On 11/14/23 18:05, 56d.1152 wrote:
> On 11/14/23 1:02 PM, a425couple wrote:
>> On 11/5/23 20:47, 56d.1152 wrote:
>>>
https://phys.org/news/2023-11-kepler-planets.html
>>>
>>> NASA's Kepler mission ended in 2018 after more than nine
>>> years of fruitful planet-hunting. The space telescope
>>> discovered thousands of planets, ----> These things return VAST
>>> quantities of data these days.
---------snip
>>
>> Very interesting.
>> The new telescopes great abilities certainly are
>> increasing future spending on this technology,
>> and lowering the need to send instrument packages
>> towards other stars (like Voyager 1 and 2).
>
> Well, those probes were not INTENDED to be
> interstellar - it's just that they were so
> well made they MANAGED to go interstellar.
> Crude instrumentation, but when used carefully
> those probes are still doing good science.
> Money VERY well spent. -----
>
> The space telescopes have been of great value
> also. The only thing is they can't "be there",
> out in the interstellar environment, to take
> subtle readings. Voyager has told us things
> about the heliosphere and beyond that those
> telescopes cannot. --------
>
> I'm a bit off HUMAN space flight at this time
> however.
I Understand.
I guess one of the landmarks that showed the
'transition', was when the developed programming /
artificial intelligence so much, that they were
able, repeatedly, to fly a helicopter on Mars.
Then wait patiently for the time delay and let
it send back the video for humans to view and
learn from.
> Nothing rabid, but I think $$$ could
> be spent a little more wisely. Yes, there IS
> a psychological thing about "being there",
> those "footprints", but you could do ten times
> the good science for the budget. It's HARD to
> keep humans alive in space - and the moon and
> Mars are essentially "space" with some dirt
> under it.
>
> Until there's some DRASTIC improvement in
> propulsion or something like it there's just
> little obvious purpose in humans Far Out Beyond.
>
> MINING interests ... pure commercial ... let THEM
> decide whether to send humans or bots. I'm betting
> on bots. The next gens of AI will be very capable.
> The Boring Company - Lunar Division :-)
That all sounds pretty reasonable to me.
However, I think some efforts should still be spent
on humans in space.