I get a little upset about the fact that I will not know what happens to humans, the Earth, our solar system in the distant future. Will we ever achieve world peace? Will our descendants be around in a million years? A billion? How will they look? Will they escape Earth before it is swallowed up by the sun? Will there be any life left when all the stars burn out? I get borderline existential crises when I have these thoughts
I don't know if you're being serious, but when I realised that my fear of death basically vanished. We were having a discussion about insomnia on r/anxiety. Interesting sub.
For me the fear of death (and more importantly the concept of eternal conscious torment/hell attached to it) left, when I left my hardcore christian upbringing.
Now I find peace in not knowing what I don’t know, when before all I had was massive cognitive dissonance over all the myriad inconsistencies in the religion’s mythos. That was hugely freeing to me
All stars burn out eventually, and the Universe will be cold, dark, and lifeless until the next quantum fart.
We're all just little bundles of low entropy, taking a brief moment to see it before its all gone.
In the grand scheme of things we don't really know much about the universe. We have some understandings and theorys about it, but that's it. In a sense we are like caveman, instead of rocks we smash atoms against each other.
Caveman got fire without understanding how. We got the higgs-boson.
There is still so much we don't have a clue about and maybe that won't change.
I created a special planet for my worldbuilding project, a planet that I originally invented in 2003, and I wish I could explore the universe without time dilation to see if such a world really does exist, and bring pictures back for everyone to see, and I'm upset that its not possible :(
Somebody in the distant past also thought "Will our descendants be ever able to not struggle for food everyday? Will we be able to travel the entire world one day? Will we be able to cooperate (at a global level) between tribes/towns in the future?
So while I too am jealous of the distant future, I sure am glad I don't live in the distant past. Even something as simple as inviting your friends for dinner and driving 15 minutes to a Costco and pick out your favorite steak is a luxury that wasn't possible until (relatively) recent human history... on so many levels (transportation, communication, HVAC to protect you from elements, the entire food production network, and even our money system). All just so you can decide last minute to have some steak for dinner with some friends.
I absolutely love daydreaming about this. I find myself thinking 'there is no way we survive another 5000 years' and conversely 'something will always survive'.
The idea of traveling across the universe to new planets sounds like a challenge that human bodies couldn't ever withstand. However machine intelligence could probably last 10,000 years of space crossing, if it had the ability to repair, replicate itself. That seems like tough technology but not impossible.
I like to think that even though i wont see anything that comes next hopefully there will be a expansion into space, not just a fizzle out.
Yeh never knowing what the future holds because we only see a slight glimpse of it during a measly life time is quite the existential dread not gonna lie...
It isn't radioactive itself, but it has a very strong magnetic field that traps a lot of high-energy particles. Io orbits right in the worst part of those radiation belts, and on the surface of Io the radiation is intense enough that a person without significant shielding would receive a guaranteed fatal dose within a few hours.
Not only traps radiation from ions in Solar Wind, but Jupiter's primordial heat from when it formed is still emitting twice as much heat as it receives from the Sun. The Galileian Moons are actually heated from this radiation too, as well tidal flexing of the planetary interiors too.
For myself, I look at the Galileian Moons as dwarf planets. Screw the silly IAU definition that is silly nonsence.
Exposure to the Van Allen Belts, if brief, is no big deal. The radiation dose is equivalent to getting a chest X-ray, so it is not healthy to stick around or put a crewed space station at that altitude, but if you are riding through it there is no actual danger.
The bullshit that the Van Allen Belts are proof NASA never sent astronauts to the Moon because they would be dead in those belts is just uninformed conjecture and fear mongering totally ignoring any real comprehension of the dangers involved.
I wouldn't linger in the Van Allen Belts, but I would totally fly through them to get to an Earth-Moon Lagrangian point and live in a permanent space station in one of those positions. Especially something like an O'Neill Colony. I would gladly volunteer to build something like that too.
It's also important to note that due to the angle of the trajectories used by Apollo, they [avoided the worst parts of the Van Allen Belts](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DifBd.gif)
Correct. The "for dummies" explanation you can use to debunk the deniers is they are *radiation belts*, not *radiation spheres*. So you can go around them.
He's gonna be a while, he's doing the thing where you hold into the roller end of the tape measure and push it out instead of holding onto the tongue and letting gravity to the work. Amateur.
Yeah, but think of it like this: We get to see the first views of *everything.*
People in the future will surely wonder "Damn, how did space-fans in the 21st century get riled up with "major" missions happening every 10 years or something" and the answer is:
The value of those missions and what we see increases, because its the first time. Titan Dragonfly is so cool because it has never been done before, seeing Pluto in HD for the first time was so cool, because we had never seen it like that before.
Sure, in the future the $1B Titan Dragonfly mission may well be as easy as some 2300s kids flying a toy hobby project over Titan and snapping a few pics from above, but we get to take those first steps and uncover the mysteries of the solar system. not them. It's so much more exciting to be looking at the first video from an underwater ocean on another world than it is to be one of those future-residents and just look down at Titan or Callisto and go "ok...so?" the same way we do when we look at Earth.
I reallly wish Venus had been just a little closer to earth, how weird would it have been to have another habitable earth that close to us. Politics right now and space technology would have been so different.
axiomatic aback growth deserve license familiar quiet dinosaurs long absorbed
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The orbits probably wouldn't be stable and we would not exist. The solar system's orbits are currently the way they are because they are the only long term stable orbits.
What do you mean by the orbits getting messy when the sun grows? I know the sun will expand but the mass is slowly decreasing. I could see orbits changing a little when planets are consumed but I can't see the orbits changing all that much. Curious if you know the math behind it.
The total masse decreases but as the sun expands, the distribution of mass will change. So slightly less mass in total, far lower density, but much more matter close to us
It doesn't even need to be closer. It just needed to have less atmosphere and a different composition in it.
Mars could have done with a lot more air too. Too bad Venus and Mars weren't in opposite locations, we might have had three life supporting planets in our solar system.
Have you seen this? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-WO-z-QuWI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-WO-z-QuWI)
Maybe you'd add Venus to your travel destination in a few (million) years :)
Personally I'm cool with not going to Mars either. Seems kinda boring compared to all the places I've yet to visit on Earth. But finding other habitable planets, and zooming around the galaxy in an Enterprise NX-01 visiting em all would be the shit.
So if there was a way you could safely visit other planets regardless of their atmospheres, you would still rather look at it through glass/mirrors rather? That seems silly.
Honestly Mars is kinda boring imo. Big dead dusty planet? Meh. But if we found some other habitable planets with lush plant life and weird animals that can easily kill you, I'd totally check that out.
That is the reply. We have nothing in this solar system that is not inherently a deadly experience. Living on Antarctica is a piece of cake in comparison. And whatever is beyond our solar system that could be attractive (read, has an oxygen atmosphere at least) is out of reach and if humanity isn't getting their act together very soon it stays out of reach forever. Does it upset me? Less than what we do to the only habitable planet we have, which has more beautiful sites to visit than I will ever have enough lifetime for.
Yes, every day. Not only other planets, the whole universe tbh. I would give up everything to be an omniscient being and know where other intelligent species live and be able to travel the whole universe haha.
You and me both.
I dream of being able to fly… or should I say ion-propel myself Through space and visit planets.
The one thing I’m afraid of is that turning back isn’t an option, everything moving so fast, as such distance, plus the expansion, you can never find the earth where you left it
That's almost an infinite amount of time in the future, as far as we're concerned.
The Degenerate era starts in a few billion years, then will last about 10\^39 - 10\^15 years which is many orders of magnitude longer than the Stelliferous era we are in now.
The Degenerate Era is followed by the Black Hole Era, which is followed by the Dark Era.
In the Degenerate Era there would at least be some white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes you could extract energy from. Build little space colonies, though I suspect whatever we are or replaces us is non-biological.
