Why would you build a space ship?

[kpete]

[Sherman A1]

1. Simple answer

Ego…

[Amishman]

2. Because the most important thing for the long term survival of humanity is to expand off Earth

Asteroid resources, orbital manufacturing, satellite powers stations, even the societal safety value of allowing the discontented to leave and start over on a new frontier.

Long term, we need to reach beyond Earth.

[Piasladic]

10. Exactly

I sometimes wonder if my love of humans is justified, but if we as a species want to survive we have to get off Earth and spread.

[NickB79]

24. Long term means nothing if we crash global civilization in the short term

Which we're on course to do by the end of this century thanks to climate change.

And a few colonies in orbit, on the Moon and on Mars won't last long once cut off from Earth.

You don't plan on hitting the gym tomorrow, when you've got a gunshot wound today. We need to stabilize the climate crisis, and THEN focus on colonization. Seriously settling the solar system is a 22nd century goal; we've got our hands full already in the 21st century.

[Piasladic]

30. I disagree

I think it means we more than ever need to use the resources we still have and get out. The Moon and Mars are poor resources, but so is the Earth long term.

[Chainfire]

36. If we don't learn to live within our means on Earth, we won't learn to do it elsewhere.

If we don't figure out how to survive the next 100 years here we will never be exploring the Galaxy looking for Lebensraum.

We have our world, we best figure out how to keep it.

[Piasladic]

37. The whole point is we can't keep it

We are reliant on fossilized animals. It's what moves most of our cars and rockets. That stuff won't be around forever and making more takes a lot of time. Maybe you think that people will find a way. Tell that to the Easter Islanders.

[Chainfire]

42. There is a difference in not keeping it and destroying it.

Species and civilizations have come and gone, if we don't learn to adapt to what we have, we will join them in the fossil record.

We are like infants playing with loaded guns, we have more destructive ability than we have the maturity to handle. If our species is lost, there will be no tears shed throughout the rest of the universe, no other life form will notice or care that we came, we destroyed and we left. We just aren't as "special" as we think that we are, and thinking that we are will be our downfall.

As far as timing, we are no different than a patient with terminal cancer; it makes no difference to the patient if a cure is perfected shortly after the patient dies. We don't yet live in an Asimov Universe where we can just pack up and go to find somewhere new to continue make poo-poo in our mess kit. We can not run and hide from ourselves. Our first goal has to be to save us from ourselves, then we can think about exploration and expansion. We may have already run out of time. We are a lot further in time from interstellar travel than we are from destroying our habitat.

Let's assume for a moment that we perfect interstellar travel before we destroy our species; there is a further issue that we would have no right, no moral authority, to colonize a planet that supported life if any lifeform was already present. If no life was already present, then we would have to do what we need to do here, so why not cut to the chase, put our greed aside and fix what we have. (I don't think that we, as a civilization, have a choice)

Our battle lines are drawn, there is no retreat to space.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

44. "We are a lot further in time from interstellar travel..."

"... than we are from destroying our habitat."

No kidding! Sheesh!

[Piasladic]

45. You do know that our sun won't last forever

we have to get out - now is the time - I know interstellar travel isn't possible right now, but not trying now isn't going to make it come any faster.

Let people like you make Earth a better place. I know you care,

but if you want humanity to survive, we need to get out asap

[Buckeye_Democrat]

48. Interstellar travel isn't feasible at all right now.

So the "asap" notion should be disregarded immediately.

And wealthy people like Branson, who didn't get rich by devoting his life to studying physics and other relevant subjects for space travel, is never going to make it happen either.

Science fiction stories about distant space travel are complete fantasies at this point, and they might remain that way.

The closest star beyond our Sun is 4 light-years away, which would require about 80,000 years of space travel to reach with our current rocket technology.

So we'd obviously need to travel much faster, but it would require a major investment of energy just to accelerate something with the mass of a paper clip to 1/10th the speed of light:
https://www.space.com/amp/is-interstellar-travel-possible.html

Then there's the concern of colliding with even a tiny speck of dust along the way at high speeds, since "empty space" is NOT completely empty. Kinetic energy is proportional to velocity-squared, so any such collisions would be equivalent to massive bombs exploding upon the spacecraft.

