The future of space travel?

softdown
softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
Assuming we have some interest in space travel here. I am no expert, this is just my understanding. Apparently Russia shows little interest in space exploration at this time. Imagine they have more pressing issues to deal with.

Just read that Elon Musk's Space X is getting rid of 10% of employees. A number of reasons may be behind that if true. Jeff Bezos Blue Origin rockets are proving to be much more efficient for one thing. Plus Elon smoked pot during a podcast with Joe Rogan. Not many care but it goes against his contract with the military. Could just be shedding "dead weight". 

Many of us, including me of course, are intrigued by space travel. A huge problem is that, to date, we only travel at ~27,000 mph with manned craft. That doesn't even work for Mars in my opinion. Too much time for failures to crop up. 

Once we get past the Mars and asteroid belt goal, other items of great interest are mostly unfathomably far away. Right now I am thinking we have $1000 and am looking at mansions in Beverly Hills. Going faster takes incredible amount of fuel and turns small objects into lethal weapons. Space has considerable debris when traveling billions of miles. Imagine being hit by a baseball traveling at 500,000 mph. That baseball would make a small crater when impacting the earth. 

Is manned space exploration realistic in the next 15 years? Beyond Mars? 


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Comments

  • Estragon
    Estragon Registered Users Posts: 4,496 ✭✭✭✭✭
    IMHO, the realistic future of space travel isn't sending fragile, short lived, 150# sacs of mostly water (ie us) to do work better done by small, hardy, relatively cheap, and increasingly smart inanimate objects.

    A joke from back in the day:.... "The factory of the future will have exactly two employees; a man and a dog.  The man will be there to feed and care for the dog, and the dog will be there to make sure the man doesn't touch anything in the factory."

    Maybe Musk is letting go of the people who built/programmed the machines which will do the actual work?
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  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    You sound like a sci-fi fan. I have said that Star Trek lack realism when they send the Captain and #1 to explore the unexplored - which is always filled with imminent danger. Recommended a robotic universal soldier type to collect data first. We are still a very long way from exploring anything outside of our solar system of course.

    The hype about Mars? The real goal is the elements in the adjacent a$teroid belt. Manned space exploration has gone backwards in the past 50 years so I'm not holding my breath. Continues the fascinate the easily fascinated of course. 

    Interesting that recent Star Trek efforts are dying though the reasons are largely political so I won't go there. 
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Estragon
    Estragon Registered Users Posts: 4,496 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Yup, I'm a bit of a sci-fi fan.

    Don't know if mining asteroids will be a viable thing, it's a pretty risky business even here on Earth.  Space exploration, manned or otherwise, has spun off some pretty useful tech though (like higher efficiency solar panels, batteries, etc) :smile:
    Off-grid.  
    Main daytime system ~4kw panels into 2xMNClassic150 370ah 48v bank 2xOutback 3548 inverter 120v + 240v autotransformer
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  • littleharbor2
    littleharbor2 Solar Expert Posts: 2,036 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Life as we know it would be quite different without satellites. Thanks to them we ended up with solar panels here on terra firma.

    2.1 Kw Suntech 175 mono, Classic 200, Trace SW 4024 ( 15 years old  but brand new out of sealed factory box Jan. 2015), Bogart Tri-metric,  460 Ah. 24 volt LiFePo4 battery bank. Plenty of Baja Sea of Cortez sunshine.

  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    Estragon said:
    Yup, I'm a bit of a sci-fi fan.

    Don't know if mining asteroids will be a viable thing, it's a pretty risky business even here on Earth.  Space exploration, manned or otherwise, has spun off some pretty useful tech though (like higher efficiency solar panels, batteries, etc) :smile:
    The theory is that some asteroids may possess an extreme percentage of valuable minerals. Imagine a platinum or gold asteroid. Thats what they tell investors anyway and it could be true.
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    edited January 2019 #7
    Life as we know it would be quite different without satellites. Thanks to them we ended up with solar panels here on terra firma.
    The realist in me could point out that nothing has done more for mankind than the advances made due to warfare. Without wars, we might still be literally shooting sticks with our bows. 

    Plus the space war was/is just a facet of the Cold War. Doubtful we would have landed men on the Moon without the pesky Russkies pushing us on.

    Its another subject but the argument could be made that a military rivalry is a good thing as long as it stays cold. 
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries
  • Estragon
    Estragon Registered Users Posts: 4,496 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Imagine what would happen to the price of gold if it turned out there were high-grade, easily mined gold asteroids floating around us :wink:
    Off-grid.  
    Main daytime system ~4kw panels into 2xMNClassic150 370ah 48v bank 2xOutback 3548 inverter 120v + 240v autotransformer
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  • softdown
    softdown Solar Expert Posts: 3,812 ✭✭✭✭
    Estragon said:
    Imagine what would happen to the price of gold if it turned out there were high-grade, easily mined gold asteroids floating around us :wink:
    There might be a couple gold asteroids out of tens of millions. Part of the reason that we hear about future Mars missions. Gold has unique qualities aside from preferred jewelry for some. I think aerospace solar cells tend to have silver. Nothing more conductive than silver. 

    The father of William Randolph Hearst was a big Nevada and California miner. For a long time they kept complaining about the "damn blue stuff" that kept gumming up their equipment. Finally it was assayed in San Fran. It was silver that was looked blue and gummed up their equipment.

    I have a "foot in a lot of pools". 
    First Bank:16 180 watt Grape Solar with  FM80 controller and 3648 Inverter....Fullriver 8D AGM solar batteries. Second Bank/MacGyver Special: 10 165(?) watt BP Solar with Renogy MPPT 40A controller/ and Xantrex C-35 PWM controller/ and Morningstar PWM controller...Cotek 24V PSW inverter....forklift and diesel locomotive batteries