This is how we reward heroes in Canada....
Definitely makes one want to jump into action eh?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/hero...vais-1.2818381

And colbert was hilarious...

http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2.../22041561.html

damn.... love his humour

Bad week for space travel...

http://www.ibtimes.com/virgin-galact...-video-1717113

Welll...it was to be expected to have a few setbacks trying to put a new phon-...oops spaceship up in the firmament.

Ach...well and wellywellwell ...just because someone can build a toaster doesn't mean they should go and start building ...say hydro-electric dam projects and not expect it to go without a hitch...

The Nasa supply ship though.....
is another fine example of cutbacks and little to no budget...farming out the work to the "cheapest-bidder/ best-friend's-company-kinda-problem".
We gotta get off this lovely place we call home and spread out and colonize...as fast as we can....(all our species' eggs in one basket (planet) ain't smart).......before some asteroid hits us...solar-flare engulfs us...natural calamity here gets us...or we simply run out of the resources to be able leave. A bad case of "Easter (Island) Planet" with a whole-lotta giant stone heads built at the cost of ALL the boat building materials to get away....

A loud shout to all the corps. and nations...if they want to survive to rule and profit into the future..... "Priority #1..stop the corruption, greed and waste...and fund the "real" space agencies and their multi-decade experts as much as they need to get the job done..."

Not to mention, "before anyone else does." At this rate, by the time we finally find the balls to do the real space exploration and land on another star, we may easily find that stake claimed by some three-legged little green monster from Aldebaran.

hahhahaha....
yup...

yknow ...fact is...I can't remem. the article...but recently I read an interesting issue regarding alien civilizations and the puzzling fact that since there ARE so many purported habitable worlds and out of them all the likelihood there should be sentient life out there ....but we aren't getting any radio signals ..nuthin' .... that raised the disturbing theory that there may well have been many alien civilizations that have come and gone BECAUSE they didn't get off their homeworld before cataclysm or total natural resource consumption prevented them from doing so.
There is my spooooooky thought on halloween ...
Geez ...come to think of it...
Topic change...
No halloween pics or themes today people?
let my pup Eddie be the 1st then...

"Count Pupula"

Well space travel is expensive because getting off Earth is expensive.

Believe it or not, there is gravity outside the Earth... its pulling things into Earth (like the moon).
This means a SPACE LADDER is feasible.

And the first nation or company to build one will be one of the world's economical leaders.
I mean a space elevator could go up much much faster, comfier, safer etc etc.
Space exploration would suddenly become multi-folds more convenient as the weight limit of crafts, parts and personnel would be lifted.

They say the problem with a space elevator is the materials of the ladder.
Its got to be abundant, very strong, very flexible, non-flexible, light, cheap-enough.

Concrete and steel could only get you so far.
Bamboo looked promising, but only pointed out that these materials must be some sort of polymer that's synthesized to meet the demand.

Even if you manage to find a breakthrough in somehow making an abundant material and turning it into an alloy of some sorts, and that alloy into some sort of micro-order that gives you the needed properties of the material you still have another problem: location.

You'd have to build it away from Tectonic plates, Volcanoes, Tornadoes, heavy winds etc etc.

Okay... so you got the materials, you have the plans, you found the location, and you secured the funding. What next?

Well you'd need heaps of time ofcourse, and the longer it takes... the increased risk of sabotage from rival nations/firms etc.

And even if you build it, you'd have this giant pillar sticking out of the Earth and into Outer Space like something from a cartoon.

Its a big as target. We can't even stop militants shooting down planes... how can any organisation possibly protect the ladder/elevator from a terrorist attack ??

Sure you can secure a vast land at the base, and protect the base with a large amount of firepower.... but all it would take is a single rocket towards the centre of the tower to bring it crashing down. And when it falls, which nation does it fall on? Will there be collateral damage? Can you afford it? What about materials or people travelling or on the ladder during impact? Can the parts be retrieved (what if it falls down an ocean)? And will it ignite an international debate and pull the strings off the whole project ?

...yeah, I think we should stick to what we know: rockets.

(or in any case, something powered by Stark Industries.... or Anti-Gravity propellers from The Jetsons)

Rockets are terribly inefficient. You need to throw a tremendous amount of mass behind you to push you a little bit forward. Even in space, let alone to escape the gravity well of a planet. We use them because that's all we currently know. Like until about 1950s, the only avionics we knew was propellers. We need a new technology, similar to the invention of the jet engine for aeroplanes.

True. But Rockets are Awesome...


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0PLK3hK4spY - rookies...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=959E5Oh7gPM - what...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnoNITE-CLc - Real deal...with extra smoke
But looks pretty boring in cockpit actually - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NsmW_y04z_Y

Better than rockets..
Michael Baysplosions!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v7ssUivM-eM

Tapioca!!!!

Sorry to break IT to you but...http://youtu.be/Sqz5dbs5zmo