AAS: Factoid of the day
Gleaned from astronaut Kathryn Thornton, who flew aboard the space shuttle four times:
If the Earth were the size of a basketball, spacecraft in orbit wouldn't be more than a quarter to a half inch off its surface.
Thornton's point: humans aren't exploring any more. They're stuck repeating experiments in an environment they already know. Most astronauts, of course, are strongly in favor of President Bush's plan to send astronauts back to the moon and then on to Mars. Many scientists are not, which makes her presence at a AAS meeting particularly intriguing.
Comments
While sending people to the moon and Mars might be seen as glamorous explorations in the future of science, I wonder if going so far is really necessary right now.
To use Thornton's analogy, we probably only have explored the leather of the basketball (ie the surface of the earth). What about everything inside? In the search for new life, I would prefer to see us exploring the depths of our oceans with the same rigor we delegate to air and space. I am almost certain that the teeming floura and fauna of our marine waters contain a number of medical breakthroughs waiting to be discovered (assuming we don't kill it first). The moon and Mars are barren of any such life. I'm sure much of the same technology could be used to send men/women into unexplored regions of our own planet.
Posted by: SouthPaw | January 8, 2007 12:57 AM
While sending people to the moon and Mars might be seen as glamorous explorations in the future of science, I wonder if going so far is really necessary right now.
Posted by: gazeteler | July 10, 2007 08:26 PM
he moon and Mars are barren of any such life. I'm sure much of the same technology could be used to send men/women into unexplored regions of our own planet good ideas
Posted by: src belgesi | April 21, 2008 11:08 AM