Posted on 08/03/2023 11:48:16 AM PDT by Jan_Sobieski
A leading space scientist has called to question the validity of human spaceflight, suggesting that sending astronauts outward from Earth is outdated, too costly, and the science returned is trivial.
The human space flight critic is no stranger to space -- in fact he's a pioneer in the space science arena from the premier days of satellite orbiting Earth.
James van Allen, Regent Distinguished Professor at the University of Iowa, is the noted discoverer ofradiation belts encircling Earth. His seminal finding -- labeled the Van Allen radiation belts -- stemmed from the scientist's experiment that flew on Explorer1, America’s first satellite to successfully orbit the Earth back on January 31, 1958.
Van Allen's appraisal of manned space missions -- "Is HumanSpaceflight Obsolete?" -- is carried within the pages of the Summer 2004 volume of Issues in Science andTechnology.
The quarterly policy journal is published by the Cecil and Ida Green Center for the Study of Science and Society at the University of Texasat Dallas in cooperation with the National Academy of Sciences in Washington, D.C.
"My position is that it is high time for a calm debate on more fundamental questions. Does human spaceflight continue to serve acompelling cultural purpose and/or our national interest? Or does human space flight simply have a life of its own, without a realistic objective that is remotely commensurate with its costs? Or, indeed, is human spaceflight nowobsolete?" van Allen writes.
Van Allen's call for discussion is prompted in part by NASA’s grounding of the remaining space shuttle fleet following the Columbia accident, while the agency takes steps to improve their safety. Also, the scientist notes that President Bush has put on the table "a far more costly and far more hazardous program" to return humans back to the Moon…
(Excerpt) Read more at space.com ...
“I think they’re trolls...”
While not trolls, the government of Iceland has shut down highway projects due to their impact on elves. Somehow that is related to the flat earth and moon landing hoax.
There won't be any humans by the time the sun implodes (by implosion maybe you mean when it becomes a white dwarf). Mammal species live for about a million years on average and we will reach white dwarf status in about 5 billion years if the weather person is correct.
Right now the prospect of moving man faster than the speed of light to new worlds is just a mathematical equasion called the Alcubierre Warp Drive. The math would allow you to go to Alpha Centauri in two weeks as measured by clocks here on Earth.
No one can make it through the Van Allen Belts
Didn't happen.
So what is your obsession with the moon landing?
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