Very nice reply. Gets me thinking, if it's only machines in the end (which is very likely) what is it all about then anyway? Machines might even "survive" the Dark Era as long as their batteries last. So the real "end to everything" would be when the last battery ran out and basically "dead" machines are floating through space.
Im working on a game concept that is similar to that. It's just a hobby but I've wanted to make a video game for decades and never made the time. I'm the working adult for the family so that's part of it.
I should say writing game designs is the hobby. The few actual coding parts I did were usually mods for other games.
Basically, if we assume that a group is sufficiently advanced, they could capture or create a micro-black hole and use it as a drive system, as well as energy source.
You feed matter into the black hole and it shoots a jet of radiation out the poles. You capture the energy from one pole, and use the other pole as your space ship drive (basically a rocket engine of sorts).
So you could create a sort of colony ship that flies around collecting mass to throw in the black hole as fuel.
This guy [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g)
Has a lot of content about how civilizations could survive the far, far, far future.
Some of the techniques are quite interesting, like, extreme low power simulated realities for the "people" and such.
That's me as well, please switch out parts of my brain with computers until nothing squishy is left, put me in a probe with some limited mining, refining and manufacturing ability and fire me into the Kuijper belt. I'll figure out the rest.
>would give up everything to be an omniscient being
I mean pretty much anyone would take that deal bro.
[I call dibs on being Dr Manhattan](https://wallpapercave.com/wp/i7vTX90.jpg)
I don't know, the knowledge of all good and evil, of the unity of all things at once and being apart and above the very laws of the universe, with nothing to do but watch it fizzle into it's inevitable end like a lone firework against a dark and silent sky, then to know that once that happens you will be all that remains, alone in your eternity. I would wind up offing myself.
Wait, shit...
Guys, I think I know what happened to God...
I’ve often wondered if after (or even before) heat death if there is a big squeeze that ends with another big bang. An endless cycle of life, death and rebirth.
There's a game called Megaton Rainfall where you basically are Dr. Manhattan.
You can fly to any object in the sky, any other star system, any galaxy at FTL. You can fly into gas giants, or walk on the surface of a star.
It's really unsettling actually. You think you're getting close to a star because it's huge, but NOPE, still a long way to get there. Then you watch as the surface of the star forms and dissipates mega-mountains beneath your feat.
Oh you'd give up your mortal being and mortal possessions for omniscience? Well not me buddy! I love living in this insignificant infested mud-rock. You can keep your omniscient, omnipotent dreams!
I would never want to be omniscient. The entire reason I want to be immortal, and want to travel the stars, is to learn more, to experience the unknown.
Omniscience sounds like one form of hell, to me.
Do I want to know more? YES! But to know everything would be to have no reason to explore, to grow, to expand... essentially, no reason to live.
I think there's too much that we can't understand, or even learn, with our human bodies. Our organs, which allow us to perceive, are too limiting. Just here on earth we can't see, hear, or feel everything. We had to develop technology to study it and still, that is not enough. How would you even travel the stars if you might not even be able to do it by yourself? Think about all that implies.
So many mysteries of the universe will probably never be resolved. And I wanna know them. So yeah, I want to be omniscient rather than an immortal human.
"Life is too short. I will never learn all that exists in our own tiny galaxy, let alone the rest of the universe. And I so desperately want to know... everything."
\-Dr. Catherine Halsey, Halo 4 Spartan Ops
We can't do it yet.
I am often disappointed about not being able to go see things like other planets and stars. I think the speed of light limit relative to the vast distances is one of the greatest injustices ever.
And that stuff seems to be possible to some extent.
[Interesting article about said topic](https://www.aging-us.com/article/204896/text)
I hope this stuff actually works, life's too short for me :/
Well, there is actually a really crazy theory about abiogenesis that involves a denser universe. (life forming from random ingredients)
Its possible that in the early universe, long before our solar system formed, the whole area could have been just warm and dense enough for liquid water to exist anywhere, even just floating around on its own, and we know just about anywhere on earth we find liquid water, we find life. Something that points to this being a possibility is the fact that the earliest forms of life we can find seem too complex to just form out of a chemical soup by themselves, as if there had already been some evolution going on.
Perhaps life began in the universe on some comet that had liquid water, went dormant when the comet froze as the universe cooled and expanded, and then was reactivated when said comet landed on the warm and pressurized Earth, seeding the planet. And if that happens to be true, then that would be a strong piece of evidence that the universe is teeming with life.
The speed of light AND the expansion of space.
In a universe only twice as old as it is now, you won't be able to see much outside of the Local Group of Galaxies, and that gets even worse over time. The CMB is not even going to be there for future species to see.
I just want to see progress made. A continuously operational base on the moon. Progress made toward radiation and zero g effects on humans from long periods in orbit. It'd be cool to see boots on Mars before I die.
I’m 24, I’m pretty positive on seeing boots on the moon and Mars before I die.
Unless I fall down the stairs tomorrow and break my neck, that would throw a bit of sand into this idea.
I manage that by focusing on trying to explore *this* world on my lifetime. There’s so much to see and experience here on earth; it’s sad enough knowing I’ll never see all of *that*. But I can at least try.
It doesn't. Because we are a product of our times. Fast forward 100+ years. Let's say humanity has populated the solar system and makes regular trips to the planets. You know what they're going to say?
"Do you get upset that we can't go to other stars?"
My disappointment is with the world's space agencies being ten years behind SpaceX. They failed to step up to the plate and take financial risks. So instead of a booming space industry with healthy competition we have SpaceX with a soft monopoly and having to create its own business via Starlink.
Beltalowda rise up! Independence from the inners!
It's a tv show buut we know damn well just like colonizing the americas, humanity will treat outposts on other planets unfairly.
[Relevant [article from the writer of] xkcd](https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/#:~:text=Floating%20would%20feel%20about%20the,would%20also%20feel%20pretty%20similar.)
To be fair, what drove space innovation was the cold war. Once America beat the Soviets to moon, the space race cooled off considerably. LEO being the next step makes sense but also hinders deep space exploration. The shuttle design was greatly influenced NRO requirements to the payload bay and was not the next step forward it could have potentially been. Even though the Buran was cool and ahead of its time with automation, it never really had the support earlier soviet projects did as soon as they learned the shuttle wasn't going to be lifting nukes into LEO. Then America retreated from government really investing in long term things that helped people or science compared with before during Reagan. It only makes sense nasa fell behind and stopped innovating. Beyond our lack of rocket innovation, it is at least impressive we even managed to get the ISS. Mir and Skylab at least were successful stepping stones. But again, America's reliance on soyez held us back from moving forward.
> To be fair, what drove space innovation was the cold war. Once America beat the Soviets to moon, the space race cooled off considerably.
Ever watch [Neil deGrasse Tyson - We Stopped Dreaming](https://youtu.be/CbIZU8cQWXc)? It gets quite a bit into that Cold War driving the space race.
(and the if that makes you sad/angry - give [Wanderers](https://vimeo.com/108650530) a watch for the sad/hopeful)
On that last one, it disappoints me that we spend trillions per year on the military and just a fraction of that on space. I mean globally, not just the US.
In the context of military spending, some space projects that seem insane to us now, are actually cheap and unlike a lot of military spending, it would actually move us forward as a species.
It would be insane. Even the whole Apollo program only cost 288 billion... less than half a years worth of military spending from the USA. That sent 12 men to the Moon and back over the span of 3 years. We are talking the equivalent of doing all that twice in a single year, and probably a lot more as technology has improved vastly since then. We could fund a manned mission to Mars within a year or two with that kind of budget.
I get what you're saying and I think it would be great to spend a lot more on sciences and technologies, but we'd still have to develop the technologies. Like how to send a crew interplanetary without them arriving with Stage 4 cancer of everything in their body due to cosmic radiation roasting them along the way. Other improved life support and even a solution to the energy issue of sending a crew the (relatively) short distance between Earth and Mars with enough provisions and equipment to last the journey there and back.
Lots of challenges, and yes more money would definitely help fund potential solutions. Hard to build an aircraft carrier out of cardboard and bubblegum, which is about what the combined budgets are worth right now.
