SNP calls for 'first UK spaceport'.

[Dr Mindbender]

The Scottish National Party is calling for an RAF airbase in Moray to become the UK's first commercial spaceport.

The party's Westminster leader, Angus Robertson, wants Virgin Galactic to use RAF Lossiemouth in his constituency as a base for space tourism.

The base has already been identified by Virgin as a possible location for a commercial space enterprise.

"The prospect of space flight from Scotland is a serious and exciting one," Mr Robertson said.

Virgin Galactic's mothership, which will be used to launch tourists into space, took to the skies over California on Sunday, and the test flight was watched with interest in Moray.

The airbase is more used to accommodating rescue helicopters and Tornado jets, but Mr Robertson thinks there is also room for spaceships.

article (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/7799502.stm)

[Pogue]

Yes, clearly this is neccesary in this age of unemployment, poverty and war.

[Revy]

Only rich people will be able to afford the spaceflights though.
Not like you don't already need to be rich to fly into space, but it will be a long time before working class people can just take a ride up there.

[Socialist Scum]

What a waste of money. Space tourist flights last very little time, and are very expensive. Only the richest can afford them and it's the taxpayers who will have to pay for the port. Lets stop trying to make stupid space ideas (Tourism, bases on the moon) and attempt for a space program that benefits the human race, not for the rich to ooh and aah at.

[Kwisatz Haderach]

Space flight is the future of the human race, and any advance in this domain should be something to celebrate. Yes, of course it will benefit only the super-rich at first, but so do all new technologies under capitalism. The point is that the technology will exist for us to use for the benefit of the working class later, under socialism.

Let the capitalists play their silly space tourism games. History will record these attempts as the early precursors of the great socialist space faring endeavors.

[Socialist Scum]

Space flight is the future of the human race, and any advance in this domain should be something to celebrate. Yes, of course it will benefit only the super-rich at first, but so do all new technologies under capitalism. The point is that the technology will exist for us to use for the benefit of the working class later, under socialism.

Let the capitalists play their silly space tourism games. History will record these attempts as the early precursors of the great socialist space faring endeavors.

I'm all for space development and progress, but this is not the place to start at all.

[Dr Mindbender]

What a waste of money. Space tourist flights last very little time, and are very expensive. Only the richest can afford them .

Without justifying the economic status quo, the same was the case for air travel to begin with. Politics aside, the quicker that space travel becomes available pan-globally rather than just the domain of the super powers the better it will be for mankind and for science.

[Killfacer]

So the SNP are demanding spaceports before Scottish independance. :confused:

[Dr Mindbender]

So the SNP are demanding spaceports before Scottish independance. :confused:

The idea of a scottish space program is pretty comical you have to admit. I think they'd have some problem wearing kilts in a vacuum at minus 200 degrees. ''Watch oot jimmy! Dinnae get Irn Bru on da instramints!''

:lol:

[Dean]

How can the Scottish Nationalist Party support the RAF??

[Dr Mindbender]

How can the Scottish Nationalist Party support the RAF??

I dont think they are, quite the contrary. They want the airbase to be used as a spaceport rather than by RAF planes.

[thejambo1]

the snp are a, simple as. shower of ****s

[Forward Union]

goodbye environment.

[Marion]

I'm all for space development and progress, but this is not the place to start at all.

Believe you me, Lossiemouth isn't the place for anything to start at all. Except possibly for something involving fish...

[Dr Mindbender]

goodbye environment.

Why?

The chemical reaction in the propulsion of space vehicles only involves hydrogen and oxygen, or together better known as water.

At the risk of sounding controversial, i actually hope this goes ahead. The choice between human advancement in space and redistribution of wealth is a false dichotomy. Besides, i'd rather have a spaceport than an outpost of death and war. Wouldnt you?

[Killfacer]

Why?

The chemical reaction in the propulsion of space vehicles only involves hydrogen and oxygen, or together better known as water.

At the risk of sounding controversial, i actually hope this goes ahead. The choice between human advancement in space and redistribution of wealth is a false dichotomy. Besides, i'd rather have a spaceport than an outpost of death and war. Wouldnt you?

I'm with you on this one. I think it would be great, without people building things like this then space travel will be impossible for the working classes forever.

It just seems odd for the SNP to call this, when they should have mroe pressing concerns.

[Dr Mindbender]

I'm with you on this one. I think it would be great, without people building things like this then space travel will be impossible for the working classes forever.

It just seems odd for the SNP to call this, when they should have mroe pressing concerns.

Im not even that bothered about joe bloggs getting to go to the moon anytime soon, (although if that happens great), the way i see it if this place is being used for civillian purposes it gives the RAF one less place to fly it's bombers from.

[Invincible Summer]

Without justifying the economic status quo, the same was the case for air travel to begin with. Politics aside, the quicker that space travel becomes available pan-globally rather than just the domain of the super powers the better it will be for mankind and for science.


This is assuming that space travel is even an advantage.

