Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to I looked at this concept back then

I've been thinking a lot about it lately.
ER — (archived)

I think we need to be honest with ourselves and just admit that there is really nothing in space so valuable that it would justify the expense of going out to recover it with our present level of technology. We would need at least an order of magnitude or two improvement in propulsion, not to mention substantial advances in radiation protection, artificial gravity, and life support.

There is plenty of science worth doing out there, but it can be done by robots, and science may not yield a direct payoff on investment for decades, even centuries.

I can only think of two things which would financially justify an all out effort in space at this time: either the discovery of an alien ecology somewhere else in the solar system with an alternative biochemistry to explore and exploit industrially, or a cache of extra-terrestrial technology, perhaps a millenium-old Bracewell Probe, preferably intact. Both are long shots, to say the least.

There is only one other reason to go now, and it is not a commercial venture: Planetary defense from comet or asteroid strikes; but only when we have the technology to do something about it.

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