As for mining resources from celestial bodies - it helps to know what those resources might be, and in what sort of concentrations don’t you think?
I couldn’t agree more, as long as it’s for a real reason, not to wildly guess that there must be life on distant galaxies because there’s water in a comet.
Something this type of experiment also shows us…and not indirectly. There is no conjecture about the cloud of particles the probe sent up from the comet surface, the main probe is flying through it taking direct measurements. But of course, there’s no practical value there either. >
I never said gathering data, from this or Cassini etc is bad. The gathering of the data, and the data itself is not useless any means. It’s the mindless groping for rainbow paths like “origin of the solar system” that is the waste of time.
BTW, If you notice, the scientists are already disagreeing on nature of the surface.
Anyway I am gobsmacked by the fact they hit it dead on. Come on Kzinti and mess with us.
If they had no clue about any of it, or a good place to look for these elements, they might as well have slammed that probe into your house as much as this comet.
But as has been said, $300m is only about %2 of NASAs budget, and thats definately $300m that we DIDDN’T sink into blowing holes in the middle east.
Exploration for the good of mankind gets my vote over blowing other people to bits in the name of the good of mankind, don’t you think.
People rant and rave that space exploration is a waste, when one day we may find a new substance or learn somthing from space that will radically improve the lives of everyone on the planet. This is a really far out example, I admit, but what if we were to find a component to the cure for AIDS or cancer floating around in the middle of an asteroid or comet or what not.
Now I’m going to go all X-files on your arse and say, “what if we really do meet intelligent life more advanced than our own and they can teach us how to dramatically improve our lives?”
Just a thought
