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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 inste
by 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...