http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html Chronicling and Commenting on Human Progress Sun, 14 Mar 2010 06:37:03 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.2 http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-36032 Brian Mon, 29 Dec 2008 07:40:56 +0000 http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-36032 Very tough call on this subject. Im not a scientist but quite an enthusiast on our universe. Im all for space discovery, but how far so we go? If there are any earth like planets orbiting other stars and meet the incredible odds of elements coming together over billions of years to form life such as our planet, it would be in our general neighborhood in space. The local group of stars within 15 light years would relatively be the same age, and maybe older looking to the outer ring of the galaxy. Anything beyond that would be quite complex. The farther you get away, the longer the signals take to get back to us. Just imagine a probe or craft sending back photos from the door step of the Orion Nebula 1500 light years away, it would take 20 generations to get them pics back after it spent that much time getting there at the speed of light. We would never see the results of a close up of the galaxy core...its 30,000 light years away!! The way things break down on probes and landing craft will be impossible to fix from great distances as well. Its hard to forecast 100 years into the future let alone mind boggling numbers like that!! What will this planet or mankind be like in 1500 years or 30,000???? How tiny we are.... This latest probe they have between Neptune and Pluto right now hopefully will find the Kuiper belt or even the Ort cloud one day, that will be incredible to say the least. After that they should send it upwards off the galactic plane to get a view of the galaxy from above, so we could eventually get a perspective on the shape of the Milky Way. That will take a few thousand years at least to get into a decent position for that. Man should also be focused on our survival for the far distant future when our sun turns into a red giant. I think Mars will be the next planet for mankind, anything else will be too cold or too far away. The easiest way to go would be super space stations, but who would want to live like that for an entire life span. I would want my feet on solid ground, even on Mars in a domed city. But until we find a way to travel great distances very quickly through space, we will have to do it in small steps. That however will take a very, very long time....... Very tough call on this subject. Im not a scientist but quite an enthusiast on our universe. Im all for space discovery, but how far so we go? If there are any earth like planets orbiting other stars and meet the incredible odds of elements coming together over billions of years to form life such as our planet, it would be in our general neighborhood in space. The local group of stars within 15 light years would relatively be the same age, and maybe older looking to the outer ring of the galaxy.
Anything beyond that would be quite complex. The farther you get away, the longer the signals take to get back to us. Just imagine a probe or craft sending back photos from the door step of the Orion Nebula 1500 light years away, it would take 20 generations to get them pics back after it spent that much time getting there at the speed of light. We would never see the results of a close up of the galaxy core…its 30,000 light years away!! The way things break down on probes and landing craft will be impossible to fix from great distances as well. Its hard to forecast 100 years into the future let alone mind boggling numbers like that!! What will this planet or mankind be like in 1500 years or 30,000???? How tiny we are….
This latest probe they have between Neptune and Pluto right now hopefully will find the Kuiper belt or even the Ort cloud one day, that will be incredible to say the least. After that they should send it upwards off the galactic plane to get a view of the galaxy from above, so we could eventually get a perspective on the shape of the Milky Way. That will take a few thousand years at least to get into a decent position for that.
Man should also be focused on our survival for the far distant future when our sun turns into a red giant. I think Mars will be the next planet for mankind, anything else will be too cold or too far away. The easiest way to go would be super space stations, but who would want to live like that for an entire life span. I would want my feet on solid ground, even on Mars in a domed city.
But until we find a way to travel great distances very quickly through space, we will have to do it in small steps. That however will take a very, very long time…….

]]> http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-226 Anthonares » Blog Archive » The Yellowstone Supervolcano: A Pulsing Malevolance Sat, 04 Mar 2006 20:45:03 +0000 http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-226 [...] Interferometry (not for the faint of heart!) Since I’ve been talking about interferometry for the last few weeks (here and here) at Anthonares.net, I thought I would discuss the basic concept very briefly. Waves (like light waves, sounds waves, or ocean waves) travel right through each other, but when they are in the same location at the same time, they interfere. Interference results in the addition of the amplitude of the two waves. So, if two waves are in phase, they interfere constructively and the combined result has a greater amplitude than either wave did to start with. If they are out of phase, meaning the peak of one is aligned with the trough of another, then they interfere destructively and the result has a smaller amplitude than both did originally. [...] […] Interferometry (not for the faint of heart!) Since I’ve been talking about interferometry for the last few weeks (here and here) at Anthonares.net, I thought I would discuss the basic concept very briefly. Waves (like light waves, sounds waves, or ocean waves) travel right through each other, but when they are in the same location at the same time, they interfere. Interference results in the addition of the amplitude of the two waves. So, if two waves are in phase, they interfere constructively and the combined result has a greater amplitude than either wave did to start with. If they are out of phase, meaning the peak of one is aligned with the trough of another, then they interfere destructively and the result has a smaller amplitude than both did originally. […]

