NASA is building a new rocket that will take humans to Mars and deep space asteroids. This is exciting news! We are moving on from rovers to having humans in the stars.
Thoughts?
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/marshall/news/news/releases/2013/13-080.html#.UeA3K5Yvkvs
I thought and was convinced NASA had retired all of it's space faring programs, due to general lack of support and sympathy. Funny, since to gain support and break through new boundaries, NASA needs support to start with, one cannot expect great things without the means to first accomplish them...is this a turn around? I'd certainly hope so. This is great news, this is pushing a limit, not just a rehearsed endeavor...I'm ecstatic to hear anything more of the development of the program...does it have a name?
ReplyDeleteNope, NASA is just fine I guess. It seems the old shuttles were closed to save money for developments like this one. So far it is title Space Launch System. Scientists don't always have to be creative, I guess.
ReplyDeleteI spoke with an engineer today who is really in the know about these sorts of things, a brilliant man. He was excited to talk about this, only he did offer one good question: " so if they plan to mine and exploit asteroids for their metals, how will they keep the dust contained, what will happen to it all? It would all form a floating cloud of obscurity around the site and could be potentially dangerous and pollutant. They would need to find some kind of way to mine in a contained indoor, and pressurized environment. Wouldn't it be something if they could just tow back entire asteroids made of rare material and re-enter the atmosphere with it, and crash it into an ocean for recovery?"
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