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As a young person (21), I feel the same way. Space exploration and a beautiful future suddenly seems achievable with hard work and a lot of engineering instead
by nynx 6y ago
As a young person (21), I feel the same way. Space exploration and a beautiful future suddenly seems achievable with hard work and a lot of engineering instead of just feeling impossible.
- ridgeguy 6y agoAs an old guy, I feel the same way. I was in JPL’s SFOF building watching Armstrong and Aldrin step out onto the moon. Today’s SN8 mission gave me reasonable hope I’ll live to see somebody set foot on Mars. It’s been a good day.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago> As a young person (21), I feel the same way. Space exploration and a beautiful future suddenly seems achievable with hard work and a lot of engineering instead of just feeling impossible. That is the goal for me, I'm not going to Mars and I knew that as soon as I went to the MDRS. I also made it an effort to make the director (commander on several mission) to realize how important it is motivate the younger generation and not just the future astronauts that come aborad for analogue missions. SpaceX doesn't pay much, and you have to make a ton of sacrifices to even be considered, but I can tell you that being there you get this 'I wouldn't be any where else' feeling that I think is far superior to any monetary value. Unfortunately, many of this year's missions at the MDRS are postponed due to COVID, but the robot challenge (mainly comprised of college aged students) is the one I really felt felt disappointed about. I was going to try and make it out this year to help out with that. I hope you decide to get involved in this space (pun intended); I know if I was in my 20s, I'd do it all over again.
- nynx 6y agoGetting involved is a dream of mine, but it's been quite difficult for me to get my foot in the door, so to speak.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago> Getting involved is a dream of mine, but it's been quite difficult for me to get my foot in the door, so to speak. It is for all of us, it makes the journey that much better. I didn't get into to do any of that above until my mid 30s after starting late at ~26.
- nynx 6y agoDoes the journey have to be difficult to make the destination worth it? I suppose it does. Doesn't feel that way when you're still on your way though.
- benhurmarcel 6y agoFirst requirement is to be American. That rules out most people.
- garmaine 6y agoThis may be off topic and probably person specific, but what made you change your mind?
- Melting_Harps 6y ago> This may be off topic and probably person specific, but what made you change your mind? Too long to discuss here, but suffice it to say that my priorities are Earth based. I also realized that Mars is in good hands given what I've seen.
- garmaine 6y agoYeah, I went off and had kids since Mars wasn't an option in my 20's. Now I want to be where they are. Of course that leaves me free to become the oppressive Earth-based space industry tycoon who owns all those comet mining ships and belter stations :)
- Melting_Harps 6y agoOPA for life, bossmang.
- garmaine 6y agoI'm only half joking, kopeng mi. One of the startups I currently have on the back-burner is a space resource commodity market and mining claim exchange, to jumpstart an investment market for asteroid and lunar mining startups.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago> space resource commodity market and mining claim exchange Interesting, drop me a line when you get either off the ground!
- garmaine 6y ago
- ajnin 6y ago> MDRS Is it Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station ? Space nerds tend to abuse acronyms almost as much as developers.
- Melting_Harps 6y ago> Is it Mars Society's Mars Desert Research Station ? Space nerds tend to abuse acronyms almost as much as developers. Yes. Agreed, I probably should have written that out. Or maybe its just my (weak) developer side speaking...
- boothby 6y agoAt your age, I had a similar feeling as the pictures from Spirit and Opportunity started rolling in. Quit my cushy but relatively dead-end web dev job, and went back to school. Busted my ass, got the grades, and found a love for math, but eventually found my way back to high tech. It's not what I set out to do, but absolutely worth the effort. An amazing future is within your grasp. It might not be what you're picturing, but an education in math, physics, engineering, mechatronics, whatever... will open doors to a brilliant future. Go get em!
- nynx 6y agoThank you! I'm pursuing engineering science. Until recently, I wasn't sure what I wanted to go into... but now I think I know.
- marricks 6y agoI'd really think a bit more about it. We have so many problems here and none are solved by leaving. Climate change, wealth inequality, hungry, poor. None of the billionaires (Musk/Bezos) building rockets treat their workers terribly well now, and their end game will just be exploiting workers around the solar system. Coming as a past fan of space exploration is was pretty devastating to realize...
- texasbigdata 6y agoPerhaps Elon is not the best example for climate change due to his battery research, solar panels, electric cars, etc...
- marricks 6y agoEh, I’d say he’s a fine example. Musk may be trying to help the environment but he’s not going to save it, that’s for sure, and his future dream doesn’t involve treating his workers any better than he is now.
- FeepingCreature 6y agoIs this about the environment or about labor rights? And if Elon "solar panels, electric cars and in-house batteries" Musk doesn't contribute enough to save the environment, what exactly are you hoping for instead?
- nickik 6y agoSo because he can't fix the climate by himself, fuck him. And his workers are treated pretty well, his companies often rank on top of places people want to work.
- marricks 6y agoHis factory workers are? With all the workplace injuries? If you're just talking about his engineers then I think you have some serious issues.