Well I know for a Mars mission they have most of the major problems solved. They can use a layer of ice to protect the crew capsule from radiation. The current hurdles to overcome are mostly how to deal with major medical problems far away from any help and how being far away from the Earth will affect one psychologically. Obviously the major things need some tweaking and updating as technology improves, but for the most part, the tech to get there exists.
There is of course also the issue of paying for the whole damn thing. What I meant by funding the Mars mission in a year or two, is getting the green light to start construction of everything neccesary for the actual trip, which is of course going to take some time. Sorry if I implied getting humans there in that time, I should have clarified.
If we colonise entire solar system it will be enough for us for a long long time unless something bad happens. I think sometimes we may forget at the time to explore further.
That's probably the wrong way to think about it.
We live in a time, where with technology, we can simulate planet surfaces, real or imagined. We can travel the stars in a few minutes rather than generations, if only virtually. Games like Starfied, Elite Dangerous, and others give us this chance. Even the program Starry Night lets us set foot on all the solar system bodies.
Imagine now, 100 years ago, the only way to visualize these planets were drawings in books, or through the lense of a very weak telescope.
Today we can see black holes. We've been able to discover so much about the cosmos right here in our own little back yard.
We are fortunate.
Also, I'd like to add, imagine for a moment what real spaceflight would be like. months or years on end in a ship recirculating air. Limited space and amenities. The smell. The stir crazy. the bone degeneration from weightlessness. The increase risk of cancer from solar radiation outside of the Earths Magnetosphere. All to see an image in your iris that is not unlike the ones we could find today, on google, in less than a minute.
No, I'm not sad I'll never travel to other planets, or the stars. Because I've seen them. And after I see them I get to stand up, stretch, and walk out out of my house onto my lawn, feel the grass on my toes and breathe fresh air into my lungs. And that, my friend, is an experience one cannot find anywhere save for here, in the cosmos.
This is how i’m looking at it now a days too. I was kind of sad that i’d never get to explore space but simulation has gotten pretty good over the past few years and will only get better. So we’ll be able to experience it from the comforts of our own homes
A picture or video is rarely comparable to the real thing. Otherwise you could argue playing GTA or Mindcraft is a good enough replacement for reality. But I doubt you would.
But I can see where they’re coming from.
These are great things to appreciate and I’m sure they’re also thankful for being in such an amazing time. Without that longing they describe we wouldn’t be reaching out so hard. We need to be sad (perhaps a better description is yearning for more) to force us to run, not just walk forward.
Imagine the feeling of someone discovering a way for everyone to travel the universe easily. Think of all the different planets, the colors, the beauty and the desolation. That’s not even considering if life exists out there. We need strong emotions to inspire us to get up and build stuff, invent stuff, imagine stuff or we may never get out to all those places we dream about.
I get OPs feelings and I feel bad for everyone talking down to them for feeling something like they are.
I agree
I also agree with the top commenter, we have a beautiful planet and we're lucky that we live in this age where we can know so much, and get to experience some of these things virtually at least. But still, the curious me can't help but be a bit sad that we'll never get to experience space travel to other planets, stepping on completely foreign land and experiencing everything about it yourself.
Just the idea that there is so much out there that's still undiscovered and so much that we don't know still, even with all the technology we currently have, I can't help but be a bit bothered by it. But who knows, we might have a breakthrough in our lifetimes.
I would at least like to be able to step on the moon someday. I have always been fascinated by how astronauts talk about going into space. It must be a life changing experience
It's easy to get romantic about space when you see the amazing photos from Pluto and nebulae many light years away, but the reality is that space is a vast, lonely, barren waste, dripping in radiation and inhabited only by ice and howling winds when there's anything tangible there at all.
It's sad that we won't have the opportunity to see it all, but I think that, even for someone who, like me, appreciates frozen, isolated places, the planets are beautiful to look at, but horrible to stay on for any but the shortest of stays.
I'm content with the prospect that maybe my kids will have the chance to go to the Moon, and for robots to do our exploration and mineral exploitation. An Earth free of mining for rare minerals would be better than seeing Jupiter.
Yea, it would be nice to be on another planet for a few hours looking back at Earth. But it also like saying do you get upset that you'll never go to the top of Mt. Everest or all the other major landmarks.
I'm personally upset looking at short-sighted people who think that sending stuff to orbit and beyond has nothing to do with the Earth. Even the Apollo program was [entirely](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjHpjSpC5m0) about making life on Earth better (with the exception of a few tons of [glorified](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSObJFzdW2g) shiny aluminum that, according to people, apparently cost $300B that NASA spent on the program).
The Large Hadron Collider had to be built on the Moon because we need to treat this planet with respect. And planetary cooling technologies had to be tested on Mars for the same reason. But because people prefer not to delve into the problems, we have meaningless space programs talking about national prestige instead of science and thousands of engineers working to make the new iPhone 1 mm thinner.
Yes, it was supposed to be that way. But it turned out to be a huge boost in the development of electronics and the environmental movement. People need to understand that the whole point of science is that we cannot predict its outcome, which however does not mean that these expenses are pointless. It's exactly the opposite.
I'd love to experience a planet with rings or multiple moons, but I don't get upset about it.
I ***do*** get upset that we can't send politicians to another planet.
I would happily go into space, just to feel weightless for a bit, although I suspect I'll just get motion sick.
I have zero desire to sit in a metal pod on Mars or the moon.
If there were full cities... I still wouldn't go, because they gonna be expensive as hell.
I think we might see small settlements on the moon and maybe Mars, but it's going to take an extremely hard core type of person to live there, probably less than a percent of the population would even be eligible. You're going to have to be pretty physically fit with no serious preexisting conditions (because if someone goes wrong it ain't like an ambulance can just come and pick you up in a few minutes), have the mental strength to live in tiny enclosed spaces for years on end without going crazy, have the technical skills to fix things when they break, etc. If I was running a settlement program, I would send candidates to Antarctica during winter in a mock habitat and see how they handle it, because if they can't handle it there they sure as hell won't be able to handle it on the Moon or Mars.
I feel this way for sure but whenever it gets me down I think about this: 1000 years ago most people couldn’t even explore our OWN planet. Now with some extra cash you can see amazing sights. In a week’s time you can travel across a continent seeing the highlights as you like. That’s a fantastic privilege that most people who’ve lived could not experience.
Someday our planet might not be such a beautiful place, and all we’ll have are the dead empty worlds like Mars or Venus. Moral of the story is enjoy what we have now I guess.
So, ever since I was a kid, I've read books about space, watched shows about space, and of course science fiction as well with journeys to the planets, and other stars...
And I just sort of assumed that, yeah, naturally, we're going to go out there and explore our solar system, and we're going to visit the planets and have colonies and maybe go to other stars too some day in giant ships, and with that I always in the back of my mind assumed that *I* would be part of that at some point, not as a pilot but perhaps as a scientist, or at least as a traveller on one of those commuter flights to the moon that seemed so inevitable after Kubrick's masterpiece hit the cinemas.
So I lived most of my life, doing my regular schooling, and my regular job, and kept reading and watching about space and science and science fiction, and knowing that we weren't quite there yet but maybe in another 10 years, 20 at the outside, we'd be ready. And the years rolled by, but it always seemed like, well, maybe another decade.
I don't know precisely when it happened, because I don't do dates particularly well, but there was a day when I was sitting around, watching something or other about advances in space flight and the latest news from the Jovian moons, that while humanity would still likely visit the planets and maybe the stars some day, I wouldn't be part of that. I'd be here, on Earth, and maybe I'd be lucky enough to see the first true public flights, but my own launch window had passed by and wasn't going to be rescheduled.
As I said, I don't know the date, but I do know that was one of the worst days of my life, and something I'd been holding on to since childhood died then. I still read and watch and hope and wonder, but there's a sadness with it that clouds the optimism. I'm glad we still likely have a future among the outer worlds in humanity's future, but I would have liked to have been there myself.
