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I wouldn't go so far as to say no long term value -- a fly-by would be good preparation for an asteroid mission or a Mars/Phobos orbital mission. In fact it mi
by curtis 13y ago
I wouldn't go so far as to say no long term value -- a fly-by would be good preparation for an asteroid mission or a Mars/Phobos orbital mission. In fact it might be possible to do the follow-on mission with the same ship.
NASA clearly needs an intermediate step between LEO and putting a man on Mars. Venus flyby plus teleoperated rovers is the easiest mission I can think of that might also be useful.
- lifeisstillgood 13y agoI meant not to imply it would be worthless, merely that it is not part of the traditional narrative of 1. Moon 2. Mars 3. ? 4. FTL to distant stars 5.Profit We are never going to get outside the solar system in any meaningful way unless physics changes a lot, so any exploration of our backyard will be valuable. I just think any attempt beyond the traditional approach will benefit the soul of the human race, as much as it will give us Teflon.
- curtis 13y ago> I just think any attempt beyond the traditional approach will benefit the soul of the human race, as much as it will give us Teflon. I totally agree with you there.
- Xenmen 13y agoRelatedly, Neil DeGrasse Tyson on Space as culture: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNxnCzz5oQE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNxnCzz5oQE I'd agree with the both of you on the value of big space exploration projects as driving our culture.