The Science Thread

Keep the human infestation limited to one planet, por favor! Before we, as a race, even consider venturing forth, we need to do right by the planet we're currently destroying. And by doing right I mean actually start fixing things, and not making them worse here or elsewhere!

Sadly, I think there is a very low chance of that, few people care about it and most of the ones who do care about it, only care about it as long as it does not affect them negatively, I know so many people who that are saying "It is terrible what we are doing to our planet and the climate!!!", and in the next sentence "I am flying to Mexico for a two week vacation next month".

My thinking is that we should not stop trying to colonize Mars, I think it might even have a net positive effect on Earth pollution, imagine 1000 normal US citizens going to Mars in a rocket(s) not to return. A probable calculation is that each person will emit about 40 000 kg of CO2 on that flight and the technology we have at that time. While the average emission of CO2 for a US person per year is 15 250 kg of CO2 ( Yes that is insane, but true ). So after just 4 years, the effect on earth will be positive. Now for a Billionaire many of them are probably way above 40 000 kg of CO2 per year already, so sending all our Billionaires to Mars is exceptional for the environment……..
 
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Sadly, I think there is a very low chance of that, few people care about it and most of the ones who do care about it, only care about it as long as it does not affect them negatively, I know so many people who that are saying "It is terrible what we are doing to our planet and the climate!!!", and in the next sentence "I am flying to Mexico for a two week vacation next month".

My thinking is that we should not stop trying to colonize Mars, I think it might even have a net positive effect on Earth pollution, imagine 1000 normal US citizens going to Mars in a rocket(s) not to return. A probable calculation is that each person will emit about 40 000 kg of CO2 on that flight and the technology we have at that time. While the average emission of CO2 for a US person per year is 15 250 kg of CO2 ( Yes that is insane, but true ). So after just 4 years, the effect on earth will be positive. Now for a Billionaire many of them are probably way above 40 000 kg of CO2 per year already, so sending all our Billionaires to Mars is exceptional for the environment……..

Wise words.

If we are to establish any colony anywhere outside Earth, the first step has to be a moon base from where we can launch anything at just a fraction of its cost in Earth (due to how little it takes to reach escape velocity on Moon's surface) and set up mineral storages collected from asteroids, since again, it it just too expensive and polluting to send any materials from Earth.

Only then we should look at actually colonising anything else if that were even possible at all.
 
Keep the human infestation limited to one planet, por favor! Before we, as a race, even consider venturing forth, we need to do right by the planet we're currently destroying. And by doing right I mean actually start fixing things, and not making them worse here or elsewhere!

While I wholeheartedly agree about the urgent need to start fixing things, I don't see why one precludes the other.

If humanity was but an infestion - why would it be worth preserving? Why should we not let climate change run its course, let civilization destroy itself, and send humanity back to the caves? Earth is going to survive us, the biosphere is going to survive us, even humans are still going to be around in some form or another. So why fix anything?

We need a positive image of humanity in order to regard the future as something worth fighting for. And I think a big part of that is acknowledging humans as not just an infestation, but also as - the only part of the biosphere that is capable of creating culture. The only part of the biosphere that is capable of restraining its actions by ethical deliberations. The only part of the biosphere that is capable of reaching out to other worlds, plant a seed there, and share that rare gift of life with worlds that would otherwise have remained eternally dead.
 
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Moved some posts to the appropriate section. I don't think we need the Science thread trolled senseless.
 
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If humanity was but an infestion

In the media - novels, films etc. - we have enough baddies thinking like that : To getting the earth rid of humans. [Grammar ???]
 
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@SirJames;

I'm not wasting more time moving things around. I've run out of patience, and I'm not going to spend any more time on you. Knock it off, or I'll put a stop to it.
 
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Interesting result deepens the mystery of neutrinos.

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59051779

The pesky neutrinos are quite central to the question of what might be wrong with our fundamental theories, as they keep throwing a spanner in the works. Some scientists have actually been a bit disappointed that the LHC has largely been confirming our models, which doesn't do much to suggest new physics. Sometimes these negative results are exciting, as it's the Universe saying, "Nope - guess again."
 
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The 6th extinction event:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9gHuAwxwAs

As a disclaimer, "It's Okay To Be Smart" is not a cataclysmic or propaganda channel, it's actually a very well documented channel thatexplains in very approachable ways all kinds of topics related to science and divulgation of curious aspects of life and reality. It's a worthy watch, for anyone who cares.
 
The HPV vaccine may almost eradicate cervical cancer. And, chaps, now it's approved for men and boys, the same virus causes cancers of the head and neck in us, and this will save a lot of people, in the end.

https://www.bbc.com/news/health-59148620.amp
 
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Thought this was a cool concept:

https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zo...o-hurl-a-projectile-into-the-upper-atmosphere
A U.S. space launch start-up has, for the first time, demonstrated a kinetic-based system that’s intended one day to put small spacecraft into orbit. The SpinLaunch concept, which feels ripped right from the classic age of science fiction, is based around a vacuum-sealed centrifuge that spins an unpowered projectile at several times the speed of sound before releasing it, hurling it into the upper atmosphere, and ultimately into orbit. In this way, the company, based in Long Beach, Calif., hopes to challenge traditional rockets for putting payloads into space.

The first test flight of a prototype — a so-called suborbital accelerator — took place at Spaceport America in New Mexico on October 22, but the company only announced the milestone yesterday.
 
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Yeah, that's some brutal acceleration. Might be better for sending up components, and doing the assembly in space. It would be a good tool though - if it worked, they could be chucking stuff up all day long.
 
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That's wild, the payload must endure quite a few g during the spinning phase, so it will be challenging to build the satellites as well.

So, they're flinging the test payload to a few tens of thousands of feet? Let's say, 30.000 ft or roughly 10.000 m for simplicity's sake. And the wheel has a radius of something like 50 m.

Neglecting atmospheric friction and flinging straight up, I'm finding the necessary centripetal acceleration to be a = 2(h/r)g (someone check the physics?). So that would work out to… 400g. Just for the proof-of-concept, not the scaled-up version.

Seriously?
 
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Yikes. I didn't do the maths - I was content with "Yeah, that's going to be shitloads." :p
 
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So, they're flinging the test payload to a few tens of thousands of feet? Let's say, 30.000 ft or roughly 10.000 m for simplicity's sake. And the wheel has a radius of something like 50 m.

Neglecting atmospheric friction and flinging straight up, I'm finding the necessary centripetal acceleration to be a = 2(h/r)g (someone check the physics?). So that would work out to… 400g. Just for the proof-of-concept, not the scaled-up version.

Seriously?
The first test was 10,000 ft with the reduced launcher, so 133 g, but yes, that's the approximate formula I get too.

The idea is to put the payload into a rocket which ignites at about 200,000 ft to bring the payload at the desired altitude. The final launcher to reach that altitude is to be 3 times bigger, so it would be 150 m of diameter.

Since g doesn't change too much, we can keep the same formula, which yields 889 g in the final version. And without counting the huge drag at lower altitude.

EDIT: and without counting the velocity the satellite must keep at altitude. A video mentioned 10000 g based on the peak RPM.

Sounds pretty stressful to me. ;)
 
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Yeah, I'd have thought that making devices that could withstand those g's would entail making them a lot heavier, somewhat defeating the purpose. Could good for sending up raw materials, when we have more facilities up there.
 
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