]]> http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-198 Anthonares » Blog Archive » Accelerator Slowdown, Institutional Loyalty, and the Law of Diminishing Returns Fri, 24 Feb 2006 00:54:08 +0000 http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-198 [...] RIA would fill in large chunks of that chart. It would push back the dark boundary of the unknown and expose the fertile ground of fundamental knowledge. But, it is expected to cost somewhere near $1 billion dollars. And, if I set aside my institutional loyalty for a second, I can think of some really great projects to spend a billion dollars on, the Terrestrial Planet Finder for instance. [...] […] RIA would fill in large chunks of that chart. It would push back the dark boundary of the unknown and expose the fertile ground of fundamental knowledge. But, it is expected to cost somewhere near $1 billion dollars. And, if I set aside my institutional loyalty for a second, I can think of some really great projects to spend a billion dollars on, the Terrestrial Planet Finder for instance. […]

]]> http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-184 Anthony Kendall Thu, 16 Feb 2006 14:01:31 +0000 http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-184 Tom, I would also be concerned about the clouds surrounding the planet in the pictures it produces. I'm not sure what kind of phenomenon could produce clouds like that, but I'll bet it's not one that's friendly to life. Tom,
I would also be concerned about the clouds surrounding the planet in the pictures it produces. I’m not sure what kind of phenomenon could produce clouds like that, but I’ll bet it’s not one that’s friendly to life.

]]> http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-182 Tom Wed, 15 Feb 2006 19:38:17 +0000 http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-182 I think any mission that can produce pictures with all that lens flare is worth the price. I think any mission that can produce pictures with all that lens flare is worth the price.

]]> http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-180 Anthonares » Blog Archive » Monday Space Policy Roundup #3 Mon, 13 Feb 2006 18:17:32 +0000 http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-180 [...] Anthonares Chronicling and Commenting on Human Progress « Terrestrial Planet Finder: The Most Important Space Mission NASA Should not Fund [...] […] Anthonares Chronicling and Commenting on Human Progress « Terrestrial Planet Finder: The Most Important Space Mission NASA Should not Fund […]

]]> http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-177 Centauri Dreams » Blog Archive » Sun, 12 Feb 2006 20:19:03 +0000 http://www.anthonares.net/2006/02/terrestrial-planet-finder-the-most-important-space-mission-nasa-should-not-fund.html#comment-177 [...] A fascinating post by Anthony Kendall cites the reasons why Terrestrial Planet Finder is such an important mission and goes on to call for NASA’s being broken into separate entities, to make missions like this more likely to launch. From the Anthonares weblog: Gradually, constructing, launching, and operating missions in Earth orbits or in Lagrange points should be taken over by consortia similar to those that operate ground-based facilities today. As commercial satellite companies have demonstrated, they are more than capable of managing their own facilities. NASA’s deep space expertise will necessitate the existence of an unmanned space probe agency for several decades at least, and perhaps indefinitely as we look to explore the stars. The TPF missions could be the first in step in this process. If the scientific community wants them badly enough, they have the lobbying ability (as demonstrated with Hubble and New Horizons) to get Congress to fund them. Since private consortia will not have billions extra to absorb cost overruns, TPF will be constructed and launched quickly and more efficiently than within the stifling NASA bureaucracy. [...] […] A fascinating post by Anthony Kendall cites the reasons why Terrestrial Planet Finder is such an important mission and goes on to call for NASA’s being broken into separate entities, to make missions like this more likely to launch. From the Anthonares weblog: Gradually, constructing, launching, and operating missions in Earth orbits or in Lagrange points should be taken over by consortia similar to those that operate ground-based facilities today. As commercial satellite companies have demonstrated, they are more than capable of managing their own facilities. NASA’s deep space expertise will necessitate the existence of an unmanned space probe agency for several decades at least, and perhaps indefinitely as we look to explore the stars. The TPF missions could be the first in step in this process. If the scientific community wants them badly enough, they have the lobbying ability (as demonstrated with Hubble and New Horizons) to get Congress to fund them. Since private consortia will not have billions extra to absorb cost overruns, TPF will be constructed and launched quickly and more efficiently than within the stifling NASA bureaucracy. […]

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