Should the UK be more involved in Space?

Darg · 18 Jul 2007 at 11:54

After reading this article I got to thinking. Should we (Irish are allowed to call ourselves british when we want!) be more involved in space? Personally I see it as our way forward. Our next significant step as a species will be to colonise the moon and mars which I assume we will do eventually. We have to technology to do it now but not the willing on the governments behalf to spend the cash on it.

Would you like to see Britain with its own space program?

Would you like to see man colonise the moon and mars?

Would you be willing to pay an extra 0.1% tax per year in order to see this?

I know I would. You might say that the money is better off being spent on hospitals or schools but they are short term goals that last only a short time. Placing ourselves on other planets would change the entire category of the human race from Terran to space-faring.

Jono · 18 Jul 2007 at 11:56

No to all questions.

Dave M · 18 Jul 2007 at 11:57

So long as the Irish are paying I'd love to

If like everything else the english are paying while the rest of the 'union' (including now it seems those who went their own way hundreds of years ago) take the glory, no thank you, we'll skip on that one.

Darg · 18 Jul 2007 at 11:57

Jono said:
No to all questions.

Would you like to explain why not? I'm not saying you're wrong to think that but I'm curious as to your reasoning.

Dolph · 18 Jul 2007 at 11:57

Should we have a state run space program? Hell no, our state run services have already proven to be masters of incompetance and inefficiency.

Should we encourage private space exploration using Britian as a base, absolutely.

Darg · 18 Jul 2007 at 11:59

Telescopi said:
So long as the Irish are paying I'd love to

If like everything else the english are paying while the rest of the 'union' (including now it seems those who went their own way hundreds of years ago) take the glory, no thank you, we'll skip on that one.

Okay, assuming we all pay the same 0.1% tax increase.

I think maybe it would be easier if we all paid to the ESA and let them continue instead of diverging into our own countries space agencys. As it is now Britain pays a tiny amount to the ESA compared to the other countries in it.

West · 18 Jul 2007 at 11:59

Reminds me of Hyperdrive on BBC 2

Darg · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:00

Dolph said:
Should we have a state run space program? Hell no, our state run services have already proven to be masters of incompetance and inefficiency.

Should we encourage private space exploration using Britian as a base, absolutely.

Interesting point. It seems right now that private companies are making more headway then the state run programs but this is often due to lack of funding for the state programs.

Would you say the same if we were to contribute equally to the ESA program?

waxapple · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:01

Christ, half of Britain can't interact with different cultures properly, how would people cope if we found extra-terrestrials.

Seriously though,if some of the money being put towards ID cards was put towards this instead I wouldn't complain.

manic_man · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:02

Yes to all accounts, and it should use our current good standing with the US to forge an alliance with NASA as well, whilst becoming chummy with the CNSA and the russian space program and try and drag them all together somehow.

Im sure this kind of wishy washy "not out for only oneself" kind of attitude wont be taken to kindly around here, but I dont care its my answer to the OP's question

Jono · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:04

Darg said:
Would you like to explain why not? I'm not saying you're wrong to think that but I'm curious as to your reasoning.

I'm not sure

Would you like to see Britain with its own space program?
No, because I think it would be a huge waste of money - assuming the current government has anything to do with it.

Would you like to see man colonise the moon and mars?
No, because I've see futurama and don't want a man like zapp brannigan in any position of responsibility. I just don't see the point, and can't see it being possible during my lifetime. I also think humanity has more important issues to concentrate on. Anyway, who lays claim to "owning" either of those bodies?

Would you be willing to pay an extra 0.1% tax per year in order to see this?
I don't want to pay any more tax at all. Maybe if the tax we pay was all spent effectively, but so much is wasted....

However, although I don't really believe in aliens as they Hollywood would have us believe they exist... IF some peaceful types actually did, and came to visit / communicated with us... gave us the technology that exists in peoples' imagination/films... Then I probably would take more of an active interest and change my stance on all 3 questions.

Darg · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:05

manic_man said:
Yes to all accounts, and it should use our current good standing with the US to forge an alliance with NASA as well, whilst becoming chummy with the CNSA and the russian space program and try and drag them all together somehow.

Personally I think this would be the best solution too. However it seems unlikely atleast in the short term. My hope is that when we start to colonise other planets it will bind us together more on Earth atleast to the point where we can have a singular space agency among the major powers. China probably will keep to it's own as always though and Russia most likely wouldn't like to permanently tie with NASA and ESA though they'd hopefully provide more support like they're doing now for the ISS.

SunaseIPs · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:05

Would you like to see Britain with its own space program?

Its called Red Dwarf

Would you like to see man colonise the moon and mars?

No thats gay, we need women

Would you be willing to pay an extra 0.1% tax per year in order to see this?

No.

Personally the UK needs to sort its own internal issues on expansion before it looks to become the Great British Empire - in Space.

dirtydog · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:06

I agree with Jono. We have far more pressing concerns and should not waste public money on such a thing.

Darg · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:08

Jono said:
snip...

Okay, I agree with you on point one.

Point two however I disagree with. I believe it is possible and hopefully will happen within our lifetimes. The technology exists and is waiting there to be used. What is needed is funding and strong leadership. Preferably not from Zapp Branigan.

Point three I can understand, like you said though, if some serious progress was made then hopefully people would be more willing to support the advancement into space.

Darg · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:09

SunaseIPs said:
Personally the UK needs to sort its own internal issues on expansion before it looks to become the Great British Empire - in Space.

Would you find an international effort more acceptable?

Jono · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:12

Darg said:
Okay, I agree with you on point one.

Point two however I disagree with. I believe it is possible and hopefully will happen within our lifetimes. The technology exists and is waiting there to be used. What is needed is funding and strong leadership. Preferably not from Zapp Branigan.

Point three I can understand, like you said though, if some serious progress was made then hopefully people would be more willing to support the advancement into space.

Which technology? Where?

As far as I know (which is very little) we've managed to lose a little robot thing there. We've (the world) sent probes out past the edge of the solar system, and got some nice pretty pictures and some samples of gas (?) back from.

We've not landed a man on anywhere further than the moon, and that wasn't made of cheese, but dust. Lots and lots of grey dust.

Yes, it needs funding - but I very much doubt the majority of the population of this country would agree to it. And leadership, ahahahahahahahah!

I'm actually kind of siding with Dolph a little bit on this one.

iCraig · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:17

I think we should have a space program, even if we use it to launch all of the illegal immigrants into a decaying orbit.

Dolph · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:18

Darg said:
Interesting point. It seems right now that private companies are making more headway then the state run programs but this is often due to lack of funding for the state programs.

I'd disagree, lack of funding is rarely a problem, responsible, efficient spending is. That's true of pretty much any state run service in this country.

Would you say the same if we were to contribute equally to the ESA program?

Without doing research on the ESA (as I know very little about it), I couldn't make a good judgement.

KNiVES · 18 Jul 2007 at 12:21

The UK should focus on its own problems before looking outwards, really.