 -> The Elephant Keeper’s Children Peter Hoeg 2011 -> Jv packet •Mars Colonization Affirmative •Mars Colonization Negative 2011 -> Registration Form (Rev. 8-86) omb no. 1024-0018 2011 -> All America Looks Up to Virginia;” Virginia and the Declaration of Independence 2011 -> Rao bulletin 2011 -> Christopher Columbus was born between 25 August and 31 October 1451 in 2011 -> The Battle of Frenchtown (1855), Washington Territory: the Political and Demographic Context rev 9/4/11 2011 -> The harmony society Download 2.75 Mb. Share with your friends:
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