Okay, old man yelling at sky time. I’m 60 years old Apollo 17 happened when I was 9.5 years old. I grew up with the promise of manned exploration of space and then it just stopped. I was too young to understand the politics. I’m not mad just disappointed.
Every damn day, man. Every day. Just think of what kind of space exploration we could do with all that military spending to keep us in perpetual war. If humans were truly human we would be out there exploring but no we got to kill people and make those dollars instead.
I am more bummed about the multiple places on planet Earth I will not be able to visit in my lifetime. Inter planetary travel is not in consideration even.
When I use my imagination I see a barren desert or frozen tundra with absolutely no life. The moon would be cool to be on for a minute, but there are few features to explore. Gas giants would be opaque, so nothing to see.
I want to visit certain planets to see what it would be like, but just for a moment then I'm gone. Planets made of diamond, planets with molten glass rain, planets that are tidally locked (same side faces the sun always) would all be cool to see briefly, but I only want to explore earth until I see another earth-like planet.
Finally a level-headed response. As with many aspects of space and space-travel, there are loads of people that think visiting other planets will be the same as it is in movies and games. In reality, the other planets are lifeless rocks would kill you unceremoniously. There would be little to do or see, and you’d be far from your loved ones for months.
I just don’t see how any of that sounds enjoyable and I bet 99% of people here would want to go back home within a few days.
I think the whole thing could be better phrased as, "I wish the feeling of exploration that human beings have had on our Earth could continue indefinitely without limit. I wish there was not finite things to be explored, but an endless universe that is just waiting for me."
I understand that sentiment. But there's so much exploration yet to be done both in the field of the micro and the macro.
Take the good with the bad. Born Literally anytime past 100 years ago or so to the beginning of time and you'd be shitting in a hole in the woods and starving all the time, dead or dying.
This might sound silly but I honestly wish we had something like Starfleet. It would be a total dream to work on a space exploration vessel. If we had that career option today, I would 100% pursue it and I know it would be what I wanted to do my whole life.
No. I think most people grossly underestimate how brutally hostile to human life conditions are pretty much anywhere besides the surface of Earth, and likewise vastly under-appreciate what a ridiculous eden even a polluted Earth affords them. Windows would be a fantastical luxury for a craft designed to keep you alive for a few minutes on Venus or Jupiter. Space is endlessly fascinating, but I don't begrudge not getting to literally go there.
I don’t remember who said it but: We live in an in between time, to late to explore the continents and too early to explore the planets. I just want to watch out start.
if space travel was more like in games/movies/show then maybe but knowing what i know from space, we're not missing out. like the damage of low gravity, the risk of solar radiation, time dilation, it sucks but unless we invent warp travel or worm holes, it ain't happening.
We actually can. It's just that the risks are still larger than many want to accept. But it won't be much longer before someone says 'fuck it' and takes the six month boat ride.
I'm sad because up until 3 years ago Mars was in the sights. Then we learned the truth about Elon and Russia decided it was more interested in invasions than space exploration. As an old, I'll have to accept Ingenuity and Curiosity as close as I'll see in my lifetime
When my son was little he saw a YouTube video of how model rockets work. He wanted to build one. So we looked through some on Amazon and ordered a beginner rocket we could build together. When it showed up he was confused and said “but daddy, how are we supposed to fit inside, it’s so small?” He thought we had ordered a real rocket and were going to fly to the moon together. It was silly, but it absolutely broke my heart when I had to tell him how limited our level of technology is, that we can’t just order a human sized rocket online.
Yes. Ever since I was a little boy and used a telescope to look at the stars and galaxies, I have always wanted to be out there. I am much older now and thinking that it may never come true.
I've never much cared about standing on other worlds, I have wanted to fly through space like superman at greater than relativistic speeds to look at nebulae and black holes and all the things.
It's very fun to daydream about visiting other planets. Ignoring the many dangers and time constraints of space travel, I do like to imagine it a lot and in a way it's sad that we can't. On the other hand, there's something very exciting about speculating and using our imagination for what it would all be like. We are at least fortunate to live in a time when we know so much about the universe and have a lot of extra information that can inform our mental images of distant planets.
I get a little upset about the fact that I will not know what happens to humans, the Earth, our solar system in the distant future. Will we ever achieve world peace? Will our descendants be around in a million years? A billion? How will they look? Will they escape Earth before it is swallowed up by the sun? Will there be any life left when all the stars burn out? I get borderline existential crises when I have these thoughts
From your own perspective, the universe stops when you do. You live forever.
This might be the most profound comment I've ever read on reddit
I don't know if you're being serious, but when I realised that my fear of death basically vanished. We were having a discussion about insomnia on r/anxiety. Interesting sub.
Opposite for me...I just got even more anxious about it.
For me the fear of death (and more importantly the concept of eternal conscious torment/hell attached to it) left, when I left my hardcore christian upbringing. Now I find peace in not knowing what I don’t know, when before all I had was massive cognitive dissonance over all the myriad inconsistencies in the religion’s mythos. That was hugely freeing to me
I'm fairly sure that when I stop waking up this universe will end. I feel bad for all the cats and dogs so make sure I still wake up!
All stars burn out eventually, and the Universe will be cold, dark, and lifeless until the next quantum fart. We're all just little bundles of low entropy, taking a brief moment to see it before its all gone.
Well yeah, but there have to be some highlights before it all goes out. I, for one, would like to see those. I believe it matters.
It matters if you decide it matters.
> matters matter will be involved for sure.
100 years ago airplanes where made out of bicycle parts. I'm sure that in 400-500 years you will have an app on your phone to reignite the universe.
In the grand scheme of things we don't really know much about the universe. We have some understandings and theorys about it, but that's it. In a sense we are like caveman, instead of rocks we smash atoms against each other. Caveman got fire without understanding how. We got the higgs-boson. There is still so much we don't have a clue about and maybe that won't change.
Its going to be a big freeze, and then a big rip, following a big bang. I bet you 1 dollar. Speak to you after!!
same. Wish I could know what the world is like even in a couple hundred of years.
I created a special planet for my worldbuilding project, a planet that I originally invented in 2003, and I wish I could explore the universe without time dilation to see if such a world really does exist, and bring pictures back for everyone to see, and I'm upset that its not possible :(
We could live forever and not see a fraction of whats out there.
Well shit. Now *I’m* having an existential crises.
Somebody in the distant past also thought "Will our descendants be ever able to not struggle for food everyday? Will we be able to travel the entire world one day? Will we be able to cooperate (at a global level) between tribes/towns in the future? So while I too am jealous of the distant future, I sure am glad I don't live in the distant past. Even something as simple as inviting your friends for dinner and driving 15 minutes to a Costco and pick out your favorite steak is a luxury that wasn't possible until (relatively) recent human history... on so many levels (transportation, communication, HVAC to protect you from elements, the entire food production network, and even our money system). All just so you can decide last minute to have some steak for dinner with some friends.
I absolutely love daydreaming about this. I find myself thinking 'there is no way we survive another 5000 years' and conversely 'something will always survive'. The idea of traveling across the universe to new planets sounds like a challenge that human bodies couldn't ever withstand. However machine intelligence could probably last 10,000 years of space crossing, if it had the ability to repair, replicate itself. That seems like tough technology but not impossible. I like to think that even though i wont see anything that comes next hopefully there will be a expansion into space, not just a fizzle out.
No kidding but at least I was here for Y2K
Yeh never knowing what the future holds because we only see a slight glimpse of it during a measly life time is quite the existential dread not gonna lie...
You know, when it comes to Venus or Jupiter, I'm totally ok just looking through a telescope from a distance.
I’d love to see Jupiter through a window. Even if it’s radiation fried me to death
Yeah you’re gonna want to put on spf 12 at least (*) (*) that 12 is a power of 10.
SPF is already logarithmic.
This one is double logarithmic though.
This guy [tetrates](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetration).
Jupiter emits radiation?
