7 ms·

I was pretty skeptical when I heard that private citizens booked a flight on Falcon Heavy. When those plans got shelved and these popped up, I had a similar lev

by Shank 8y ago

I was pretty skeptical when I heard that private citizens booked a flight on Falcon Heavy. When those plans got shelved and these popped up, I had a similar level of skepticism. I expected it to be some random celebrity that wanted to go on a fancy tour. This is anything but that. I feel more than humbled to be wrong. Bringing a ton of artists on a once in a lifetime trip for inspiration purposes is selfless, compassionate, and warm. It’s awesome. I’m so glad I was wrong.

avmich 8y ago
> on a once in a lifetime trip AFAIR, Burt Rutan said he wasn't that keen to watch Apollo-11 landing because he assumed it's soon going to be routine. So far it wasn't. But why do you think it will not become more routine - perhaps a lot more routine - this time? Surely one can't count on that - but we do can dream and we do can bring some of our dreams to reality, even though we aren't always good with predicting when it'll happen.
- HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
  Why not? Whatever price this guy paid is a 1-off for NRE costs. It won't be that expensive in the future anyway.
- otabdeveloper1 8y ago
  There's literally (yes, literally literally) nothing there on the Moon, and going there costs more than going to the Mariana Trench. No, it will not become more routine.
  - scott_s 8y ago
    I agree, mostly. As noted on a recent This American Life episode (also referenced elsewhere in this thread, https://www.thisamericanlife.org/655/the-not-so-great-unknown https://www.thisamericanlife.org/655/the-not-so-great-unknow...), the most interesting thing to see on the moon is the Earth.
  - teddyh 8y ago
    > There's literally (yes, literally literally) nothing there on the Moon Not entirely true: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_resource_utilization#Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_resource_utilization#M...
  - CydeWeys 8y ago
    There's plenty of stuff on the Moon, plus there's much less gravity. You can mine rocket fuel, water, or Helium-3 and then send it into orbit pretty easily, for example. You're simply not being accurate in saying that there's nothing there.
  - PopsiclePete 8y ago
    The Moon may be just a stepping stone to greater things. Maybe we "mine" on it, maybe we use it to more efficiently send things into orbit, maybe just tourism, who knows? You can't possibly know what possibilities there exist, right now. I think we're lucky that ancient mariners didn't listen to the people who told them "there's literally nothing, nothing, in the Great Water".
    - otabdeveloper1 8y ago
      > I think we're lucky that ancient mariners didn't listen to the people who told them "there's literally nothing, nothing, in the Great Water". You're making a false and dishonest equivalency. Those mariners didn't know what was in the Great Water. We absolutely do know to a huge degree of precision exactly what is on the Moon. (A whole bunch of nothing.) We know more about the Moon than we know about the Mariana Trench. We've explored the Moon to death already.
      - JoshCole 8y ago
        When I watched the NASA administrator meeting in which NASA plans were discussed, one of the reasons listed for going to the moon was that we have seen that our understanding of it is not complete. It was not the United States of America that discovered, for example, that there was water ice on the moon, though we later confirmed the discovery. Yet this is a critical insight into its composition which has major implications. When I watched the NASA administrator meeting in which NASA plans for building a base on the moon were discussed, one of the reasons listed was also rooted in discovery. There are many challenges that such a base would face and it is better to solve them when the Earth is close and rescue is more reasonable than to go to Mars with those problems not yet understood and solved, since the time till return from Mars will be measured in months and years rather than days. What makes you so stridently disagree that we have more things to learn while on the moon, when the experts disagree with you? Also, since they do, doesn't this also make his equivalence a very good one, rather than false? Certainly the argument that there is more yet to be discovered about the trench does not refute his claim, only serving to enhance the degree to which claiming there is nothing is not valid.
  - ceejayoz 8y ago
    > There's literally (yes, literally literally) nothing there on the Moon... There's a massive, atmosphere-free, stable, terrestrial EM shielded platform for large, human-maintained telescopes, and gravity for the maintenance staff.
ryanjmo 8y ago
Are you sure the one who is sponsoring the trip doesn’t get to keep the IP to the art that is being created from it?
- deleted 8y ago
  [deleted]

