So we focus on how to colonize planets (we haven't found ANY yet that will sustain human life) while our brothers and sisters live in poverty, desperate for the bare esentials to sustain human life here on our own planet?

Again, its about our priorities. Do we look so far to the future that we look around or current basic needs?

 

Titan has water which we can use for food and broken down to make fuel. While we can't justify the cost right now, one day we will need the information if we are to travel further than the moon one day.

Sam

 

It is about priorities, and to draw a bad cliche, if you walk around all day looking at your feet, you're probably going to fall.

I have no idea how many billions Nasa spends, but I wonder, if they scrapped that entire thing, just spent that money on third world countries, and efforts to erase hunger. Would billions be enough? I don't know the answer to that, but I have to suspect not. I base that on the fact that I find it hard to believe that world leaders wouldn't just say, lets put this space thing on hold for a couple years and take care of this poverty and strife thing.

Agian, I'm not defending the space program solely on its ability to solve these problems, I don't think they'll one day stumble upon some mystery and fix things for good, but its a step that IMO should be taken, not for immediate, but for the long term.

 

um, the space program isn't about finding planets to colonize. It is about knowing more about this universe we live in. All the people involved in it earn a paycheck, and likely contribute to charitable causes. People would starve and die miserably regardless of whether there was any kind of space program. At least with satellites in orbit (space program payoff), we can get news of disasters in far-flung places immediately, and spring into action providing relief. Going to Titan is merely one aspect of the industry that makes news of disaster in the Indian Ocean nightly news instead of a National Geographic pictorial a year or two from now. How many lives have been saved by weather forecasts of hurricanes and tropical storms? There probably isn't a single industry that has a greater impact on saving lives than communication and weather satellites.

Human nature is to explore and discover. The results of this drive transcend the suffering and despair that can weigh one down in life. Mankind has looked up at the stars since time immemorial, and wondered what is really out there. Now we have a chance of finding out. I cannot think of a greater way to acknowledge the grandeur of creation than to explore all that is out there. It would be a gross mistake to ignore the cosmos simply because life on earth isn't perfect for everyone.

 

Surely you didn't think colonizing other planets was my main argument?

 

MyBad, I was one of the support engineers (IT related) on the Cassini/Hyugens project. Yes, it was very expensive; yes, by the time it launched all of the electronics and chips were obsolete in our own standards, and believe it or not, a few engineers I know will spend their entire professional career on that project (inception to end of mission lifecycle is more than 20 years). However, when I think that the nations of this tiny insignificant world got together and built something to withstand the harshness of the Titan environment, and a RTG powered spacecraft that has a lifespan of a decade or more, it shows the human ingenuity and results of teamwork across this world.

 

great place to live. So when can we start moving there?

 

You guys are talking about NASA wasting money, but wasn't this probe a Euro space agency project?

Sam

 

I believe just the probe was built by the Euros but many nations have contributed to the mission. Mingster, can you enlighten us as to what scientific outcomes from this mission might be applied to life here on earth?

 

why don't you enlighten us with your ideas on how much money would have been required to prevent the tsunami? It isn't like there was no money for sensors - there just wasn't demand for tsunami sensors in the Indian Ocean. All the money in the world is available for any of a million things, but there are times when money isn't the solution. Why don't you donate your entire year's income to alleviate sufering? Charity starts at home. Instead of complaining that other people don't spend their money the way you think they should, start spending your time and money the way you think is right. Then, once you've set an example, you might have something to say.