[Q&A+] Artificial Gravity, Trusting SpaceX, Neutron Stars VS Magnetars | Q&A 311

You say we don't repeat missions and you are right. But look at the parade of Mars landers. In the same way that each of them bring better instruments and capabilities (helicopter anyone) to the red planet, other missions are also viable for repeat. An important point about voyager is that it took advantage of a planetary alignment that was ideal and wouldn't be repeated for ≈ 150-200 years. The downside to voyager is that this flighpath only allowed a brief flyby at each planet. If it wasn't for the opportunity to visit all those planets in one mission (two spacecraft) the short visits would have been hard to justify. What's interesting is that here we are 50 years later, still getting interesting data about the outer reaches of the solar system. It would be very hard to justify a mission for that purpose with no science results to be expected for decades. I'm curious if that was the primary objective, how fast could we get out there? What kind of planetary assists could we get if our priority was on exit velocity by itself.

I have to recommend Orb: on the movements of the Earth, amazing anime. One of the best shows I’ve seen in a while that made me really stop and think.

As time goes by, the more I suspect the costs of mitigating climate change (or adapting to it) are going to outweigh our dreams of becoming a spacefaring civilization. And the lack of Earth-normal gravity is daunting. Life on Earth evolved in 1G. Adapting to anything less may prove to be more trouble than it's worth.

I binged Devil may cry last week. It was pretty good. I haven't played the game either. But I was quite aware of Dante as a meme. He seemed to live up to his rep.

Artificial gravity would have many advantages not just for human comfort but for equipment too. For example take an A/C unit, apart from the compressor gravity is used to help the refrigerant circulate also condensate (water) trickles down the cold exchanger and can be collected. All that is much more difficult in zero g!

Re: new voyagers, also the grand tour opportunity won’t happen again for some time.

I am a recovering Muskavite (I did not realize his politics were what they are), so I still am all for getting to Mars. That said, the things that must be developed to allow humans to survive on Mars for months are formidable. We have yet to create a sustainable, sealed environment on Earth, let alone on Mars. I have come back to believing NASA is right, get it worked out on the Moon, where you can retrieve people in a couple of days rather than many months.