At higher speeds, the frequency of the cosmic microwave radiation -- which permeates EVERYWHERE in space -- increases to x-ray and gamma ray levels in the direction of travel, which would wear away at the spacecraft not to mention being lethal to any crew members without significant protection.

We don't have "force fields" like in Star Trek, and those fantasies just might persist forever.

Humanity's best hope is taking better care of this planet and continue to LEARN more about physics, to even hope to overcome these current limitations.

People like Branson, who has spent most of his life focused on how to make money and then have some adventures for himself, will never be the next Albert Einstein who MIGHT learn enough to make interstellar travel feasible at all.

[Chainfire]

55. Branson did not even advance science

He built a carnival amusement ride for the very wealthy adult children of the world.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

57. Agreed.

My nephew, a hyperactive and adventure-seeking guy with almost no curiosity about the workings of the universe, might've pulled off something similar if he was super-wealthy and he contracted the engineering. All so he could exclaim, "This is so cool, dude!"

[Piasladic]

58. I get what you mean about learning,

and that is why I am such a big fan for trying things now, even in our solar system. We learn a heck of a lot by getting out there...off the planet and trying.

I worry that with the way our population is growing and our home is deteriorating, we'll run out of time.

smart old fart:

[Hekate]

60. Our Sun is good for another how many billion years? Humans as we know them will be...

… as gone as the dinosaurs, having evolved into something else before the Sun goes cold.

(5 billion years more)

[Amishman]

34. Opening up space could very well be critical for the challenges of climate change

Such as the possibilities of what could be produced with zero gravity manufacturing. I can easily see advanced orbital manufacturing techniques allowing the manufacture of far more efficient solar panels and batteries. To survive climate change, we need new and better technologies; rationing and cutting back alone won't do it.

[hunter]

49. Humans are an evolutionary flash in the pan.

99.9% plus of species that have evolved on this planet are extinct.

Thinking beyond seven generations is useless.

I'm somewhat a misanthropist and doubt humans are anything special. This planet has seen many innovative species come and go.

There are only two ends to this.

We humans exterminate ourselves quickly, or we learn to live together in harmony with one another and our planet.

If we are fortunate it will be our intellectual children, not our natural biologic children, who move out into the solar system as radiation resistant artificial beings who can walk naked on the surface of mars, or do repairs on the outside of their space craft without a space suit.

If we are good parents, maybe they'll take us along for the ride.

[Towlie]

3. Some people just don't understand what money can do. It can't buy what doesn't exist.

 
←

If all of the rich people decided to give away all their money to feed and house all those in need, and reverse climate change, where would they find these things for sale?

[lagomorph777]

13. Food, housing, and sustainable energy are all for sale on the open market.

So, yes, billionaires could definitely make a difference if they choose to.

What I'd like to see benificent billionaires do is buy up Fox, Facebook, OAN, etc, and flip their messages in a positive direction.

[Towlie]

17. "Making a difference" is not ending the suffering of hunger, houselessness, or the climate crisis.

 
←

I'm just pointing out that no amount of money could buy world-wide paradise because it's not for sale.

[lagomorph777]

18. OK, got it. We only deal in absolute black-and-white here.

[Towlie]

21. No, we don't, but the graphic in the opening post does.

 
←

[lagomorph777]

28. I am, actually, a big space fan. But I would like to see billionaires pay taxes.

The present concentration of wealth and power is obscene.

So, yeah, I do agree the OP is too black-and-white.

[CentralMass]

39. Branson has committed $3 billion over the next 10 years to reduce global warming.

[brooklynite]

4. So you believe the US space program is a waste of time and money?

And I suppose we should get rid of the National Park system? Why fritter away needed funds on meaningless recreation for people who can waste money traveling to them?

Economic and climate problems don't exist because billionaires are investing in space (or airlines or record stores). They exist because Governments choose not to address them.