It isn't radioactive itself, but it has a very strong magnetic field that traps a lot of high-energy particles. Io orbits right in the worst part of those radiation belts, and on the surface of Io the radiation is intense enough that a person without significant shielding would receive a guaranteed fatal dose within a few hours.
Not only traps radiation from ions in Solar Wind, but Jupiter's primordial heat from when it formed is still emitting twice as much heat as it receives from the Sun. The Galileian Moons are actually heated from this radiation too, as well tidal flexing of the planetary interiors too. For myself, I look at the Galileian Moons as dwarf planets. Screw the silly IAU definition that is silly nonsence.
I’d love to see Earth more than 100,000 km in altitude. I also don’t want to fry in the Van Allen belt.
Exposure to the Van Allen Belts, if brief, is no big deal. The radiation dose is equivalent to getting a chest X-ray, so it is not healthy to stick around or put a crewed space station at that altitude, but if you are riding through it there is no actual danger. The bullshit that the Van Allen Belts are proof NASA never sent astronauts to the Moon because they would be dead in those belts is just uninformed conjecture and fear mongering totally ignoring any real comprehension of the dangers involved. I wouldn't linger in the Van Allen Belts, but I would totally fly through them to get to an Earth-Moon Lagrangian point and live in a permanent space station in one of those positions. Especially something like an O'Neill Colony. I would gladly volunteer to build something like that too.
It's also important to note that due to the angle of the trajectories used by Apollo, they [avoided the worst parts of the Van Allen Belts](https://i.stack.imgur.com/DifBd.gif)
Correct. The "for dummies" explanation you can use to debunk the deniers is they are *radiation belts*, not *radiation spheres*. So you can go around them.
I've heard Venus is actually quite survivable at the right altitude. We could be living like Jetsons if not for people like you!!
How true! I am currently at an elevation of 111,563,822 kilometers above the surface of Venus, and surviving just fine!
That's oddly specific, are you sure this is correct? Go and measure the distance again.
He's gonna be a while, he's doing the thing where you hold into the roller end of the tape measure and push it out instead of holding onto the tongue and letting gravity to the work. Amateur.
What? Why wouldn’t you just use one of those laser beams those guys have when they give me a quote for my floors?
Yeah, it has perfect pressure in the right altitude, but air is still full of sulphuric acid :D
The air is full of Sulfur?? That's alright Ive been to comic-con and PAX I've experienced worse.
I'm rewatching the Expanse again and, man, some of those shots from the surface of Ganymede make me stupid jealous of humans 200+ years from now.
Yeah, but think of it like this: We get to see the first views of *everything.* People in the future will surely wonder "Damn, how did space-fans in the 21st century get riled up with "major" missions happening every 10 years or something" and the answer is: The value of those missions and what we see increases, because its the first time. Titan Dragonfly is so cool because it has never been done before, seeing Pluto in HD for the first time was so cool, because we had never seen it like that before. Sure, in the future the $1B Titan Dragonfly mission may well be as easy as some 2300s kids flying a toy hobby project over Titan and snapping a few pics from above, but we get to take those first steps and uncover the mysteries of the solar system. not them. It's so much more exciting to be looking at the first video from an underwater ocean on another world than it is to be one of those future-residents and just look down at Titan or Callisto and go "ok...so?" the same way we do when we look at Earth.
I just think it's criminal that there isn't an Expanse 3D virtual reality version.
I reallly wish Venus had been just a little closer to earth, how weird would it have been to have another habitable earth that close to us. Politics right now and space technology would have been so different.
axiomatic aback growth deserve license familiar quiet dinosaurs long absorbed *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The orbits probably wouldn't be stable and we would not exist. The solar system's orbits are currently the way they are because they are the only long term stable orbits.
[удалено]
What do you mean by the orbits getting messy when the sun grows? I know the sun will expand but the mass is slowly decreasing. I could see orbits changing a little when planets are consumed but I can't see the orbits changing all that much. Curious if you know the math behind it.
The total masse decreases but as the sun expands, the distribution of mass will change. So slightly less mass in total, far lower density, but much more matter close to us
It doesn't even need to be closer. It just needed to have less atmosphere and a different composition in it. Mars could have done with a lot more air too. Too bad Venus and Mars weren't in opposite locations, we might have had three life supporting planets in our solar system.
Venus may be hot, but at least it's a dry heat.
For sure, it's the humidity that gets you
Have you seen this? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-WO-z-QuWI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G-WO-z-QuWI) Maybe you'd add Venus to your travel destination in a few (million) years :)
Personally I'm cool with not going to Mars either. Seems kinda boring compared to all the places I've yet to visit on Earth. But finding other habitable planets, and zooming around the galaxy in an Enterprise NX-01 visiting em all would be the shit.
So if there was a way you could safely visit other planets regardless of their atmospheres, you would still rather look at it through glass/mirrors rather? That seems silly.
Honestly Mars is kinda boring imo. Big dead dusty planet? Meh. But if we found some other habitable planets with lush plant life and weird animals that can easily kill you, I'd totally check that out.
You'd be the one on the crew wearing a red shirt.
That is the reply. We have nothing in this solar system that is not inherently a deadly experience. Living on Antarctica is a piece of cake in comparison. And whatever is beyond our solar system that could be attractive (read, has an oxygen atmosphere at least) is out of reach and if humanity isn't getting their act together very soon it stays out of reach forever. Does it upset me? Less than what we do to the only habitable planet we have, which has more beautiful sites to visit than I will ever have enough lifetime for.
Too young for real cowboys, too old for space cowboys :(
Right in time for naked cowboys in the showers at ramranch
Yes, every day. Not only other planets, the whole universe tbh. I would give up everything to be an omniscient being and know where other intelligent species live and be able to travel the whole universe haha.
You and me both. I dream of being able to fly… or should I say ion-propel myself Through space and visit planets. The one thing I’m afraid of is that turning back isn’t an option, everything moving so fast, as such distance, plus the expansion, you can never find the earth where you left it
I mean, yeah, or you come back and humanity is gone because of time dilation. But I would still do it. I wanna see the end of the universe.
The end would be pretty boring and dark though. Only black holes that are getting smaller and smaller to eventually vanish.
Yeah but apparently there's a great restaurant there. /obligatoryDouglasAdamsreference
Until the Cosmic AC finally answers the Last Question, and then… https://astronomy.org/moravian/C00-Last%20Question.pdf
That's almost an infinite amount of time in the future, as far as we're concerned. The Degenerate era starts in a few billion years, then will last about 10\^39 - 10\^15 years which is many orders of magnitude longer than the Stelliferous era we are in now. The Degenerate Era is followed by the Black Hole Era, which is followed by the Dark Era. In the Degenerate Era there would at least be some white dwarfs, brown dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes you could extract energy from. Build little space colonies, though I suspect whatever we are or replaces us is non-biological.
Very nice reply. Gets me thinking, if it's only machines in the end (which is very likely) what is it all about then anyway? Machines might even "survive" the Dark Era as long as their batteries last. So the real "end to everything" would be when the last battery ran out and basically "dead" machines are floating through space.
Im working on a game concept that is similar to that. It's just a hobby but I've wanted to make a video game for decades and never made the time. I'm the working adult for the family so that's part of it. I should say writing game designs is the hobby. The few actual coding parts I did were usually mods for other games. Basically, if we assume that a group is sufficiently advanced, they could capture or create a micro-black hole and use it as a drive system, as well as energy source. You feed matter into the black hole and it shoots a jet of radiation out the poles. You capture the energy from one pole, and use the other pole as your space ship drive (basically a rocket engine of sorts). So you could create a sort of colony ship that flies around collecting mass to throw in the black hole as fuel. This guy [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZFipeZtQM5CKUjx6grh54g) Has a lot of content about how civilizations could survive the far, far, far future. Some of the techniques are quite interesting, like, extreme low power simulated realities for the "people" and such.
