Our Solar System...

cool, thanks! reminded me of the twilight zone.

 

reminds me of the game (riddles) that bilbo played with gollum in the hobbit.

 

Ooo. Time for a test. What did *ildo have in his pocket when Go**am was asked in the riddle test in Bored of the Rings.

 

I remember Sorhed, the evil ruler of Fordor, but not the riddle details!

 

It was a 38 caliber snub nose revolver. (Not quite what was in the Lord of the Rings.) Time to return to the topic.

How do we accomplish manned exploration beyond the solar system? (ftl seems to be the right discussion angle!)

 

you will need a properly operating millennium falcon, or equivalent. and a wookiee.

 

Millennium Falcon (lightspeed) will take you to the nearest star in 4 years. Cross the galaxy in 100.000 years. I ain't got time for that.

For other more imaginative physics, go see the new movie Interstellar. Black hole -> wormhole -> get you there NOW. Can this be done? NASA: "We are gonna need a bigger boat".

Government can fund high risk; potentially low/high reward activities at its pleasure. Now we have a new government. My message to them is "Science and military adventures are both really expensive, if done at the 'leadership' level. Discretionary funds are limited. You choose."

 

Sometimes you get two-for-one.

Example: Space Exploration.
Example: Computers.
Example: GPS.
Example: ARPANET.
Example: Nuclear Energy.

...and so many others.

Recently, I was re-reading William Manchester's The Glory and the Dream (c 1974) and I was re-reminded of the antipathy held by the left for the space program expenditures in the 1970's.

Sometimes war (or more optimistically, defense) is a pretty good motivation to make a better mousetrap.

 

sounds like something the chinese government could afford...

 

You don't need to hit a wall, an impact with dust at relativistic speeds, will pretty much mess up your day and all the remaining ones too!