NASA launches Jupiter probe.

[Bugman]

We don't have a crewed space program with the demise of the space shuttles, but at least NASA is not sitting on its thumbs. 🙂

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-launches-juno-mission-jupiter-164455349.html

 

[TropicThunder]

Excellent. I'm excited to find out about Jupiters core.

 

[Bugman]

Excellent. I'm excited to find out about Jupiter's core.

That should be interesting. Traveling at thousands of miles an hour, Juno will not reach Jupiter for five years. The vastness of the universe is hard to comprehend at times.

 

[Bothersome]

That should be interesting. Traveling at thousands of miles an hour, Juno will not reach Jupiter for five years. The vastness of the universe is hard to comprehend at times.

It's sad, really. Even if we were somehow able to defy the laws of the physical Universe and travel at the speed of light, we would still not be able to understand or observe even a fraction of the known universe. Hell, you would go through many, many human generations just traveling through the Universe at that speed, let alone understanding any of it.

 

[milagros317]

Unmanned probes are better than nothing, of course, but it's hard to believe how overly optimistic the film 2001: A Space Odyssey was. 🙁

 

[Bugman]

It's sad, really. Even if we were somehow able to defy the laws of the physical Universe and travel at the speed of light, we would still not be able to understand or observe even a fraction of the known universe. Hell, you would go through many, many human generations just traveling through the Universe at that speed, let alone understanding any of it.

Even if wormholes or other shortcuts to space travel exist and we could find them and figure out how to use them, I imagine it would take centuries to explore the Milky Way alone.

 

[Jagermeistered]

Cool!

 

[DianaBanana88]

science was one of my favorite subjects in school so i find this to be awesome lol

 

[love feet]

science was one of my favorite subjects in school so i find this to be awesome lol

i love that you love science!!! i'm very geeky so when someone says they love science i go nuts in a GOOD way!!!!! 🙂

 

[Bugman]

Do you think so?
I guess I'm just a dreamer but I do think that there's the possibility of shorten great distances... in a theoretical way.
Perhaps it's just the lack of technology...currently.

Not quite sure what you are saying here bro, but I'll take a run at it. I'm not a scientist by any means, but I think it is possible that wormholes or other shortcuts to space travel could be out there, and we might find them and discover a way to use them. Even if we do though, the Milky Way galaxy is so vast that exploring it and even beginning to understand it would consume many generations I'd think. Did I address your comments? If not we can continue if you wish. 🙂

 

[Bothersome]

Well, the problem with the whole 'shortcut' idea, is that a shortcut is only useful when you have a destination in mind.

Eventually we will find planets that can sustain life, and at that point these shortcuts (If they exist. I'm no physicist, so I can't really speculate on crap like wormholes) will become tremendously useful. Until we have that destination, however, we'll just be randomly skipping our way through the milky way.

 

[kopfhorer]

While my mother was busy toilet-training me, the Soviets launched Sputnik (I'm sure there was no connection). Last month I witnessed the last wholly-American manned space mission. I may not get to see much more in the way of space-travel breakthroughs, though ya never know.

Some of you may, in a few of decades or so, be hopping a Virgin Galactic flight to the moon. You might get to see with your own two eyes what my generation only got to see a crap-quality black-and-white image of back in the day.

 

[Ishaanshah]

Great...