[Q&A+] Living on Venus VS Mars, Biosphere 2 for Mars, Dangers of Space Junk | Q&A 346

Just read a book called Orbital, by Samantha Harvey. It follows an ISS crew through a day in their mission (sixteen sunrises and sunsets) and has vivid descriptions of the things they see on Earth. It also describes their feelings of isolation from their families yet having a close bond with their crew mates. A good read if you are wondering what a long ISS stay would be like.

You should definitely get a job with NASA. Would they let you share news about robotics?

Talking about abiogenesis. Let's say life is abundant in our galaxy, but the chance of it evolving into a technologically able species such as us, is so uncommon, that we are the only ones able to travel through space. What do you think is the chance of a non intelligent life form, such as astrophage, evolving the capability of space travel and under what conditions might they evolve, what kind of planet might enable that?

Does the debris from a LEO satellite collision reliably de-orbit at the same or higher rate than the original satellites? I feel like that should be the case... Also, are there any existing or likely regulations on responsible satellite deployment?

Heinlein The Moon is a Hrsh Mistress!

Yay Zelazny!

Cities in Flight (all four books in one omnibus) - James Blish Only book I remember finishing that had more than a hundred pages. I am a short story addict and mostly read Arthur C. Clarke (et al) and monthly subscription mag’s because of it.

If you could witness any cosmic event in your lifetime, what would it be?

Any collection of Larry Niven's stories, most Heinlein, the first handful of Dune stories, those are still on my shelf. I have one book, though, that I have shlepped from place to place since I was about 15. I think I bought it at a book shop in Germany in 1968, a shop that had a few shelves of sci-fi in English catering to personnel at the local army base. It is a British publication ( the price shows as 5/- Not sure if that's 5 pounds or 5 shillings, but it's from pre-decimal times). The title is "A Century of Great S-F Novels" edited by Damon Knight (c) 1964. It includes: Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (Stevenson); The Absolute at Large (Karel Capek); Gulf (Heinlein); E for Effort (T.L. Sherred); and Hunter, Come Home (Richard McKenna). By rights, this book should have long since fallen into shreds of yellow paper. It is missing the front and back covers. But every one of of these stories (novellas, really) is imaginative and beautifully written. I especially love Gulf and Effort. I will re-read these till I can no longer.

to the nostalgic books, that would be stanislaw lem for me ;-) but also tv shows like stargate come to mind

Not sci-fi, but my decadal comfort read is Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. Old sci-fi doesn’t always hold up well but Alfred Bester’s Tiger, Tiger and Clifford Simak’s All Flesh is Grass and Pat Frank’s Alas, Babylon are worth a reread.

Robert Heinlein, Time Enough for Love

Why might aliens be hostile: 1. They, like us, are top level predators. 2. Bad things happen when two parties want a thing but only one can have it, and upon realizing that, be unwilling to take an existential risk.

Send up a spacex Starship with few satellites with cleaning tool's. With the following equipment Nets, Electromagnets , Grabbers.

Why would we see evidence of life out in the universe (except maybe micro-life on other bodies in our solar system). What we are looking for in other parts of the universe is not evidence of life (whatever that might be) but evidence of technology. How much of a correlation does there have to be between life and technology? The answer to that might in part depend on what one defines as life.

I really enjoyed the Chronicles of Amber myself.

Thanks for the memory. Read my first fantasy novel in 1981 during Cadet camp in Greenwood N.S. The Shadow of The Torturer by Gene Wolfe, book one of 'The Book of the New Sun' series. What grabbed me was it was written in the first person. Great read, might do it again!

The question may not be whether aliens would be out to kill us so much as whether they would know how not to kill us. It is very conceivable that they might come here and treat us as we treat small insects - we may not typically desire to crush insects beeieth our feet or crush them into our windscreens, it is simply that these are things that naturally happen as we go about doing what we do.

One thing I've picked up from Fraser is the need to temper my impatience on science and Space achievements. Instead, I'm learning to appreciate the ride, the iterative and yet still essential steps on the way to various goals. Of course I'd love to see a sudden race to the Moon or Mars, but I don't want it to come at the cost of throwing human lives willy-nilly at these challenges. I think as long as we humans can maintain this whole technological civilization thing we've got going, we've got a chance to gradually ascend literally and metaphorically.

Fav sci-fi books? Anything Heinlein wrote. Dennis G.