General Discussion

Last edited Thu Apr 2, 2026, 01:24 PM - Edit history (1)

Apollo was in a very different time and I would never argue it was wasteful since it drove so many technological advances, particularly with respect to the development of computational power as well as materials science.

Repeating what was done half a century ago however strikes me as nostalgic, not scientifically inspiring.

As a person who has worked extensively with proteomic databases, I appreciate what you do.

I have to wonder however how many graduate students and post docs could be funded in lieu of this energy intensive joyride. How many mass specs could be provided to universities? How many grants could be provided to early phase researchers?

What I'm seeing is that grants are now going only to the old folks. We are cutting science off at the roots.

There is very little in these times that a human in space that a robot couldn't do better and cheaper, as robots do not require life support systems, unnecessary baggage in energy intensive space flight.

I think the results of this current adventure are demonstrating very little inspirational value. To me it's an attempt to keep what we have never really had, a realistic correspondence to the fantasy about escaping the Earth.

As a practical matter there aren't enough resources on Earth to actually execute access to resources on the moon or beyond. A very real concern I have is that orbital junk like that be littered by the freak Musk will close orbital space off for generations if not forever.

We have huge scientific and technological issues to address on the ground. They must take priority in my view.