US Space program future?

Also, none of what's happening right now marks anything like the end of NASA, or even their manned spaceflight division. Lots of robotic research missions are underway and planned, not to mention the non-spaceflight divisions of NASA.

The reason that I don't see the changes to the manned spaceflight system at NASA as that dramatic is because we're just moving from spacecraft built by private companies under contract by the government, to spacecraft built by private companies under their own volition, to meet specific requirements that if met, the government will fund them for meeting. With requirements already being set for filling ISS resupply and crew transfer roles.

I think Reliant Robin flights could be helping us build the fabled manned "Hammerhead Eagle" mission modules. But they will take us not to Mars, but Europa: a much more promising Martian moon covered in ice (hence water, hence hydrogen, oxygen, and of course, tea.) Europa also has intense subsurface volcanic activity that could be used for geothermal heat and power.

I mean,really: how hard can it be?

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Don't you mean a much more promising Jupiter moon?

harnessing geothermal energy with our current technology is very dangerous and unreliable.

I am quite content to not meet them until we can do so on equal technological terms.

Well great. Give 'em a holler. We could really use a cup of sugar right about now.

No, seriously. Earth needs help. If you know people who can do that, now's the time to go get 'em. If not? Yeah, Imma go to work now and see if we can't convince NASA to spring for a shuttle replacement. Wish me luck.

While I think the JWST is great, I would have to say if there was only one space-related project that got funding, my vote would go towards the search for, and tracking of, Near Earth Objects.

That would work. Iv'e always wanted to learn about what they use to power/fuel their space craft. Wish I could have gotten closer.

I'm certain they want us to solve our own problems because we can. Earth is our home, but their terrarium. These guys build planets. Just an educated guess, we aren't the only life they have cultivated. If complications prevent evolution or worst case scenario our environment becomes unlivable, it's going to be something along the lines of a massive relocation. To us it would seem impossible, to them its the push of a button. That blue beam of light that could immobilize moving objects was the single most impressive display of technology I have ever seen. Nothing we have even comes close to it.

You know that old saying, "Necessity is the mother of invention" that's what we should count on. Our ability to understand and solve problems is the closest thing we have to super powers. There's ways to solve every problem we have on this world, some with technology some with simply changing a few man made laws. Unless something unforeseen happens, we should be able to help ourselves.

Didn't leak enough oil onto the tarmac, then?

Y'know, I want to be angry at you, but I just can't quite seem to bring myself to it anymore. Your faith in humans is inspiring. I hope you're right. I truly do.

Drugs?

Nah. Too earnest. I'm gonna go with "screwing with us," 'cause the alternative is frankly just too spooky to think much about.

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An argument could be made that the primary problem on Earth is people. Remove the people, and the Earth would have no more problems. The easy way out would be genocide. The intellectual approach would be space travel.

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Seriously though. We're in serious danger of outgrowing this planet of ours. Moreover, one big disaster and it's bye-bye for the human race.

While, on the whole, we're a net-negative impact on our world and could use a serious die-out to alleviate population pressure and run a skimmer through the gene pool, there are some good things about humanity that I'd like to survive.

4-6 billion years (about what this section of the solar system has left, barring some sort of disaster) seems like a REALLY long time, I'd rather we get our act together NOW, in the next century or two.

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A good zombie apocalypse would fit the bill quite nicely.

Anyone who thinks humanity is going to be around in 4-6 billion years needs their head examined (especially if they think we are still going to be on this planet). Nothing lasts forever and our species won't be any different. All things die. Eventually, the last H. sapiens will be gone. We may have descendent species, say H. superior or the like, but what we are now is just a blip on the cosmic radar and a small snapshot in time. Since we've pretty much eliminated natural selection, it'll be artificial evolution down the line.

Current run for us as a species - 150-200k years.

Dinosaurs (no, not one species, I know) - 160 million years.
Sharks (again, not one species) -420 million years. Great whiltes are (arguably) 16 million years old.
Horseshoe crabs - around 400 million years, pretty much unchanged.
Various simpler animals (sponges and the like) can stretch back to 800 million years or so.

The problem with saying yes (or no) to us living 4-6 billion years is that the planet itself is barely that old (4.5 billion years or so.) There's a series of extinction events that the various animals that DID live during them had no means of detecting, understanding or altering. We have no proof one way or another that an animal species can *live* that long. (That aside from the sun dying in about 5 billion years - which, avoiding other catastrophes, we or our descendants would *have* to find a way to survive.)

Yes, I'd agree that if there's a "humanity" at that point, it'll be different from us. It's a safe assumption. We'll have to change from environmental pressure, if nothing else. Likely brought on by our own actions most strongly, and changes in solar radiation and brightness (with its affects on our temperature) as well.

Then again, I don't think we'll be around, evolution notwithstanding. We'll probably have someone cause mass extinction in the name of some religion or other, making room for something *else* to have a go at things.

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Maybe not humanity as we know it today (GOD! I hope not!). But, some (hopefully) recognizable offshoot of **** Sapiens Sapiens. Presumably better for the passing of a few billion years. And hopefully not the product of a dysgenic society (a'la Idiocracy).

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