Water On Mars!

[DougDascenzo]

Sorry. Had to.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

My biggest beef about space exploration? The fact we're spending millions (billions?) on looking for water on a planet it takes 27 months to get to. But we're not finding an alternative to oil/gas as a primary energy source.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

My biggest beef about space exploration? The fact we're spending millions (billions?) on looking for water on a planet it takes 27 months to get to. But we're not finding an alternative to oil/gas as a primary energy source.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

Is that alternative energy source, 2MCM, or the reason we're looking for water on Mars? That is, so we can grow **** there?

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

Is that alternative energy source, 2MCM, or the reason we're looking for water on Mars? That is, so we can grow **** there?

That's your alternative energy source. One of them, anyway.



But there are other issues to consider, as noted by this journal entry at Slashdot.

Flat-panel LCDs, high-output solar cells, nuclear reactor control rods (extinct: 2017 due to the world's indium supply - currently at 6,000 tons, gone) - even galvanized steel (extinct: 2037 - world's zinc supply exhausted) - all gone. Rare-earth lasers? Ditto. Doped semi-conductors? Buh-bye. Automotive and cell-phone electronics, and pcs? Don't throw out that old P1 with the crt just yet ... 15 years from now, it may just be state-of-the-art, as newer boxes succumb to tin whiskers, lack of replacement parts, etc.

The Wall Street Journal is starting to take notice, as well.

There's a lot of minerals we consider essential --- or we would if we'd heard of them and realized what they're used for --- that the Earth is running out of. Probably large quantities of those elements in the asteroid belt.

 

[Pete Incaviglia]

Wow. Seriously, **** like that makes me think the end is really, really near.

And how (or why!?) do you find that stuff?

It's amazing, and interesting, and yet depressing.

 

[2muchcoffeeman]

I read Slashdot daily. That actually turned up a couple of months ago.

The fact that we're running out of basic resources should be enough to get anybody's attention but there are those who still would rather save a buck on their taxes than save the human race.

 

[Bubbler]

So what you're saying is ... THERE'S HOPE FOR NEWSPAPERS AFTER ALL!