[Mihai]

Back then sure, lots of new tech came from it because both the US and USSR put so much money into it, it was the forefront of innovation, it attracted the brightest and most creative people. I'm talking about the present.

Innovation has spread out so to speak, and it's driving forces are not dreams of going to Mars, but helping people in general, whether it's medicine, manufacturing, communication, entertainment etc....There is much less innovation coming from space tech now, just look at that poor Shuttle.....they are now rather relying on tech ment for other fields that can be converted to work for them.

By robotics I mean we send up robots that can be controlled from earth, like that robotic arm on the Shuttle. No need to send up humans at all. Other space agencies have managed to send up countless satellites without sending up humans along with them. It's just pure stupid vanity.

[Hervé]

You have a nice machine Maxer...maybe better than the ones nasa has...

30 years ago, any Kid was dreaming working for Nasa... today, they all dream to become a serious Maxwellian... they can make their own shuttles... explode 'em... all Maxwell... does not cost an eye... and no one is injured...

[Maxer]

You may call the desire to explore and learn Vanity; in the US it's called American spirit and we’re dam proud of it. Sure there isn't as much stuff coming out of the space program now and that's simply because they have no driving force to get behind like they did in the 60's when they were going to the moon. There is still a lot of scientific research going on in the space station, and let's not forget the Hubble telescope that has within the last decade discovered how many new planets? It's also responsible for expanding the worlds knowledge of what makes up our universe!
If you haven't noticed Nasa does a lot more than just send up satellites, and since most of the world is still a 3rd world country in terms of their space programs if they have one at all, I think it's a little hypocritical of them to bash the US and Nasa because of some problems.

[thomas lacroix]

If you haven't noticed Nasa does a lot more than just send up satellites...

teinting planets pictures to be more audience appealing?
yes space science is needed but its a pity that rocket science progress in the 60's mostly help long range missile science... concidering the human factor, i'll second mihai on the fact that we could use more drone as it'll help various research domain (computer, robotics etc) not to mention that bots could endure what we humans cant...

[Mihai]

Maxer, I'm not talking about the desire to explore and learn, which is a human desire, but simply of this vanity to send up humans. It is too early for it, right now it is much more efficient to send up robots and equipment to take measurements. Ask scientists as well and they will tell you they are not particularly interested to send humans up because:
A. costs 30 times more
B. measurements can be taken automatically and accurately by machines.

That's why I'm saying it's vanity to want to send up humans at this early stage. It serves no purpose except for politics and vanity. Politics and vanity have nothing to do with the desire to explore and learn. It has more to do with the desire to boast....

Hubble telescope is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Automated equipment that can be controlled from Earth. No need to have a guy up there with a walkie talkie taking orders from Earth and moving levers around....

[Maxer]

I understand you desire to want to save human life by using robots but I think you’re over estimating the capabilities of robotics and underestimating the importance of humans. Robots are great at doing pre-programmed tasks and the new generation of robots can even do some things on their own. However these machines can't think and they have no concept of what is important or interesting. Robots are tools to get a job done and one of the biggest problems in using these tools is the time it takes to get a signal to these machines and back. The further away from earth you get the longer a signal takes to reach its destination, in an emergency or power failure robots become useless. This obviously applies more to long range missions but even working in earth orbit this kind of system is clumsy. Let's also not forget that developing these robots is not cheap in it's self and none of the current systems are set up for them. At this point human presence is still a more cost effective option but in the future I think your right robots will play a much larger role.

[Jun In Gi]

yeah...this is very good idea. but who will be finish this ?

[Hervé]

Where's Falconing...? I bet he do that rocket stuff in no time... and by the time they fing the leak.. he'll be finished....