the reason why i ask is my cousin seems to think the earth is now called the cradle and it is just a stepping stone untill we are ready to leave on our merry way
2007-10-19 07:42:11 · 17 answers · asked by wankalot 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
Yes, but not me. This is where they will ship all the illegal aliens.
2007-10-19 07:49:37 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
If you mean astronauts performing scientific duties, then yes.
If you mean you and your cousin, then no.
Ask yourself what purpose you would have in space. Just to go out and play around for a while?
The Earth is our home. It is not a cradle or a stepping stone. No other planets have been found yet that would support life as we know it. Such imaginations are born of watching too much science fiction. Man is not just going to hop from one planet to the next. What purpose would it serve? If we can't make our life on Earth, then we will not make it anywhere else. The idea of just shipping 6 billion people to another planet and then all will be fine is purely fanciful dreaming.
2007-10-19 07:58:51 · answer #2 · answered by oscillator 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
No. There is nowhere else in our solar system where we can live. Yes, you could spend absurd amounts of money and construct habitats, but if biosphere II is any indication, the life expectancy of people living there would be rather low. And our bodies are not adapted by evolution for low gravity environments.
With our current propulsion technology (rockets), and technologies we can imagine (nuclear rockets, fission and fusion, and antimatter) the amount of fuel necessary for an interstellar journey is absurd. Thousands of supertankers full of the stuff for even nuclear fusion. Ordinary rockets would require more mass than there is in the entire universe to get us to the closest star in 900 years.
Until a GIANT breakthrough occurs, if it ever does, we are stuck on the green hills of earth.
2007-10-19 08:06:45 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Is your cousin religious? The cradle sounds kind of religious to me.
Anyway, some people are already living in space even if for short periods only at this time. International Space Station.
I seriously doubt there is a mass exodus to space coming anytime soon though.
2007-10-19 07:56:42 · answer #4 · answered by walyank 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
We have now been going into space for 50 years. The most we have managed is a tiny space station with room for a few people at a time. The cost of lifting people and materials into space is enormous. The difficulties of living in space over an extended period are extremely challenging. It's unlikely that we'll ever have a significant presence beyond this planet. We better start taking better care of it.
2007-10-19 07:51:02 · answer #5 · answered by TG 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
No way.
It takes years to reach the outer edge of our solar system. With catapulted probes. And nowhere else is our solar system is livable. Anyway we would only need to leave here if our sun was dying or the planet went caput. If our sun was dying whats the point in staying in this solar system?
An ordinary shuttle would take a very long time! The nearest star to earth is 4.3 light years away. So it would take 4.3 years travelling at light speed. A normal rocket would take 1000+ years to get there. We would have to live on the rocket. Thats if our nearest star has livable planets (unlikely), and if we even find a livable planet. But its likely to be on a star 100's of light years away. it would take millions of years to get there with conventional rockets. It would cost loads too, to build enough rockets to get everyone there, and supplies for the million year journey, and fuel. these are impossible, our current planet hasn't enough gas etc or food on it to supply us.
Its not going to happen for millions of years, IF it ever happens.
2007-10-19 10:55:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
well, the only place to go from here is outward. Its inevitable. humans have to big of a desire to explore.
Right now, we go out to space, but we always come back to earth. in 50 years, it might be accessible to the average tax paying person, but I don't see people "living" in space.
in 100 years, I see people staying on established planetary bases (moon/mars) for a short period of time, even then, they WILL come back to earth.
maybe in 500 years, when we find a reason to live in space, we will.
reasons exclusively include coming up with engines fast enough to transport a large colony to nearby stars (if they have habitable planets)
2007-10-19 08:03:06 · answer #7 · answered by Mercury 2010 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We do have astronauts living in space now.
I believe that in 50 years, the cost will still be preventative. We will need to invent far more advanced technologies in order to keep the cost down.
2007-10-19 07:46:49 · answer #8 · answered by backwardsinheels 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Er, no. There's still billions living in mud and grass huts, I think we ought to be sorting that out first.
2007-10-19 07:52:17 · answer #9 · answered by Ahwell 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There are already people living in the ISS now.
2007-10-19 13:32:31 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