Science or Cool

[kerbiloid]

Enceladus is twice farther.

[AlexO]

Without reading all contributions in this thread, duplications may occur.

To reach the space is, I think, a task where people from different nations and cultures have to work together to reach it. Apart from sport (Olympia), open source software and cooking & eating meals, it may be one of the few things that bring interested people from all cultures together and move us forward together. Especially in the face of today's world, which is increasingly torn and seems to revert to old national ideas. 

The real value of such missions is certainly not only to be found in the practical area, not even the Teflon frying pan has actually been created in space. In my opinion, the real value lies in the experience of the common togetherness of mankind. With the goal of developing these together. And I think that's worth the financial investment!

 

btw: @Kerbal7:Your avatar is with a CCCP-helmet. so whats on?

Edited December 13, 2018 by AlexO

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

My avatar is with a Kerbal's head. What a sudden disclosure...

 

[DDE]

18 hours ago, AlexO said:

Apart from sport (Olympia)

And that’s when, in my opinion, you run headfirst into a brick wall. Sports, if you look closely, are merely a form of bloodless warfare - the element of international competition, that is, international politics, is constantly involved.

Ditto for spaceflight, ultimately. It’s a national prestige project.

And national prestige can be achieved by either outdoing your opponents... or actively sabotaging them.

[AlexO]

And in practical terms, the ISS is the largest (and admittedly most expensive) laboratory in a weightless environment in the world. And it is the only laboratory where permanent experiments can be carried out in weightlessness. Recently I saw a documentary on TV in which light and high-strength metal alloys based on experiments from the ISS were presented. These are already being used in cars today, for example, so that the brakes can bring the sports ball fan to a standstill quickly enough at the window of the drive through, even with more horsepower. Also in medicine there are some applications, which could hardly be explored otherwise.

A good page to explain some practical applications for ISS experiments is the German Wiki page

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forschung_auf_der_ISS

The english wiki page is unfortunately only a list of the experiments, so send it through a translator like deepl.com or similar.

Edited December 17, 2018 by AlexO

[DDE]

13 hours ago, AlexO said:

And in practical terms, the ISS is the largest (and admittedly most expensive) laboratory in a weightless environment in the world. And it is the only laboratory where permanent experiments can be carried out in weightlessness. Recently I saw a documentary on TV in which light and high-strength metal alloys based on experiments from the ISS were presented. These are already being used in cars today, for example, so that the brakes can bring the sports ball fan to a standstill quickly enough at the window of the drive through, even with more horsepower. Also in medicine there are some applications, which could hardly be explored otherwise.

A good page to explain some practical applications for ISS experiments is the German Wiki page

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forschung_auf_der_ISS

The english wiki page is unfortunately only a list of the experiments, so send it through a translator like deepl.com or similar.

Problem is, it’s like using a microscope to hammer in nails. Small unmanned missions would have done just as well if not better when it comes to materials science.

Edited December 18, 2018 by DDE

[AlexO]

I see I'm a fan of the ISS, you're not. 

Maybe my last argument can convince you: The ISS is a prestige project of mankind, if we ever encounter highly developed aliens like klingons, romulans, yautja, vogons, daleks or even kerbals. So that they don't laugh at us too much.

Perhaps we should install some laser cannons first.

Edited December 19, 2018 by AlexO

[tater]

@DDE is correct. Nothing done on ISS (aside from human factors experiments, which require humans) would not be done cheaper, and usually better by free flying experiments.
 

[DDE]

31 minutes ago, AlexO said:

So that they don't laugh at us too much.

Can you have picked a list of those less inclined to laugh at the necessity for the "International" bit?

[AlexO]

2 minutes ago, DDE said:

Can you have picked a list of those less inclined to laugh at the necessity for the "International" bit?

Do you mean, the "national" bit is a better one?

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

On 12/14/2018 at 4:36 PM, DDE said:

Sports, if you look closely, are merely a form of bloodless warfare

of pumping money out of the prey watching the sportz with a bag of junkfood

 

On 12/17/2018 at 10:39 PM, AlexO said:

laboratory in a weightless environment

But the crystal growing likes even more weightless environment.
Radiation resistance of materials doesn't require people.
Astronomy is puny because of warm-blooded people onboard.
Zero-g-chickens still don't fly along the ISS and unlikely will.
Crews still need months to restore after flight. And without at least a medical centrifuge unlikely this will significantly change.

8 hours ago, AlexO said:

The ISS is a prestige project of mankind, if we ever encounter highly developed aliens like klingons, romulans, yautja, vogons, daleks or even kerbals. So that they don't laugh at us too much.

They will be shocked: "Is this really all what they can???"

Without ISS they would be thinking: "Where do they hide their space fleet?"

[DDE]

8 hours ago, AlexO said:

Do you mean, the "national" bit is a better one?

A prestige project actually has to impress the other side. Whereas you’ve provided a laundry list of fictitious entities, of which the most prominent ones would be rather bummed at any human nation tolerating the existence of others, let alone cooperating - and would also be rather disinterested in non-military science.

While for a Dalek, the ISS is a vastly inferior prestige project compared to, say, Auschwitz.