X-Andrew-Authenticated-as: 7997;andrew.cmu.edu;Ted Anderson
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Thu, 30 Nov 89 01:31:38 -0500 (EST)
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To: space+@Andrew.CMU.EDU
Date: Thu, 30 Nov 89 01:31:16 -0500 (EST)
Subject: SPACE Digest V10 #289
SPACE Digest Volume 10 : Issue 289
Today's Topics:
Re: SPACE Digest V10 #281
Re: Asteroid strikes and warning times
Re: Solar Max disassembly/striking earth
Re: Reasons for Mars mission
Re: NASA Headline News for 11/27/89 (Fo
Re: Reasons for Mars mission
Re: Why NASA wants to go to Mars
Re: Kvant 2 expansion preceeding to Mir though with problems
In article <24561@cup.portal.com>, phorgan@cup.portal.com (Patrick John Horgan) writes:
>
> When I was a kid in the fifties and sixties, I assumed that by
> this time there would be viable long-term colonies on the moon, and
> the beginning of colonization on Mars.
We all made our childhood errors. :-)
> ... But I know that there
> are a lot of people just like me ...
> who want us in space because it's
> a place for us to go. I know that doesn't sound real logical...but
> dreams seldom are.
Well then, you must find going to the ocean floor equally appealing...
after all, it's a place for us to go, too. Seriously, if I was a
frustrated space cadet I would try to make a living somewhere out in
the relatively unexplored 70% of our planet's surface. You have all
the important analogies with space...it's hostile, expensive,
difficult, a place where Men can be Men, and so on.
Perhaps the SciFi propagandists haven't put as many lumps in our
throats about diving into the drink as they have about sailing into
the vacuum, but the ocean is certainly a far more realistic target to
the contemporary adventurer. Heck, even *private industry* operates
*manned* hardware there! But the Men of Action had better get into
action pretty quickly, because those awful corporations that don't
know how to have any proper fun are moving to undersea telebots at a
truly alarming rate.
Dan Mocsny
dmocsny@uceng.uc.edu
------------------------------
Date: 29 Nov 89 18:36:42 GMT
From: mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!utgpu!watserv1!watdragon!watyew!jdnicoll@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu (Brian or James)
Subject: Re: Why NASA wants to go to Mars
There is an analog to the current American administration's attitude about
the importance of scientific research in space. When the NW passage was being
explored by the British, several of the expeditions were told -not- to engage
in research unless their circumstances precluded other activity (like getting
caught in the ice and immobilised.). This was after it had become apparent
that the NW passage was not going to be the autobaun to the orient as originallyhoped. (research still got done, although some of it was fatal to the explorers, like the groundbreaking research into sustained lead exposure.) As far as I
am aware, the Canadian North is still largely undeveloped, although boatloads
of stray Americans tourists seem to show up from time to time, due to poorly
developed mapping techniques south of the border :)
(On a tangent, I've wondered if the boomer fleets of the USA and USSR
are in a position to gather nonmilitary information during their cruises. I
suspect such research couldn't be published without disclosing information
about the subs routes the the superpowers would prefer to remain secret. If
you know what marine lifeforms the subs encounter are, you can guess where
they were when they encountered it. More a subject for alt.military, I