[secondwind]

6. I do think that this exercise in frivolity between two billionaires

is a huge waste of $$$$. Haiti has no resources to vaccinate its people, starvation is rampant in many countries, etc.

But sure, let’s take a joyride up 56 miles and come back down. Just because we can.

Just my two cents.

[iemanja]

27. The problem is the US government no longer maintains

a space program that is exploratory in the same way. Now private individuals have taken up that role.

If you are old enough and you saw the astronauts walk on the moon for the first time, did you think that more than 50 years later we'd still be at this point? I didn't.
I imagined far more.

[MineralMan]

56. Sub-orbital flights for wealthy tourists is not exploratory, really.

That's all that Virgin craft can ever do. It has no capability for anything else.

Actually, NASA is engaged in a great deal of exploratory activity. It's just not manned missions. Frankly, we are learning more from NASA's unmanned exploratory missions than we every would from manned ones. Mars, for example, is very interesting, but more will be learned from the Mars explorer missions than from any hugely costly manned mission to that planet.

Research on future propulsion systems is also ongoing. The Virgin flight is truly old-school, utilizing rocket engines to barely boost a craft into sub-orbital flight. We've been capable of suborbital flight for a very, very long time, using that technology.

We need better propulsion if we are going to explore more distant destinations. That, too, will have to be tested in unmanned configurations.

Right now, we don't need to send more people into space. We need to learn more about what is possible with future technology. Then, manned missions will make some sort of sense.

NASA is exploring that, too. You just aren't following that, apparently. You should be. There's far more potential there than from these sub-orbital tourism ventures.

[Act_of_Reparation]

14. That's pretty naive.

Billionaires have the means to affect change, both financially and politically. That they have a moral/ethical responsibility to do so is not an absurd claim to make.

[kpete]

29. Here on Earth,

in the richest country on the planet, half our people live paycheck to paycheck, people are struggling to feed themselves, struggling to see a doctor — but hey, the richest guys in the world are off in outer space!

Yes. It's time to tax the billionaires.

Link to tweet

?s=20

also:

Link to tweet

?s=20

[dalton99a]

33. Bernie is right.

[MerryHolidays]

5. I'm assuming this is about Branson's "space" trip yesterday rather than NASA?

The former relates to giant egos and ways for billionaires to get more cash. The latter is essential for the future of humanity.

[secondwind]

8. I don't see how we can live anywhere but here on earth.

There’s no sunlight up in space , or am I wrong

[Piasladic]

12. Thumps head on desk- nt

[lagomorph777]

15. Yikes.

[CrackityJones75]

25. No sunlight in space?

I think, or rather I hope, you forgot the sarcasm emoji.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

54. Of course there's sunlight in space.

Sunlight strikes our Moon, the other planets and everything else within our solar system.

Farther away, the intensity of the sunlight diminishes and it resembles other stars. Which is what our Sun is, a very nearby star emitting energy and light from nuclear fusion like all of the other stars seen in the sky.

The closest star, other than our Sun, is about 4 light-years away and would take about 80,000 years to travel there with our current rocket technology.

[Duppers]

59. So, our star (sun) only shines on earth??

Let's see, the astronauts who walked on the moon had to use large spotlights?
Nope, the area we landed on faces the sun.

Actually, even "at high noon on Pluto you'd get at least 60 lux of sunlight. Civil twilight is roughly enough light to read by, and that's 3.4 lux. Moonlight is less than 0.3 lux."
https://www.johndcook.com › blog


Btw, all stars give off light. Space is dark only where it's too far from a star.

[Blues Heron]

7. So much trouble in the world

Marley nailed it over forty years ago-

you see
men sailing on their ego trip
blast off on a space ship
million miles from reality
no care for you no care for me
so much trouble in the world!

[secondwind]

9. WOW!

[Clash City Rocker]

11. This guy put it the best

[Scrivener7]

16. Yep. Exactly.

[hunter]

19. Why would you build an automobile, a gun, a dam, an aircraft carrier?

90% of our work is crap, to paraphrase Theodore Sturgeon.

