Reddit reviews Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier
We found 13 Reddit comments about Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
Forgive the cheap plug, but I just wrote a whole book on this, to appear in Feb 2012, titles "Space Chronicles".
I originally called it "Failure to Launch" but the publishers nixed the title, citing it was too depressing.
Here's the listing for a pre-order, if interested. http://www.amazon.com/Space-Chronicles-Facing-Ultimate-Frontier/dp/0393082105
Space Chronicles by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
Looks good!
STEM generates wealth. Good message.
But apace advocates have been saying this since the 1960's. Neil's not bringing anything new to the table. This 2012 testimony didn't generate much support from policy makers. Neither did the book he published in 2012.
Space advocates can point to huge benefits generated by research from the 1950's and 60's. Not all of it was NASA R&D. Some of it was military and commercial. A few of the more prominent:
Miniaturization of electronics -- Rockets and missiles needed compact, low mass electronics. U.S. funded R&D helped put American companies at the forefront of an electronics revolution. There were already transistor radios around when NASA formed but the R&D helped accelerate trends like Moore's Law.
Communication sats. Generally not NASA's but it's hard to imagine commerical entities launching satellites if NASA and the U.S. military hadn't blazed a trail. These are huge beneficial spin off from the space program.
Weather sats. Again, not NASA but enabled by development of launch technology More accurate weather prediction has saved lives, prevented property damage and enabled farmers to produce more food.
Will future NASA endeavors generate such dramatic spin offs? If that could be solidly demonstrated, it'd be easier to persuade policy makers. I certainly don't regard it as a given.
One of the rallying cries has been Colonize Mars! With huge, disposable rockets like the SLS. Basically Apollo rockets redux. The Apollo trips to the moon were about 10 billion a pop. It is likely SLS trips to Mars every two years would be even more expensive. Settling Mars would take a long sustained effort taking decades or maybe even centuries. Would policy makers support that sustained effort? An expensive, high profile program would be a lightning rod for policy makers that want to appear fiscally responsible. I'd give the program two presidential cycles. Agaiin, Apollo redux.
Some critics maintain the chief benefit of SLS and Orion is providing employment in certain congressional districts. Pork, in other words. I tend to agree. I don't think NASA is blazing new trails with SLS and Orion.
Many serious proponents of exploiting and settling space call for improved robotics and In Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU). Already British Petroleum is using remotely operated vehicles to build sophisticated infrastructure on the sea floor where humans can't reach. Should NASA invest heavily in improved tele-robots, this could potentially generate enormous spin offs. I can see tele-robot operaters donning their motion capture suits in their living rooms. No need to commute to work. Besides working on the lunar surface or on asteroids, tele-robot operatros could do work in the deeper mines, high mountain tops, the sea floor. As well as hazardous disaster areas like Fukashima after a tsunami.
Summary: "A penny for NASA" is too simplistic. Some NASA projects might have big pay offs. Others are likely dead ends. If we want to persuade policy makers and fire up the public, we need to place our bets on good horses.
Well lets see. This year:
When did you last contribute anything sensible to anything?
Neil Degrasse Tyson addresses #8 (#10?) in his book Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier. He makes the point that truly cutting-edge exploration and the necessary technological advances it requires is far too risky of an enterprise to make it a sound business investment. However, those same advances go on to benefit private industry and society as a whole.
Edit: The second #8... Probably should be #10.
After reading the sample and some of the reviews, I went ahead and made a purchase. I also bought 'Pale Blue Dot' from the same author.
Would you recommend Space Chronicles: Facing the Final Frontier by Neil deGrasse Tyson?
Dr. deGrasse Tyson's Answer
Here is his book if you are truly interested.
Indeed, but it's actually from Neil deGrasse Tyson's new book: Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier. It's really good, but I'm only a quarter of the way through.
I suggest reading this for some answers. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0393082105
I really liked The Grand Design by Stephen Hawking. It gives you a perspective of string theory, multiverse, tons of stuff about the universe, origins of the universe, and the philosophy of science that is ment for more entertainment and informing than dense physics literature.
If your looking more for space stuff there is Space Chronicles by Neal deGrasse Tyson
Dr. Tyson - Are you doing a book tour to promote Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier?
If so, will the schedule be posted on the Hayden website?
If not, and at the risk of bombarding the Hayden Planetarium with mail, is there a proper channel in order to get your autograph on said book?
Like most Redditors, I'd love to get it in person, but NYC is a bit far from San Antonio.
My copy is being shipped to me as we speak and I hope to start reading it as soon as tomorrow!
@HardHarry
How much do you think the US government spends on NASA per year?
Go read Neil De Grasse Tyson's latest book
http://www.amazon.com/Space-Chronicles-Facing-Ultimate-Frontier/dp/0393082105/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1332717037&sr=8-1
@yogthos
Tyson also mentions that those social programs have largely been addressed -- with typical government efficiency -- already. Alternate energy research is also in progress.
Other forms of science.... well, in these anti-science times that we live in, if it isn't bogus global warming science, it doesn't matter.
For other perspectives, try reading some different blogs:
http://blogs.airspacemag.com/moon/
http://launiusr.wordpress.com/
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/beyondapollo/
Space Chronicles: Facing the Ultimate Frontier