Ikonboard » Printable Version of Topic » Solar System; Waste Of Time?

Forum: (news posts)
Topic: Solar System; Waste Of Time?
started by: forumwhore

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 15 2002,23:31

In an earlier post, a member posited that the S/S is useless, just a bunch of dirty ice and unreachable resources.

I thought it would be interesting to write some astronomers and then I thought of SF writers.

Larry Niven wrote back right away!

Email quoted below;
**********************************************
One can assemble an extensive library of fiction about the mining of the
solar system. Some such stories are obsolete, some not. These truths seem
to be basic:
Most of the wealth of the universe is over your head. A standard metallic
asteroid of a mile diameter holds most of the metal resources Earth uses
over five years. (I'm doing that from memory.)
It's silly to put most factories on Earth. Let them do their polluting in
orbit.
Once you're in orbit you're halfway to anywhere.

Larry Niven

-----Original Message-----
From: Kevin Break [mailto:kbreak@kevinbreak.com]
Sent: Monday, July 15, 2002 1:58 PM
To: organlegger@earthlink.net
Subject: well hot diggity damn, sir!

I didn't imagine I would find your email but I tried and presto!

****** etc etc etc etc.

I wonder if I can find email for A.C. Clarke next.....

Posted by Bozeman on Jul. 16 2002,00:32

Build a Space Elevator. See Sid Meier's Alpha Cetauri (video game), which got the idea from Kim Stanley Robinson's Mars Trilogy (Red Mars, Green Mars, and Blue Mars) Spce elevators are super-tensile ten-meter-diameter carbon nanotube/diamond gel tethers to a geosynchonous orbiting asteroid. It's so long, it gets you out of the gravity well of earth, for cheap!

Of course, they don't exist yet...

Posted by Wolfguard on Jul. 16 2002,02:23

Niven is a great writer and a great thinker. he is also a very nice man. got to meet him at a sf convention years ago.

Love his e-mail address!

Posted by Nikita on Jul. 16 2002,05:08

Quote (Bozeman @ 15 July 2002,19:32)

Oh man I love that game! And I love it even more when I get all the damncool technology. Oho yea.

Who's your favorite character?

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 16 2002,05:21

Right now my favorite charactor is < Larry Niven. >

If you click the link you may see why I am so surprised he
wrote back at all.

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 16 2002,18:50

Hello Kevin,
Of course, there is a debate over whether exploration of space is a worthwhile thing to spend large amounts of money on.
That debate is based on the question,
"Will space exploration directly impact (in a positive way) the lives of humans on Earth?"
Some argue that, yes,
in the course of exploring space thus far, we have developed things like Teflon, microwave ovens, heat-resistant plastic, and a long list of other common products and materials.
However, I look at these instances as side-effects or by-products of space exploration.

I think that the reason one sends people to the Moon and robots to the other planets is part of the continuing desire to understand more about the universe we exist in, and perhaps our origins.

Pluto is a scientific target because
A) it's the only major planet that has not yet been visited by a probe,
B) it's the most distant known major planet, and
C) as a planet it is different from the other outer-solar-system
planets, which are gas giants; Pluto is a small ball of ice.

Europa is of interest because it is believed that there are deep liquid oceans underneath its ice crust--and where there's liquid, perhaps there's the possibility of life, or at least life as we know it on Earth. The oceans on Europa, if they exist, could be up to 80 miles deep.

As I see it there is more of interest in the solar system.

With the recent discovery of large amounts of water ice near the surface of Mars, the evidence that Mars' climate may have been warmer and wetter in the past, and the controversial evidence of alleged fossil microbes found on a meteorite from Mars, the search for life--present or past--on Mars is still open.

Each person will have their own feelings and opinions on whether it's worthwhile to explore space.
I feel that it is worthwhile, as long as the lives of people on Earth are not negatively impacted.

Benjamin Burress
Chabot Space & Science Center
10000 Skyline Blvd.
Oakland, Ca 94619
(510) 336-7308
(510) 336-7491 fax
bburress@chabotspace.org

"That's not something you see every day...unless you're us!"

Posted by Vigilante on Jul. 16 2002,20:49

Hah! That dude quoted Buffy the Vampire Slayer in his sig. Awesome.

Posted by fatalbert on Jul. 16 2002,21:50

I'd be quite interested in what Arthur C. Clarke has to say...amazing man
did you know that his satellite orbit design was later used by the states for communication?

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 17 2002,19:44

Dear Fatal, I tried A Clarke and that guy has several layers of people to go through.

Maybe it was that movie, dunno.

I wrote about 12 people and I've posted what came back.

*Larry Niven*

ooh.

PS I edited the shit out of the astronomer's post for clarity.

Posted by Necromancer on Jul. 17 2002,22:35

i thought it was said

fat-albert

not

fatal-bert

which one is it dude?

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 17 2002,23:55

Yes.

LOL

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 18 2002,00:08

Hold on a sec, astronomer dude;
80 miles deep?

80 x 5000 feet is over
400,000 feet deep...

Rilly sir dude sir?

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 21 2002,11:28

Dear Kevin Break:

Exploring the solar system extends our knowledge of how our Earth was formed, and what conditions we may have to face on Earth in the future.

Moreover, exploring the solar system tells us about
the nature of the universe, and such knowledge is
always very valuable.
Before modern science began, in the seventeenth century, the human race lived in ignorance.
Without knowledge of medicine and biology,
people died young. Without knowledge of agriculture,
fertilizers, pesticides, there were famines and widespread starvation.
Without knowledge of technology, slavery was the norm and even free people worked long hours at bitter toil. Today all this is changed: we live longer, healthier, more enjoyable
lives.
We seek new knowledge, because new knowledge
brings us new understandings and new capabilities to
make life better for more people.

Ben Bova

=====
Please respond to me through my web site at [EMAIL=benbova@benbova.net.]benbova@benbova.net.[/EMAIL] Thanks!

Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Health - Feel better, live better
< http://health.yahoo.com >

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 21 2002,11:43

I just edited Ben Bova.

Larry Niven is on this thread.

kbreak is simply agog and stuff.

Thankyou sir and here's your link;
< Ben Bova. >

Posted by forumwhore on Jul. 21 2002,11:47

Always imagined that if you wrote to these guys you would have to go through all sorts of firewalls...

Never occurred to me to just do it.

I (we) are honored and privileged, sirs.

Hey, ever see the Matrix?