by Shank 8y ago

avmich 8y ago

> on a once in a lifetime trip AFAIR, Burt Rutan said he wasn't that keen to watch Apollo-11 landing because he assumed it's soon going to be routine. So far it wasn't. But why do you think it will not become more routine - perhaps a lot more routine - this time? Surely one can't count on that - but we do can dream and we do can bring some of our dreams to reality, even though we aren't always good with predicting when it'll happen.

HeadsUpHigh 8y ago
Why not? Whatever price this guy paid is a 1-off for NRE costs. It won't be that expensive in the future anyway.
otabdeveloper1 8y ago
There's literally (yes, literally literally) nothing there on the Moon, and going there costs more than going to the Mariana Trench. No, it will not become more routine.
- scott_s 8y ago
  I agree, mostly. As noted on a recent This American Life episode (also referenced elsewhere in this thread, https://www.thisamericanlife.org/655/the-not-so-great-unknown https://www.thisamericanlife.org/655/the-not-so-great-unknow...), the most interesting thing to see on the moon is the Earth.
- teddyh 8y ago
  > There's literally (yes, literally literally) nothing there on the Moon Not entirely true: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_resource_utilization#Moon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_situ_resource_utilization#M...
- CydeWeys 8y ago
  There's plenty of stuff on the Moon, plus there's much less gravity. You can mine rocket fuel, water, or Helium-3 and then send it into orbit pretty easily, for example. You're simply not being accurate in saying that there's nothing there.
- PopsiclePete 8y ago
  The Moon may be just a stepping stone to greater things. Maybe we "mine" on it, maybe we use it to more efficiently send things into orbit, maybe just tourism, who knows? You can't possibly know what possibilities there exist, right now. I think we're lucky that ancient mariners didn't listen to the people who told them "there's literally nothing, nothing, in the Great Water".
  - otabdeveloper1 8y ago
    > I think we're lucky that ancient mariners didn't listen to the people who told them "there's literally nothing, nothing, in the Great Water". You're making a false and dishonest equivalency. Those mariners didn't know what was in the Great Water. We absolutely do know to a huge degree of precision exactly what is on the Moon. (A whole bunch of nothing.) We know more about the Moon than we know about the Mariana Trench. We've explored the Moon to death already.
    - JoshCole 8y ago
      When I watched the NASA administrator meeting in which NASA plans were discussed, one of the reasons listed for going to the moon was that we have seen that our understanding of it is not complete. It was not the United States of America that discovered, for example, that there was water ice on the moon, though we later confirmed the discovery. Yet this is a critical insight into its composition which has major implications. When I watched the NASA administrator meeting in which NASA plans for building a base on the moon were discussed, one of the reasons listed was also rooted in discovery. There are many challenges that such a base would face and it is better to solve them when the Earth is close and rescue is more reasonable than to go to Mars with those problems not yet understood and solved, since the time till return from Mars will be measured in months and years rather than days. What makes you so stridently disagree that we have more things to learn while on the moon, when the experts disagree with you? Also, since they do, doesn't this also make his equivalence a very good one, rather than false? Certainly the argument that there is more yet to be discovered about the trench does not refute his claim, only serving to enhance the degree to which claiming there is nothing is not valid.
- ceejayoz 8y ago
  > There's literally (yes, literally literally) nothing there on the Moon... There's a massive, atmosphere-free, stable, terrestrial EM shielded platform for large, human-maintained telescopes, and gravity for the maintenance staff.

ryanjmo 8y ago

Are you sure the one who is sponsoring the trip doesn’t get to keep the IP to the art that is being created from it?

deleted 8y ago
[deleted]