[Celtic Conservative]

Why can’t they go any further? Hard science only, please.

[Nervous Tick]

>> Hard science only, please.

Very well, although I don’t think this is *exactly* what you’re looking for.

https://web.archive.org/web/20100430182321/http://largehardoncollider.com/

[Jonty30]

Expense would be one consideration. It costs money to transport supplies to the ISS.

Van Allen belts would be another reason. You can fly through the Van Allen belts without harm, because it’s very short, but you can’t stay there. You’d have to get to 60,000km from Earth before you would be out of the belt zone.

[spel_grammer_an_punct_polise]

“Why can’t they go any further?”

The moon is one thing. Trying to go to Mars, for example, would take months to get there and months to get back. It becomes a matter of sustenance for extended periods of time. Having to carry food, water for those distances is all but impossible, don’t you think? This isn’t fantasy Star Trek episodes/movies. You have to think real world. How large would a capsule have to be in order to carry that much sustenance?

[Right_Wing_Madman]

Why can’t they go any further? Hard science only, please.

Since the Apollo missions ended in 1972, the world record for manned space flight is Space Shuttle Discovery, which achieved an apogee of 382 miles above Earth when it deployed the Hubble Telescope in April 1990. No manned crew has gone higher than that. Manned space flight above 400 miles has not been demostrated in the past 52 years.

STS-31
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-31

James Van Allen, himself, described the limitations of manned space flight in his famous article:

"Our measurements show that the maximum radiation level as of 1958 is equivalent between 10 and 100 roentgens per hour, depending on the still-determined proportion of protons to electrons. Since a human being exposed for two days to even 10 roentgens would have only an even chance of survival, the radiation belts obviously present an obstacle to space flight. Unless some practical way can be found to shield space-travelers against the effects of the radiation, manned space rockets can best take off through the radiation-free zone over the poles. A 'space station' must orbit below 400 miles or beyond 30,000 miles from the earth."

Radiation Belts around the Earth
https://static1.squarespace.com/static/607d58394868f60eb777f8ce/t/663ab71be05e69130f1353b4/1715123997930/Bart+Sibrel+-+Van+Allen+Radiation+Belts+Disclosure.pdf