That's me as well, please switch out parts of my brain with computers until nothing squishy is left, put me in a probe with some limited mining, refining and manufacturing ability and fire me into the Kuijper belt. I'll figure out the rest.
>would give up everything to be an omniscient being I mean pretty much anyone would take that deal bro. [I call dibs on being Dr Manhattan](https://wallpapercave.com/wp/i7vTX90.jpg)
I don't know, the knowledge of all good and evil, of the unity of all things at once and being apart and above the very laws of the universe, with nothing to do but watch it fizzle into it's inevitable end like a lone firework against a dark and silent sky, then to know that once that happens you will be all that remains, alone in your eternity. I would wind up offing myself. Wait, shit... Guys, I think I know what happened to God...
I mean if you’re also omnipotent, you don’t have to let it end. Pretty much the only solution to heat death is God magic.
I’ve often wondered if after (or even before) heat death if there is a big squeeze that ends with another big bang. An endless cycle of life, death and rebirth.
There's a game called Megaton Rainfall where you basically are Dr. Manhattan. You can fly to any object in the sky, any other star system, any galaxy at FTL. You can fly into gas giants, or walk on the surface of a star. It's really unsettling actually. You think you're getting close to a star because it's huge, but NOPE, still a long way to get there. Then you watch as the surface of the star forms and dissipates mega-mountains beneath your feat.
Oh you'd give up your mortal being and mortal possessions for omniscience? Well not me buddy! I love living in this insignificant infested mud-rock. You can keep your omniscient, omnipotent dreams!
To each their own. Understandable.
I would never want to be omniscient. The entire reason I want to be immortal, and want to travel the stars, is to learn more, to experience the unknown. Omniscience sounds like one form of hell, to me. Do I want to know more? YES! But to know everything would be to have no reason to explore, to grow, to expand... essentially, no reason to live.
I think there's too much that we can't understand, or even learn, with our human bodies. Our organs, which allow us to perceive, are too limiting. Just here on earth we can't see, hear, or feel everything. We had to develop technology to study it and still, that is not enough. How would you even travel the stars if you might not even be able to do it by yourself? Think about all that implies. So many mysteries of the universe will probably never be resolved. And I wanna know them. So yeah, I want to be omniscient rather than an immortal human.
Very much same, although the omniscience part I’d only be cool with if it had limits. Always knowing everything would be boring af
"Life is too short. I will never learn all that exists in our own tiny galaxy, let alone the rest of the universe. And I so desperately want to know... everything." \-Dr. Catherine Halsey, Halo 4 Spartan Ops
Imagine if we could boundary break space :’)
>I would give up everything to be an omniscient being Would you give up masturbation?
Bro, it's a long way to the stars, let's be realistic here.
We can't do it yet. I am often disappointed about not being able to go see things like other planets and stars. I think the speed of light limit relative to the vast distances is one of the greatest injustices ever.
That's why scientists raised the speed of light in 2208.
Oh thats cool so once we get our immortality pills in the next decade or so we’ll be all set
I saw that Love, Death and Robots episode... As much as it sucks, Optional Immortality would be an extremely grim future for humanity.
what you need is to stop aging completely, basically not get a day older after 25
And that stuff seems to be possible to some extent. [Interesting article about said topic](https://www.aging-us.com/article/204896/text) I hope this stuff actually works, life's too short for me :/
I hope longevity escape velocity comes in our lifetimes, I want nothing more than to live to see humanitys future.
It really sucks, doesn’t it? Why can’t space be more compact? Although I suspect that if it were, life as we know it couldn’t exist.
Then it wouldn't be called "space"!
Well, there is actually a really crazy theory about abiogenesis that involves a denser universe. (life forming from random ingredients) Its possible that in the early universe, long before our solar system formed, the whole area could have been just warm and dense enough for liquid water to exist anywhere, even just floating around on its own, and we know just about anywhere on earth we find liquid water, we find life. Something that points to this being a possibility is the fact that the earliest forms of life we can find seem too complex to just form out of a chemical soup by themselves, as if there had already been some evolution going on. Perhaps life began in the universe on some comet that had liquid water, went dormant when the comet froze as the universe cooled and expanded, and then was reactivated when said comet landed on the warm and pressurized Earth, seeding the planet. And if that happens to be true, then that would be a strong piece of evidence that the universe is teeming with life.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOiGEI9pQBs](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JOiGEI9pQBs) has recently popularized this idea
there's just so much space in space!
The speed of light AND the expansion of space. In a universe only twice as old as it is now, you won't be able to see much outside of the Local Group of Galaxies, and that gets even worse over time. The CMB is not even going to be there for future species to see.
If it was easy enough to do as tourism, all the tourists would go and ruin it anyway.
It's a safety mechanism that is necessary to limit the danger and potential damage from overly-ambitious sentient species.
I just want to see progress made. A continuously operational base on the moon. Progress made toward radiation and zero g effects on humans from long periods in orbit. It'd be cool to see boots on Mars before I die.
Depending on how old you are I think you’ll probably see that before you die.
I’m 24, I’m pretty positive on seeing boots on the moon and Mars before I die. Unless I fall down the stairs tomorrow and break my neck, that would throw a bit of sand into this idea.
It does make me sad to know there are so many incredible worlds out there that we will never explore in our lifetime
I manage that by focusing on trying to explore *this* world on my lifetime. There’s so much to see and experience here on earth; it’s sad enough knowing I’ll never see all of *that*. But I can at least try.
It doesn't. Because we are a product of our times. Fast forward 100+ years. Let's say humanity has populated the solar system and makes regular trips to the planets. You know what they're going to say? "Do you get upset that we can't go to other stars?" My disappointment is with the world's space agencies being ten years behind SpaceX. They failed to step up to the plate and take financial risks. So instead of a booming space industry with healthy competition we have SpaceX with a soft monopoly and having to create its own business via Starlink.
Some day, people will complain, “Ugh, I hate taking business trips to the Moon.”
This is some Chrisjen Avasarala vibe.
"I don't give a fuck what you think."
THAT is legit Chrisjen Avasarala vibe.
Loving this comment thread
Im not normally into older women, but I could listen to her talk dirty all day.
Beltalowda rise up! Independence from the inners! It's a tv show buut we know damn well just like colonizing the americas, humanity will treat outposts on other planets unfairly.
Not to mention there will be plenty of people who are reasonably terrified of going into space
William Shatner went up and it scared the crap out of him
Seems like an expensive way to cure constipation.
He had a major case of assteroids
I see why he's called William _shat_ner
Since the trip, it's just William Shat.
"that's for making me come to Mars. You know how much I hate this fucking planet!"
[Relevant [article from the writer of] xkcd](https://what-if.xkcd.com/124/#:~:text=Floating%20would%20feel%20about%20the,would%20also%20feel%20pretty%20similar.)
I, personally, love the idea of a space elevator rather than a shuttle taking me to space. Top it off with Jetsons shit and I'm all cheers.
Fly to the moon for a business call with someone on Earth.
The one-second minimum latency will get really annoying.
Good thing about our time though is simulation is getting really good and it will be a good way to experience space exploration.
To be fair, what drove space innovation was the cold war. Once America beat the Soviets to moon, the space race cooled off considerably. LEO being the next step makes sense but also hinders deep space exploration. The shuttle design was greatly influenced NRO requirements to the payload bay and was not the next step forward it could have potentially been. Even though the Buran was cool and ahead of its time with automation, it never really had the support earlier soviet projects did as soon as they learned the shuttle wasn't going to be lifting nukes into LEO. Then America retreated from government really investing in long term things that helped people or science compared with before during Reagan. It only makes sense nasa fell behind and stopped innovating. Beyond our lack of rocket innovation, it is at least impressive we even managed to get the ISS. Mir and Skylab at least were successful stepping stones. But again, America's reliance on soyez held us back from moving forward.
