NationStates Jolt Archive

For all you space buffs out there. What do you think of Japans turning towards space again. You think this will start a new space race in Asia. Maybe US, Europe and Russia will get there butts moving again? I think this is a positive thing. Its been long overdue. www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/02/28/japan.space.reut/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/02/28/japan.space.reut/index.html)

For all you space buffs out there. What do you think of Japans turning towards space again. You think this will start a new space race in Asia. Maybe US, Europe and Russia will get there butts moving again? I think this is a positive thing. Its been long overdue. www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/02/28/japan.space.reut/index.html (http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/02/28/japan.space.reut/index.html)

I can't imagine that russia will be getting involved in space programs any time soon!

It would be great if the sapce race started again, back during the original space race it united the whole country and maybe I could finnaly go into space.

Yayyyy! Go, Japan! The more competition and pressure there is in the "space race," the more likely it is that we as a species will get a permanent base off the Earth so that future calamities won't totally wipe us out.

I wanna ride the Virgin Galactic.

I wanna ride the Virgin Galactic.

Bet he would try to make a tv show out of that.

A space race would definately be a good thing as long as we do things that actually have scientific value. For example, the US is widely regarded as the winner of the space race between us and the Soviets. Mainly because we landed people on the moon. The Russians, however, sent robotic missions to the moon that brought back more data.

It seems that the race is heatening up again but in a bit different way than before.
It seems that Japan and ESA are concentrating more on probes and such and not in those big, more expensive projects.
Russia has still so big funding problems that we can forget about them for the next couple of decades.
China's attempting to send a man on the moon. This is considered as a threat to NASA so they might attempt to try a manned flight to mars in, say, 2020, perhaps?

given the aggressively religious and anti-science position of the current American administration, i am surprised they are allowing us to participate in any kind of space race...didn't their God smash the tower of Babel because humans were arrogant enough to try to reach the heavens?

Isn't Russia doing a 500 day mission to Mars simulation now or soon.

I think that shows contention.

given the aggressively religious and anti-science position of the current American administration, i am surprised they are allowing us to participate in any kind of space race...didn't their God smash the tower of Babel because humans were arrogant enough to try to reach the heavens?

Nah, that was a cover story. He was just pissed and thought it was looking at his girlfriend.

Nah, that was a cover story. He was just pissed and thought it was looking at his girlfriend.

Yeah. God is definately very possesive. In the first chapter of his book he wipes out the chances of a species cos they touched his stuff.

Last I heard from the Bush administration on space, he had his eye set on Mars.

I can't imagine that russia will be getting involved in space programs any time soon!
Russia has a lot of know-how, and if they can get their missions to pay for themselves by carrying a little extra here and there, like tourists, then their space program could pick up again.

The problem with space exploration is that you won't see a return on the investment for a loooong loooong time. But, still, it's much better than exchanging bullets.

Russia has a lot of know-how, and if they can get their missions to pay for themselves by carrying a little extra here and there, like tourists, then their space program could pick up again.

The problem with space exploration is that you won't see a return on the investment for a loooong loooong time. But, still, it's much better than exchanging bullets.


But its going to take governments to develop the tech in space. Then the corporations will use the tech to exploit space like they do on earth. When you get the corporations on board with a profit motivation. You will see the next stock market bubble. Alot of companies will be formed and adventures will be undertaken to harvest the solar system of metals, and gasses. Even im sure that manufacturing will be moved to space. I mean you could escape all labor and enviromental laws out in space. Who can dictate what you do out there?

But its going to take governments to develop the tech in space. Then the corporations will use the tech to exploit space like they do on earth. When you get the corporations on board with a profit motivation. You will see the next stock market bubble. Alot of companies will be formed and adventures will be undertaken to harvest the solar system of metals, and gasses. Even im sure that manufacturing will be moved to space. I mean you could escape all labor and enviromental laws out in space. Who can dictate what you do out there?
One problem with that is that it costs more to run a space mission than the money you could generate my mining other planets. Even if the moon were made of solid gold it wouldn't be cost effective to get that gold and bring it to earth.

One problem with that is that it costs more to run a space mission than the money you could generate my mining other planets. Even if the moon were made of solid gold it wouldn't be cost effective to get that gold and bring it to earth.

ahh yes, your correct. But what are the prices dictated by? Demand is the how we price our commodities. If there were alot of people on earth. 9.5 billion by 2050 as the UN suggests. There will not be enough earthly material for all our needs. Thats when price shoots up and space becomes economical.

ahh yes, your correct. But what are the prices dictated by? Demand is the how we price our commodities. If there were alot of people on earth. 9.5 billion by 2050 as the UN suggests. There will not be enough earthly material for all our needs. Thats when price shoots up and space becomes economical.
Maybe, maybe not. We'll see.

ahh yes, your correct. But what are the prices dictated by? Demand is the how we price our commodities. If there were alot of people on earth. 9.5 billion by 2050 as the UN suggests. There will not be enough earthly material for all our needs. Thats when price shoots up and space becomes economical.
I was reading a piece on last month's Analog (yes, I'm a geek, deal with it), and although it wasn't about this, it did mention the problem of hauling materials from one planet to another and it's really very cost ineffective. Especially if the development of nanotechonology and biotechnology (fabricating materials using biological organisms, the way plants eat dirt and transform it into wood, sugar, etc.) take off.

That would make us able to alter matter at the molecular and even atomic level. We would never run out of materials. Even our garbage could be fed into one of these machines to be divided into its basic elements ready to be used to make something else.

On one hand it would make most products dirt cheap (literally). On the other it would require a significant alteration on our economies.

I think this will give impetus to the growing private sector in space. Spaceship One was a babystep that may not go further without Chinese competition. Now, there are at least a couple American companies, both well-funded and staffed, that are working on a small space hotel at a price lower than what current space tourists have to pay.