Where should the Space Program be heading?

There been alot of changes in the U.S. space program under Obama. He doesn't want to go to the moon; but straight to Mars. And now he's shooting for the asteroid belt. Where does the UFO community think the Space Program should be going? A mission to Ceres, the largest asteroid might be interesting. Who knows, maybe they'll find creatures. Hoppers! Hopping from one asteroid to another! USA TODAY

I think the space program should be going to inner space.

Consciousness is the elephant in the living room that science has had a hands off attitude toward. Obviously, it is immaterial so does not fit in with the protocols of science. But if people were not conscious, there would be no science, no awareness, no nothing.

We need understanding. We can always look outside ourselves. But if we really want to understand what is going on, we need to explore our inner worlds.

We need to have Star Trek like warriors exploring inner space and going where no man has gone before.

I for one think it is a crying shame that their not going back to the moon. I was looking forward to watching it on t.v. with my kids.

I wonder if all the speculation about the Apollo program is the real reason their not going back? Maybe their not allowed to?

robots and space telescopes etc.. we learn new things all the time for instance...
Universe's biggest known star discovered by British astronomers
The heaviest known star – with a mass 320 times greater than the Sun's – has been discovered at the edge of our galaxy by British astronomers.

By Tom Chivers
Published: 12:54PM BST 21 Jul 2010

17 Comments

Link to this video Scientists at the University of Sheffield found the stellar giant – named R136a1 – using the European southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope in Chile and data from the Hubble Space Telescope.

The star is located in the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small "satellite" galaxy which orbits the Milky Way.


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Liam Fox: troops will leave Afghanistan by 2014Previously, the heaviest known stars were around 150 times the mass of the Sun, and this was believed to be close to the cosmic size limit.

As stars get more massive the amount of energy created in their cores grows at a faster rate than the force of gravity which holds them together. The torrents of energy produced eventually become so powerful that the stars are torn apart.

This is known as the "Eddington Limit", after the British physicist Arthur Eddington who, in 1919, proved Einstein's theory of relativity by showing that light is bent by gravity.

It was believed that the Eddington Limit was reached at around 150 solar masses.

However, R136a1 has been measured at 265 solar masses. Since heavy stars rapidly lose mass as they grow older by converting it into energy, R136a1 has already lost 20 per cent of its mass in its short million-year life. It is believed originally to have been a colossal 320 solar masses.

The Sun, by comparison, has been burning for 4.57 billion years, and has converted only 0.03 per cent of its mass into energy.

The chief researcher in the Sheffield team, Professor Paul Crowther, told Astronomy Now: "Because of their proximity to the Eddington Limit they lose mass at a pretty high rate." This means that they are incredibly bright and hot – R136a1 is believed to have a surface temperature of more than 40,000 degrees Celsius, and is 10 million times brighter than the Sun.

Among the largest known stars previously known were the Pistol Star, between 80 and 150 solar masses, and Eta Carinae, around 100 solar masses. The Pistol Star radiates as much energy in 20 seconds as our Sun does in a year. However, both are utterly dwarfed by the vast new discovery.

According to Astronomy Now, R136a1 gives off more energy than all the stars in the Orion Nebula, and if it were in our solar system would be as much brighter than the Sun as the Sun is than the Moon.

There are four stars in the cluster RCM 136a, where R136a1 sits, with a mass over 150 that of the Sun. Those four stars alone give off half the energy of the entire cluster, which contains 100,000 stars in total.

Hyper-stars like R136a1 are believed to be formed from several young stars merging together, and are only found in the very heart of stellar clusters.

Prof Crowther suspects that this is about as big as stars can get. He says: "Owing to the rarity of these monsters, I think it is unlikely that this new record will be broken any time soon."

The team’s work can be found in the latest issue of Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.
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I'd be happier if we did more human exploration, but you know humans think and talk.

The space program.
Youve been asleep four years , nine months and twenty two days.
You will be weak, you will be hungry,
If you feel nauseous please use the barf bags.
James Cameron leads the way.
The pistol is in the drawer,the uniform hangs in the closet above the boots.
Yet! I now know that my kind will have a futhur. In 2154.
Man's futhur does not lie with this planet only. We are a race of explorers
and exploiters.
The point that I am trying to make is this. The science fiction of my youth
has come to bieng. Huge airplanes, nuc submarines. Aerial torpedos.
Travel in space, a manned space station.
Why should interstellar travel be left to my grand children (how many times removed)
When I see bill and the boys doing the shows, I compare them to my own experiences.
I know that we are not alone, because I have seen them. As a youth, as adult and as a senior.
At my age I can say what I saw.
If some one dropped the proof into my hands, I would give it to bill and the boys.
Knowing that they would give it to the world.
Not including viking female space aliens, those I would keep


Davefair