Obama just cut off funding to NASA???

I think it's great that Obama is cutting off funding for any scientific research that doesn't put money into green pockets.

Successfully updated karma reason!

You totally just necroed this thread, but what the heck

1. you can nuke the space operations of you enemy nations

You don't need nukes or anything else in space to do that: http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/01/19/china_shoots_down_satellite_drawing_protests_worldwide/

2. you can bombard an enemy country with kinetic tactical nukes(rods of god program, large microfiber reinfoced beams)

How is that any different from just nuking them? And the name of the program was Project Thor, rods from god is just a nickname.

3. you can bombard enemies with nukes virtually undetected, compared to land based launching

Does it matter? When a city gets vaporized, whether from a nuke from land or space, it's going to be pretty obvious. An attack like that isn't going to remain a "secret" for very long. How many countries can put nukes in space? US, Russia, China... And someone might notice an unanounced rocket launch.

4. you can target any country, anywhere, any time, with less cost and less resources

You can already target any country, anywhere, any time. And putting a couple hundreds-of-pounds-tugsten-rods and a mechnaism for launching them would not be cheap. And why bother putting nukes in space when we have plenty of (cheaper) alternatives that require no R&D or additional infastructure?

Successfully updated karma reason!

Philocthetes

Join Date 10/2003

+153

Quoting MasonM,

reply 151

I think it's great that Obama is cutting off funding for any scientific research that doesn't put money into green pockets.

Beg pardon, but what the hell are "green pockets?" Surely you don't mean that we're about to see NIH shut down or NASA limited to ground-based research? The shaky OP here was about the Obama administration cancelling some major humans-in-space stuff, not stopping space research nor radically redirecting the whole of public investment in research in the name of a new brand.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Quoting kyogre12,

reply 152

You totally just necroed this thread, but what the heck

1. you can nuke the space operations of you enemy nations
You don't need nukes or anything else in space to do that: http://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/01/19/china_shoots_down_satellite_drawing_protests_worldwide/

Correction: You do need a nuke to nuke space operations of enemy nations. If you don't use nukes you aren't nuking.

2. you can bombard an enemy country with kinetic tactical nukes(rods of god program, large microfiber reinfoced beams)
How is that any different from just nuking them? And the name of the program was Project Thor, rods from god is just a nickname.

Difference: No nuclear fallout, more accure and precise. Thx for that update of my knowledge on the program. (no i am not being a smartass, I am legitamately thankful)

3. you can bombard enemies with nukes virtually undetected, compared to land based launching
Does it matter? When a city gets vaporized, whether from a nuke from land or space, it's going to be pretty obvious. An attack like that isn't going to remain a "secret" for very long. How many countries can put nukes in space? US, Russia, China... And someone might notice an unanounced rocket launch.

This would matter because if your enemy nation cannot detect the launching of a nuke, they cannot intercept it before it is too late.

4. you can target any country, anywhere, any time, with less cost and less resources
You can already target any country, anywhere, any time. And putting a couple hundreds-of-pounds-tugsten-rods and a mechnaism for launching them would not be cheap. And why bother putting nukes in space when we have plenty of (cheaper) alternatives that require no R&D or additional infastructure?

This would take place in the future, not now. The program(project thor as you have informed me) seems to be a castrated pig prototype of what it can be in the future. I have concluded that with the increased cost of fuel due to the deprivation of society's nonrenewable or underdeveloped, impractical energy, it will be cheaper to use kinetic tungsten rods(or whatever material is used in the future), dropped from orbit, than to launch dozens of nukes. You can haul a load of tungsten rods on rockets, cheap, disposable rockets. Who knows, we might even have a space elevator and industrial sectors in orbit in the future that would definitely reduce the cost.

There is a miscommunication here. I am referring to the future of warfare in space and where nukes and other various weapons fit in with that. It'd be pretty hard to refute what I am saying since it is based in the future, not right now.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Quoting synnworld,

reply 150

Quoting Circumstantial, reply 149
Quoting kyogre12, reply 66
Quoting Circumstantial, reply 63There are a lot of positives for civilization as a whole staying out of space development. In society today, its a space race. Next thing you know, we'll have nukes in space. Go look up the rods of god program. Scary shit. Im pretty glad that NASA funding got cut. I hope all funding gets cut for all space programs. When it becomes cheap and militarily effective, we will have nukes and weapons of great variety just floating about in our orbit. I don't trust civilization with technology yet, we seem to keep screwing it up with the same kinds of ancient established institutions, thought processes, and value systems that have been leading to destructive behavior amongst all humans. Value systems(not petty morals), thought processes and emergent institutions need to directly reflect what will benefit civilization both in the short and long term, in order for space programs to be innocent. Right now, we are so self destructive that its almost a guarentee that we will construct nukes in space if its beneficial enough for the entities at power. Im an asshole.

We don't need nukes in space to totally #$%& eachother up with. That's what ICBM's and submarines are for. There are tons and tons of ways for one country to wipe another country off the map that completely stopping all space programs would be of no consequence.
Lets discuss the military advantages of having nukes/weapons with a nuke's destructive power in space.

1. you can nuke the space operations of you enemy nations

2. you can bombard an enemy country with kinetic tactical nukes(rods of god program, large microfiber reinfoced beams)

3. you can bombard enemies with nukes virtually undetected, compared to land based launching

4. you can target any country, anywhere, any time, with less cost and less resources

5. you can nuke part of the moon, causing all kinds of bioshphere collapses that only effect your enemy country

6. you can nuke part of the moon, thus sending a large chunk of the moon plummeting to the earth, bringing near apocalypitc destruction(on your enemy country of course)

7. you can have nuke wars

8. you can nuke the colonies of your enemy countries(getting close to colonizing our system)

9. you can nuke any and everything you want much more efficiently from space, than from earth, especially objects that are away from earth.

THAT is my point, sir. It is scary to see human civilization in its current parasitic, primitive state, bringing war and destruction to the rest of the cosmos.

edit: lawlzHope you aren't being effing serious with these bullshit points.

Some of them were just for the lulz but I failed to mention that these are intended to be foresights(thus in the future, as far off as this might take place....I have reason to conclude that none of this will happen and society will collapse very soon, though). These are some reasons for why I support ending funding of space operations. There is too much that needs to be done here. Exploring the cosmos is not a wise idea, not yet. We can't even take care of ourselves yet. I'd see some negative consequences such as those above to occur from space development, eventually(and quite soon I presume) there will be completel space weaponization, which is the epidemy of stupid. Pulling sticks into our orbit, and dropping them...on ourselves. It sounds even worse than traditional war when it is put that way.

P.S.

Nuke wars(lol), pulling parts of the moon and dropping it onto the earth(and I mean apocalyptic sizes), and interferring with the moon to cause biosphere damage(only to your enemy) are all jokes(hopefully somebody got that :[...) The rest, I can see as being possible in the future, if we last long enough for it.

Successfully updated karma reason!

Obama just cut off funding to NASA???

this is SO WRONG!!!!