Newt is an idiot, but what annoys me more is how he's managing to destroy the Space Program

[Rosco T.]

we should have been on the moon for the past 30 years. one of the great tragedies of science that we got there, got a few bags of rocks and then never went back. And this moron tries uses it for a talking point.

Yes, I'm VERY pro science, pro space program, pro progress.

[LongTomH]

1. Agreed!

We should have been developing the technology to make space flight routine, and no, the shuttle wasn't it!

[Rosco T.]

2. Absolutely..

.. and before the luddites start attacking the space program. Remember you most likely would not have an internet to be connected to, a computer to type on or a majority of the tech we do have today. And, IIRC, an economic study showed that for every $1 spent on the space program, it cycled thru the economy 8 times.

[JI7]

3. if you seriously support it you can't be anti Govt

i support it also and wish we would put more into it. increase taxes .

[tridim]

4. What do you want us to do on the Moon?

Because doing anything other than basic geology will cost trillions with current technology. Radiation will also kill any long-term inhabitants.

We need a space elevator first, and that is being worked on. It is not a trivial project.

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. I'd have thought the Moon was OK for radiation

You have tons of dense building material just lying around. Rock will stop solar flares, surely.

I'd agree about the cost, though.

[tridim]

9. You'd have to excavate, which will be very difficult with rocket delivered machinery..

and low gravity.

Even If you somehow managed it you'd end up with a raw cave which wouldn't be good for anything really.

We'd have to transport radiation-proof shelters to the moon, which is obviously a big problem.

[Rosco T.]

13. Wrong, wrong, wrong....

on all counts.

[gkhouston]

6. The Republicans probably want to drill for oil.

[LongTomH]

7. A space elevator would be a great step forward!

and, that's the type of research I was talking about: Getting the cost of putting things in orbit down to a reasonable level!

[tridim]

11. If Newt wasn't an idiot, he'd be talking about that instead of beating China to the Moon.

[Rosco T.]

8. Solar collectors to beam electrical power back to earth ground stations...

- tech exists now and works, just needs a place to put it.

- low gravity manufacturing for things than can't be done down here in the gravity well

More things than you can think of, people have already thought it of, just need a platform to do it on.

[tridim]

10. You can do both of those things with robots.

Newt is talking about space colonies. IMO they are 100 years away, at minimum.

[Rosco T.]

12. Yeah, with a several minute delay on what happens...

.. you end up with a lot of junk robots.

Nothing, NOTHING can replace the human brain, on the site, at the action.

NOTHING.

[tridim]

14. The next generation of robotic probes will be semi-autonomous

http://aegis.jpl.nasa.gov/publications/estlin_icra07_marsrover.pdf