Science!

[da man]

Isn't water the key to a potential habitable place for humans?

Liquid water is one of the things considered necessary for life as we know it, though it would take more than just water to make an environment habitable for humans.

There are a number of moons in the solar system that likely have subsurface oceans of liquid water, including Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa. They are considered the Solar System’s most likely candidates for extraterrestrial life.

 

[Neutral Corner]

I hope that they do find a way to do fusion. It would fix the energy problem and do a lot to enable fighting global warming.

If they don't turn our planet into a mini-sun, anyhow.

Chinese nuclear fusion reactor pushes plasma past crucial limit: what happens next

 

[Here me roar]

I hope that they do fine a way to do fusion. It would fix the energy problem and do a lot to enable fighting global warming.

If they don't turn our planet into a mini-sun, anyhow.

Chinese nuclear fusion reactor pushes plasma past crucial limit: what happens next

You act like the military industrial complex in the United States would have let this become a major source of energy rather than oil.

 

[Neutral Corner]

MI complex would love to have that source of power, especially if if can be made small enough to power ships and satellites, etc. The oil companies will hate it but won't be able to stop it. Too much money to be made, and besides the power companies will likely get behind it hardcore.

It would be a huge game changer - *if* if can be safely done. An out of control fusion reaction, lord knows how much damage that could potentially do. That's my biggest concern.

 

[MarkWatney]

Uh-oh.

NASA is performing an unprecedented medical evacuation from the ISS

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Liquid water is one of the things considered necessary for life as we know it, though it would take more than just water to make an environment habitable for humans.

There are a number of moons in the solar system that likely have subsurface oceans of liquid water, including Saturn’s moon Enceladus and Jupiter’s moon Europa. They are considered the Solar System’s most likely candidates for extraterrestrial life.

Water is just about the end-all and be-all for terrestrial life elsewhere. You can make breathable oxygen and rocket fuel from it as well as drink it.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Water is just about the end-all and be-all for terrestrial life elsewhere. You can make breathable oxygen and rocket fuel from it as well as drink it.

Gravity, though. You can definitely have too much of that.

 

[Slacker]

Would all alien life forms require oxygen ... or water?

 

[Shropshire Slasher]

Would all alien life forms require oxygen ... or water?

If any, probably few that can survive our environment. Star Trek was just a TV show. Good question, though. First life forms on earth had just CO2.

 

[TigerVols]

Would all alien life forms require oxygen ... or water?

Scientists say nitrogen and helium could be life-giving sources as well.

 

[sgreenwell]

Scientists say nitrogen and helium could be life-giving sources as well.

Silicon is on the same block of the periodic table as carbon, so there is some speculation that that could also be the basis for life on a non-Earth planet.

 

[maumann2]

So ... NASA is preparing to launch Artemis 2 no earlier than Sunday. Woohoo, humans out of low Earth orbit for the first time in more than 50 years!

But wait, there's less! As this great video explains, Artemis is flying AROUND the moon, no actual orbit, which is way less impressive than what Apollo 8 did almost 60 years ago. And OH BY THE WAY the program to build a permanent Moon base and orbiting satellite? Yeah, that's been canceled in favor of an $8 billion Mars mission that has no actual project details, just the money is going to SpaceX and Blue Origin.
So who gets the money? Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who obviously would be in the poorhouse without federal assistance.

 

[MarkWatney]

Hmmm.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/science/nasa-artemis-2-delays-moon-mission-launch

 

[Here me roar]

Hmmm.

https://www.cnn.com/2026/02/03/science/nasa-artemis-2-delays-moon-mission-launch

I'm glad they delayed it. I don't think they're ready.

 

[MarkWatney]

It seemed like they were seized by another variation of the Go Fever virus largely to blame for the loss of Challenger: "big daddy in the WH wants to see some big success out of NASA for which he can hog the credit, and he's tired of all these delays, let's light this candle!!"

As Maumann noted using the Amy Shira Teitel video to make the point, Team Fat**** certainly doesn't have any real plan of what they would do even after a fully successful Artemis flight.

They've essentially shut off the funding for all the unmanned science and planetary science, and the manned program is a complete shambles. They'll strip it down to the bones and turn the carcass over to Elon and SpaceX.

Nobody's going to Mars for 50 years.

Along about 2029 when Fat**** begins his fourth term, we'll be shockingly confronted with a crisis situation with the ISS: Fat**** will inform us that some incredible people, unbelievable people, have told him the ISS must be deorbited now, right now, or there's no telling where it might come down?? Maybe Canada??

 

[TigerVols]

Isn’t the ISS already planned for a controlled de-orbit in 2028?

 

[MarkWatney]

FAQs : The International Space Station Transition Plan - NASA

2030 by current schedule

 

[maumann2]

I'm with @MarkWatney. No way we see a manned Mars mission before 2100, if ever. We can't even duplicate what guys with sliderules and pocket protectors did before Woodstock to land a human being on a rock three days away.

It's not from lack of smart people or technology or even imagination. It requires a sustained, world-wide coordinated effort that will consume a lot of time and money, something no government can afford to do right now. And billionaires who think they can afford a vanity project would have to combine forces or at least agree to a standardization of materials, which is antithetical to how they acquired all that wealth in the first place.

Fermi remains undefeated.

 

[Justin_Rice]

I'm with @MarkWatney. No way we see a manned Mars mission before 2100, if ever. We can't even duplicate what guys with sliderules and pocket protectors did before Woodstock to land a human being on a rock three days away.

It's not from lack of smart people or technology or even imagination. It requires a sustained, world-wide coordinated effort that will consume a lot of time and money, something no government can afford to do right now. And billionaires who think they can afford a vanity project would have to combine forces or at least agree to a standardization of materials, which is antithetical to how they acquired all that wealth in the first place.

Fermi remains undefeated.

If anyone knows about manned trips to Mars, it's Mark Watney.

 

[I Should Coco]

If anyone knows about manned trips to Mars, it's Mark Watney.

Famous potatoes!!!