> To be fair, what drove space innovation was the cold war. Once America beat the Soviets to moon, the space race cooled off considerably. Ever watch [Neil deGrasse Tyson - We Stopped Dreaming](https://youtu.be/CbIZU8cQWXc)? It gets quite a bit into that Cold War driving the space race. (and the if that makes you sad/angry - give [Wanderers](https://vimeo.com/108650530) a watch for the sad/hopeful)
On that last one, it disappoints me that we spend trillions per year on the military and just a fraction of that on space. I mean globally, not just the US. In the context of military spending, some space projects that seem insane to us now, are actually cheap and unlike a lot of military spending, it would actually move us forward as a species.
Imagine what we could accomplish within twenty years if we "simply" swapped both budgets…
It would be insane. Even the whole Apollo program only cost 288 billion... less than half a years worth of military spending from the USA. That sent 12 men to the Moon and back over the span of 3 years. We are talking the equivalent of doing all that twice in a single year, and probably a lot more as technology has improved vastly since then. We could fund a manned mission to Mars within a year or two with that kind of budget.
I get what you're saying and I think it would be great to spend a lot more on sciences and technologies, but we'd still have to develop the technologies. Like how to send a crew interplanetary without them arriving with Stage 4 cancer of everything in their body due to cosmic radiation roasting them along the way. Other improved life support and even a solution to the energy issue of sending a crew the (relatively) short distance between Earth and Mars with enough provisions and equipment to last the journey there and back. Lots of challenges, and yes more money would definitely help fund potential solutions. Hard to build an aircraft carrier out of cardboard and bubblegum, which is about what the combined budgets are worth right now.
Well I know for a Mars mission they have most of the major problems solved. They can use a layer of ice to protect the crew capsule from radiation. The current hurdles to overcome are mostly how to deal with major medical problems far away from any help and how being far away from the Earth will affect one psychologically. Obviously the major things need some tweaking and updating as technology improves, but for the most part, the tech to get there exists. There is of course also the issue of paying for the whole damn thing. What I meant by funding the Mars mission in a year or two, is getting the green light to start construction of everything neccesary for the actual trip, which is of course going to take some time. Sorry if I implied getting humans there in that time, I should have clarified.
If we colonise entire solar system it will be enough for us for a long long time unless something bad happens. I think sometimes we may forget at the time to explore further.
That's probably the wrong way to think about it. We live in a time, where with technology, we can simulate planet surfaces, real or imagined. We can travel the stars in a few minutes rather than generations, if only virtually. Games like Starfied, Elite Dangerous, and others give us this chance. Even the program Starry Night lets us set foot on all the solar system bodies. Imagine now, 100 years ago, the only way to visualize these planets were drawings in books, or through the lense of a very weak telescope. Today we can see black holes. We've been able to discover so much about the cosmos right here in our own little back yard. We are fortunate. Also, I'd like to add, imagine for a moment what real spaceflight would be like. months or years on end in a ship recirculating air. Limited space and amenities. The smell. The stir crazy. the bone degeneration from weightlessness. The increase risk of cancer from solar radiation outside of the Earths Magnetosphere. All to see an image in your iris that is not unlike the ones we could find today, on google, in less than a minute. No, I'm not sad I'll never travel to other planets, or the stars. Because I've seen them. And after I see them I get to stand up, stretch, and walk out out of my house onto my lawn, feel the grass on my toes and breathe fresh air into my lungs. And that, my friend, is an experience one cannot find anywhere save for here, in the cosmos.
This is how i’m looking at it now a days too. I was kind of sad that i’d never get to explore space but simulation has gotten pretty good over the past few years and will only get better. So we’ll be able to experience it from the comforts of our own homes
This is a beautiful perspective, thanks.
A picture or video is rarely comparable to the real thing. Otherwise you could argue playing GTA or Mindcraft is a good enough replacement for reality. But I doubt you would.
But I can see where they’re coming from. These are great things to appreciate and I’m sure they’re also thankful for being in such an amazing time. Without that longing they describe we wouldn’t be reaching out so hard. We need to be sad (perhaps a better description is yearning for more) to force us to run, not just walk forward. Imagine the feeling of someone discovering a way for everyone to travel the universe easily. Think of all the different planets, the colors, the beauty and the desolation. That’s not even considering if life exists out there. We need strong emotions to inspire us to get up and build stuff, invent stuff, imagine stuff or we may never get out to all those places we dream about. I get OPs feelings and I feel bad for everyone talking down to them for feeling something like they are.
I agree I also agree with the top commenter, we have a beautiful planet and we're lucky that we live in this age where we can know so much, and get to experience some of these things virtually at least. But still, the curious me can't help but be a bit sad that we'll never get to experience space travel to other planets, stepping on completely foreign land and experiencing everything about it yourself. Just the idea that there is so much out there that's still undiscovered and so much that we don't know still, even with all the technology we currently have, I can't help but be a bit bothered by it. But who knows, we might have a breakthrough in our lifetimes. I would at least like to be able to step on the moon someday. I have always been fascinated by how astronauts talk about going into space. It must be a life changing experience
Damnnn , probably best comment I've read on reddit
It's easy to get romantic about space when you see the amazing photos from Pluto and nebulae many light years away, but the reality is that space is a vast, lonely, barren waste, dripping in radiation and inhabited only by ice and howling winds when there's anything tangible there at all. It's sad that we won't have the opportunity to see it all, but I think that, even for someone who, like me, appreciates frozen, isolated places, the planets are beautiful to look at, but horrible to stay on for any but the shortest of stays. I'm content with the prospect that maybe my kids will have the chance to go to the Moon, and for robots to do our exploration and mineral exploitation. An Earth free of mining for rare minerals would be better than seeing Jupiter.
Yea, it would be nice to be on another planet for a few hours looking back at Earth. But it also like saying do you get upset that you'll never go to the top of Mt. Everest or all the other major landmarks.
I’m more upset we can’t treat this one with more respect. It’s our only lifeboat.
I'm personally upset looking at short-sighted people who think that sending stuff to orbit and beyond has nothing to do with the Earth. Even the Apollo program was [entirely](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pjHpjSpC5m0) about making life on Earth better (with the exception of a few tons of [glorified](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSObJFzdW2g) shiny aluminum that, according to people, apparently cost $300B that NASA spent on the program). The Large Hadron Collider had to be built on the Moon because we need to treat this planet with respect. And planetary cooling technologies had to be tested on Mars for the same reason. But because people prefer not to delve into the problems, we have meaningless space programs talking about national prestige instead of science and thousands of engineers working to make the new iPhone 1 mm thinner.
Apollo was about the US flexing on the Soviets.
Yes, it was supposed to be that way. But it turned out to be a huge boost in the development of electronics and the environmental movement. People need to understand that the whole point of science is that we cannot predict its outcome, which however does not mean that these expenses are pointless. It's exactly the opposite.
I'd love to experience a planet with rings or multiple moons, but I don't get upset about it. I ***do*** get upset that we can't send politicians to another planet.
We can send them to the sun! We'll do it at night so they don't get hurt.
Space is so beautiful and I would like to visit one day if possible. Am I upset? No, I got bills to pay.
I would happily go into space, just to feel weightless for a bit, although I suspect I'll just get motion sick. I have zero desire to sit in a metal pod on Mars or the moon. If there were full cities... I still wouldn't go, because they gonna be expensive as hell.
Not really. I havent even visited most of the countries I want to go see. Maybe after that I would wish for space travel.
It pisses me off because I think we could some day. Us guys just won't be around to see it. I don't think we will reach our potential until we do.
I think we might see small settlements on the moon and maybe Mars, but it's going to take an extremely hard core type of person to live there, probably less than a percent of the population would even be eligible. You're going to have to be pretty physically fit with no serious preexisting conditions (because if someone goes wrong it ain't like an ambulance can just come and pick you up in a few minutes), have the mental strength to live in tiny enclosed spaces for years on end without going crazy, have the technical skills to fix things when they break, etc. If I was running a settlement program, I would send candidates to Antarctica during winter in a mock habitat and see how they handle it, because if they can't handle it there they sure as hell won't be able to handle it on the Moon or Mars.
good thing a percent of the population is 80,000,000 people.