Most of us suffer work that is not making the world a better place. Human "work ethics" are, in fact, destroying the world.

Work ethics evolved because they won wars for genocidal empires.

That's not the case anymore now that humans have developed weapons of mass destruction and a single, very brittle, world economy.

Having the nation with the largest population and the strongest work ethic doesn't make a nation "great" in a world where cities can be destroyed with the push of a button, or a fire in a semiconductor plant can disrupt supply chains worldwide.

Personally I find guns and automobile culture more offensive than space ships. Almost any dangerous idiot can buy or steal a gun or a car and many do.

[kpete]

22. It is not the space ship that bothers me

It is the excess

[hunter]

26. Mostly harmless billionaire behavior is far, far better than the alternative...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_activities_of_the_Koch_brothers

[MissMillie]

20. Over-compensating

What says "I have a big strong penis" more than spending billions of dollars to build one?


That's a great meme, though.

[Omnipresent]

23. To transport Jan 6th insurrectionist to the S-U-N.

If I say it out loud, they might catch on, and not want to go along with it.

[Devil Child]

31. Because spaceships are badass

Why post a meme about ending hunger in response to a sub orbital flight when you can make a sandwich for a homeless dude?

[MineralMan]

32. I would not build a space ship.

NASA might.

A couple of billionaires might, purely out of egotistical dreams of being "astronauts."

NASA is exploring space with an eye toward the future. The billionaires are building a very costly means for a joyride into space for other wealthy people. Space tourism is not a worthy goal. Understanding the universe is a worthy goal. There is a marked difference.

There are valid reasons for nations to explore the possibilities of space travel. Billionaires are just stroking their own egos. There is a marked difference.

[smirkymonkey]

43. +1000

[Buckeye_Democrat]

50. "Understanding the universe is a worth goal."

This!

And the people more obsessed with money-making ideas, than a desire to better understand the universe, will never help make potential endeavors like interstellar space travel feasible anyway!

[fescuerescue]

35. Because no single person has enough wealth to accomplish that

But advancing mankind further into space will help solve those problems long after the wealth is spent.

[BannonsLiver]

38. People would have said the same thing about the Wright Brothers

“Why are building that dumb “aero plane” when horses and buggies are perfectly fine.”

[Devil Child]

40. +1 BannonsLiver, never thought a plane-flight would cause so much rage here

I get not wanting to celebrate it, different strokes and all but not the active axe-grinding.

[womanofthehills]

41. Satellite internet

U.S. Government Promises SpaceX Starlink $886 Million for Satellite Internet
Elon Musk claims his slice of the FCC pie. https://www.fool.com/investing/2020/12/12/us-government-promises-spacex-starlink-886-million/

[edhopper]

46. Why would you keep building weapon systems you don't need

And keep giving the Rich tax cuts?

[Wicked Blue]

47. My 5-year-old grandaughter made a spaceship just for fun yesterday

She used blue construction paper and tape to make a cylinder, added side wings, a base and a nose cone, and cut out an entry hatch.

This kid seems to think in 3-D. She's made cube-shaped buildings before. I'm a bit surprised since neither I nor my daughters ever made things like this.

[USALiberal]

51. Why do people go on vacations or buy expensive gifts? Nt

[mathematic]

52. "Space ships" lauch satellites that address those problems

Musk and Bezos' space companies are explicitly about launching satellites and other worthwhile scientific and economic endevors. Branson's is the space tourist one but even that has spun off a general satellite launching business.

Satellites will be used to solve climate change, end hunger, provide internet and phone service to the billions of people around the world that don't have it now, and more.

So the meme should be modified to "Kudos to the billionaires that are working hard to end hunger, solve climate change, and improve living conditions for all of humanity by building space ships."

[sarisataka]

53. Some people really like spaceships

[rockfordfile]

61. creates jobs

[EX500rider]

62. Branson's wealth couldn't do any of those things.

If he gave it all away he could give each person on earth about $.75 cents once.

The same thing could be said about anybody with any wealth at all:
"If u could blah blah blah why would you:
buy a boat, go on a vacation, have a nice car, etc."