What would the ability of travelling in space do for us? I understand that the technological principles and possibilities are important, but the actual idea of space travel doesn't seem to have any real benefits in my mind.

Please enlighten me.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

This is assuming that space travel is even an advantage.

What would the ability of travelling in space do for us? I understand that the technological principles and possibilities are important, but the actual idea of space travel doesn't seem to have any real benefits in my mind.

Please enlighten me.

The sooner we develop cheap(er) space travel, the sooner we can establish independant colonies off this rock and avoid having the whole human species rendered extinct or dragged back to the stone age by a planetary disaster, not necessarily of own making mind you.

Also, easier access to space will enable us all on Earth to take advantages of the untold riches of the Solar System, compared to the limited resources of this one planet. A single M-Type asteroid with an approximate diameter of 1km could contain over 2,000,000,000 (two billion) metric tons of nickel-iron ore, compared with the 1.05 billion tons of iron ore produced worldwide in 2004. Such asteroids would also likely contain useful quantities of other elements such as gold, uranium, copper, zinc, manganese, chromium and others. Other types of asteroids will contain different materials, such as silicates and water.

[Invincible Summer]

The sooner we develop cheap(er) space travel, the sooner we can establish independant colonies off this rock and avoid having the whole human species rendered extinct or dragged back to the stone age by a planetary disaster, not necessarily of own making mind you.

I suppose. But to my (limited) knowledge, there aren't really any habitable planets...


Also, easier access to space will enable us all on Earth to take advantages of the untold riches of the Solar System, compared to the limited resources of this one planet. A single M-Type asteroid with an approximate diameter of 1km could contain over 2,000,000,000 (two billion) metric tons of nickel-iron ore, compared with the 1.05 billion tons of iron ore produced worldwide in 2004. Such asteroids would also likely contain useful quantities of other elements such as gold, uranium, copper, zinc, manganese, chromium and others. Other types of asteroids will contain different materials, such as silicates and water.

That's pretty interesting. However, I'd rather see automatons do that than human "space miners."

[Dr Mindbender]

I suppose. But to my (limited) knowledge, there aren't really any habitable planets...

i think you're confusing 'life supporting' with habitable.

and it doesnt need to be. The obvious choice is Mars, and the conditions there are a lot less hostile than you may think. It generally gets not much colder than the antarctic in winter and in the summer becomes almost warm enough for ice to melt. It already has a carbon dioxide and nitrogen rich atmosphere like earth, and a human colony there farming plant life could expediate oxygen production. The gravitational pull is about 2/3 of Earth g which wouldnt feel too dissimilar. We could probably terraform mars to make it life supporting in a matter of centuries.



That's pretty interesting. However, I'd rather see automatons do that than human "space miners."
astronauts provide a big advantage over robots. Because of the immense distances involved, it takes 10 minutes for a command signal from Earth to reach Mars. I think it takes 40-60 minutes to reach jupiter. That means if something goes wrong, (meteor shower for example) the probe is a sitting duck. An astronaut can think on his feet, get on with their work continuously meaning they bring back a lot more scientific return.

[Invincible Summer]

i think you're confusing 'life supporting' with habitable.

and it doesnt need to be. The obvious choice is Mars, and the conditions there are a lot less hostile than you may think. It generally gets not much colder than the antarctic in winter and in the summer becomes almost warm enough for ice to melt. It already has a carbon dioxide and nitrogen rich atmosphere like earth, and a human colony there farming plant life could expediate oxygen production. The gravitational pull is about 2/3 of Earth g which wouldnt feel too dissimilar.

Interesting. I didn't know that about Mars. My dad is into all this space stuff - maybe I should talk to him more.


We could probably terraform mars to make it life supporting in a matter of centuries.Oh right... centuries... goddamn.



astronauts provide a big advantage over robots. Because of the immense distances involved, it takes 10 minutes for a command signal from Earth to reach Mars. I think it takes 40-60 minutes to reach jupiter. That means if something goes wrong, (meteor shower for example) the probe is a sitting duck. An astronaut can think on his feet, get on with their work continuously meaning they bring back a lot more scientific return.

True enough. I generally see manned space travel as a gross expenditure of resources with little quantifiable gain. I suppose I should look at the big picture.

[Dr Mindbender]

Oh right... centuries... goddamn.


Don't quote me on that -that was just a guess. If they used the same processes thats causing global warming on earth but on an exponential level, maybe it could be as little as a few generations. If you're interested in the subject there was a series of 3 novels written entitled red, green and blue mars respectively.

The different colours representing the different stages of mars's transition towards becoming life supporting.

[ÑóẊîöʼn]

I suppose. But to my (limited) knowledge, there aren't really any habitable planets...

It doesn't matter. We must learn to build self-sufficient space colonies, and make use of terraforming and paraterraforming.


That's pretty interesting. However, I'd rather see automatons do that than human "space miners."There will have to be human involvement somewhere pretty close to any space mining operations, although humans won't actually be digging out the materials, since you can't really use a pickaxe in a microgravity environment.