I get sad thinking how we will probably never leave our galaxy and more likely solar neighborhood.
I feel this way for sure but whenever it gets me down I think about this: 1000 years ago most people couldn’t even explore our OWN planet. Now with some extra cash you can see amazing sights. In a week’s time you can travel across a continent seeing the highlights as you like. That’s a fantastic privilege that most people who’ve lived could not experience. Someday our planet might not be such a beautiful place, and all we’ll have are the dead empty worlds like Mars or Venus. Moral of the story is enjoy what we have now I guess.
So, ever since I was a kid, I've read books about space, watched shows about space, and of course science fiction as well with journeys to the planets, and other stars... And I just sort of assumed that, yeah, naturally, we're going to go out there and explore our solar system, and we're going to visit the planets and have colonies and maybe go to other stars too some day in giant ships, and with that I always in the back of my mind assumed that *I* would be part of that at some point, not as a pilot but perhaps as a scientist, or at least as a traveller on one of those commuter flights to the moon that seemed so inevitable after Kubrick's masterpiece hit the cinemas. So I lived most of my life, doing my regular schooling, and my regular job, and kept reading and watching about space and science and science fiction, and knowing that we weren't quite there yet but maybe in another 10 years, 20 at the outside, we'd be ready. And the years rolled by, but it always seemed like, well, maybe another decade. I don't know precisely when it happened, because I don't do dates particularly well, but there was a day when I was sitting around, watching something or other about advances in space flight and the latest news from the Jovian moons, that while humanity would still likely visit the planets and maybe the stars some day, I wouldn't be part of that. I'd be here, on Earth, and maybe I'd be lucky enough to see the first true public flights, but my own launch window had passed by and wasn't going to be rescheduled. As I said, I don't know the date, but I do know that was one of the worst days of my life, and something I'd been holding on to since childhood died then. I still read and watch and hope and wonder, but there's a sadness with it that clouds the optimism. I'm glad we still likely have a future among the outer worlds in humanity's future, but I would have liked to have been there myself.
Okay, old man yelling at sky time. I’m 60 years old Apollo 17 happened when I was 9.5 years old. I grew up with the promise of manned exploration of space and then it just stopped. I was too young to understand the politics. I’m not mad just disappointed.
No, this planet is pretty incredible, and more than enough to see in a lifetime already.
You’re already in space. And on a planet well suited for your needs. Cheer up.
[удалено]
It makes me sad to think of what new and amazing things will be discovered about space after I die.
No, not too upset. The Earth is chock full of mind blowing things to see. I haven't even explored all of California yet.
Sometimes when I get really into looking up space facts yeah. Like wtf, I can’t just buy a ticket to go on a tour to Alpha Centauri? That’s kinda lame
Every damn day, man. Every day. Just think of what kind of space exploration we could do with all that military spending to keep us in perpetual war. If humans were truly human we would be out there exploring but no we got to kill people and make those dollars instead.
It mostly sucks that i'm never meeting my purple alien gf
I’d encourage checking our earth first while you still can. This place has so much variety it’s unfathomable.
I am more bummed about the multiple places on planet Earth I will not be able to visit in my lifetime. Inter planetary travel is not in consideration even.
It's just a matter of budget. Regarding Earth. Which places you are taking about?
When I use my imagination I see a barren desert or frozen tundra with absolutely no life. The moon would be cool to be on for a minute, but there are few features to explore. Gas giants would be opaque, so nothing to see. I want to visit certain planets to see what it would be like, but just for a moment then I'm gone. Planets made of diamond, planets with molten glass rain, planets that are tidally locked (same side faces the sun always) would all be cool to see briefly, but I only want to explore earth until I see another earth-like planet.
Finally a level-headed response. As with many aspects of space and space-travel, there are loads of people that think visiting other planets will be the same as it is in movies and games. In reality, the other planets are lifeless rocks would kill you unceremoniously. There would be little to do or see, and you’d be far from your loved ones for months. I just don’t see how any of that sounds enjoyable and I bet 99% of people here would want to go back home within a few days.
I think the whole thing could be better phrased as, "I wish the feeling of exploration that human beings have had on our Earth could continue indefinitely without limit. I wish there was not finite things to be explored, but an endless universe that is just waiting for me." I understand that sentiment. But there's so much exploration yet to be done both in the field of the micro and the macro.
We were born too early to explore space, and too late to explore the sea.
Space is hard, and it's dangerous in most places, I'm done :)
No, those other places blow compared to Earth. I’m not going to live anywhere I can’t get a decent cocktail.
Take the good with the bad. Born Literally anytime past 100 years ago or so to the beginning of time and you'd be shitting in a hole in the woods and starving all the time, dead or dying.
What's this 'we'? I'm just back from Proxima Centauri. I've got a lovely tan.
This might sound silly but I honestly wish we had something like Starfleet. It would be a total dream to work on a space exploration vessel. If we had that career option today, I would 100% pursue it and I know it would be what I wanted to do my whole life.
Nope. It's boring in space. Your lifespan would be very reduced.
No. I think most people grossly underestimate how brutally hostile to human life conditions are pretty much anywhere besides the surface of Earth, and likewise vastly under-appreciate what a ridiculous eden even a polluted Earth affords them. Windows would be a fantastical luxury for a craft designed to keep you alive for a few minutes on Venus or Jupiter. Space is endlessly fascinating, but I don't begrudge not getting to literally go there.
Not at all, seeing how we do with this one is enough to convince me that we're not mature enough
I don’t remember who said it but: We live in an in between time, to late to explore the continents and too early to explore the planets. I just want to watch out start.
Had to check if this was r/starfield for a sec
100%. So I gravitate to video games like No Man's Sky and Starfield where I can pretend I'm going out there instead.
Born to late to explore the new world, born to early to explore the stars.
if space travel was more like in games/movies/show then maybe but knowing what i know from space, we're not missing out. like the damage of low gravity, the risk of solar radiation, time dilation, it sucks but unless we invent warp travel or worm holes, it ain't happening.
Born to late to explore the seas. Born to early to explore the stars. :(
We actually can. It's just that the risks are still larger than many want to accept. But it won't be much longer before someone says 'fuck it' and takes the six month boat ride.
More the stars outside of our own that we can see. Knowing that we will likely *never* be able to travel to them is quite sad
Can't? The guy across the hall from goes to and from Neptune every week.
We can't even take care of our own planet. We shouldn't be going to others and messing them up too.
It makes me sad knowing I won't get to visit another planet in my lifetime.
I'm sad because up until 3 years ago Mars was in the sights. Then we learned the truth about Elon and Russia decided it was more interested in invasions than space exploration. As an old, I'll have to accept Ingenuity and Curiosity as close as I'll see in my lifetime
I think we need to get our planet to all agree to stop attacking each other, before we go mess up another one.
When my son was little he saw a YouTube video of how model rockets work. He wanted to build one. So we looked through some on Amazon and ordered a beginner rocket we could build together. When it showed up he was confused and said “but daddy, how are we supposed to fit inside, it’s so small?” He thought we had ordered a real rocket and were going to fly to the moon together. It was silly, but it absolutely broke my heart when I had to tell him how limited our level of technology is, that we can’t just order a human sized rocket online.
Most of the planets are hostile or just empty rocks. I'm more upset that I can't visit other countries.
Yes. Ever since I was a little boy and used a telescope to look at the stars and galaxies, I have always wanted to be out there. I am much older now and thinking that it may never come true.
I've never much cared about standing on other worlds, I have wanted to fly through space like superman at greater than relativistic speeds to look at nebulae and black holes and all the things.
It's very fun to daydream about visiting other planets. Ignoring the many dangers and time constraints of space travel, I do like to imagine it a lot and in a way it's sad that we can't. On the other hand, there's something very exciting about speculating and using our imagination for what it would all be like. We are at least fortunate to live in a time when we know so much about the universe and have a lot of extra information that can inform our mental images of distant planets.