GeekSpeak – Is Space a waste of money? Join the discussion on March 11th at 12pm slt

Why do we spend so much money on Space when there are so many causes that need money down here?  Shouldn’t Earth come first?This is an often-heard complaint about the space industry so let’s address it.  Why do we spend money on launching satellites, going to the moon or Mars, exploring Pluto, finding out about exoplanets, and planning a future in space? Perhaps you think we should not put money into space.  Or...

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 26th November at noon SLT: What will you take with you to Mars?

 What will the future Mars settlers need to take with them?  Will they have to take all the oxygen, water and food they need for 2 years?  And materials and tools for building a base?Or will human settlers need to take nothing with them because robots will have prepared everything before they arrive?  Will the settlers simply step into a luxury base with all the food and oxygen already available?What is needed for a human to survive...

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GeekSpeak – Will we win the Space Race? Does it matter? Join the discussion Saturday, September 3rd at 12pm SLT

On Friday 2nd September the Artemis 1 moon rocket will launch towards the moon.  If it fails the moon race will probably be won by China.  Either way, humanity is, hopefully, heading for a future where people live and work on the moon. The trip will last 42 days and the spacecraft will have a high-definition video on board.  Come to GeekSpeak this Saturday at noon SLT and celebrate this historic moment with...

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 16th July at noon SLT: The James Webb Space Telescope! What will it show us?

This week NASA showed us the first images from the JWST.  There will be plenty more to come.  What will we discover?  What answers will the telescope give us?  Will it find life on other planets, perhaps advanced civilizations?  Will it tell us how the universe began? And when it gives us answers will it also give us new questions?  What questions about the universe do you want answers to?  Can we ever know what...

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday 9th July at noon SLT: Let the robots on the loose!

 This month the space era will truly start with mass transport to space.  We will probably send zillions of robots and millions of humans into space.  But should we be sending humans at all?  It is very expensive and very dangerous.  Should space belong only to robots? Or should we share space out between us?  Will the moon be robot territory since it is not likely that humans can live there?  And Mars could be...

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GeekSpeak subject for Saturday January 1st at noon SLT: 2022, the year of the Starship!

 Early this year we will see the Starship from SpaceX take off.  It will be one of the most powerful things you will ever see.  Starship is bigger than the Saturn-5 rocket, and it can land.  It will be able to carry 150 tons of cargo to the moon.  It has several contracts already for commercial launches.  Future launches will catch the returning booster rockets with a giant tower equipped with catch arms so that they...

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SPACEX SECOND LIFE: MANKIND’S REACH FOR THE COSMOS – JOSH (THOMAS1 BELLIC) REPORTING

 The other day as I wandered the Grid, looking for interesting topics to bring our SL Readers, I happened upon a resident named Neuralinks.  As luck would have it, it was only about 15 minutes before the launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, of the SpaceX Inspiration4 mission to orbit the earth.  She directed me to a link with the live feed of the launch. I was transfixed. You see, on February 20, 1962, Astronaut John Glenn made history...

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You are Invited to World Space Week 2021: Oct. 4-10

You are cordially invited to events celebrating World Space Week 2021, October 4th through the 10th, sponsored by the National Space Society in SL, the International Spaceflight Museum, and SpaceX in SL.World Space Week is an international celebration of science and technology, and their contributions to the betterment of the human condition. The United Nations General Assembly declared in 1999 that World Space Week will be held each year from October...

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GeekSpeak – Life in a large permanent space station. Join the discussion Saturday February 22nd at 12pm SLT

What would life be like in a big space station?  Imagine a huge O’Neill cylinder, revolving to create artificial gravity, where millions of people could live.  What would it be like to live there? Will there be strict rules for every aspect of life, and no freedom at all?  Will the inhabitants feel safer than on Earth?  Will there be prisons, or will criminals be ‘spaced’? How will the millions of...

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GeekSpeak – What benefits will we get from space in 5 years? Join the discussion Saturday January 25th at 12pm SLT

The new space race is really taking off this year.  We will see space tourism and we will see products made in space. There will be very precise chip manufacturing and better optic cable.  And we may even see 3d printed human organs.  What do you think will make the biggest impact?  Will Space be a safe investment?   Or a rich person’s toy?  Will we solve world problems by going into...

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GeekSpeak – What will 2020 bring in space? Join the discussion Saturday December 14th at 12pm SLT

Will humanity really start to take off in space?  There will be a lot happening.  Virgin Galactic first flights, SpaceX testing their starship, Mars2020 rover on Mars. What are your predictions for 2020 in space?  Will there be a first step in asteroid mining?  Or will we find interesting results from all the probes flying around, like the solar probe that is flying right now? Will the general...

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GeekSpeak – what if we were the only life in the universe? Join the discusion July 13th at 12pm SLT

Let’s suppose we could somehow scientifically prove that there are no aliens in the rest of the universe?  Would we lose interest in space exploration?  Or would you try harder to explore the universe in order to establish new human colonies?Would it be our duty to take life out into the galaxy?  Or would we see it as our duty to keep life on Earth forever?What religious implications would such a discovery have?  Would we...

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GeekSpeak – what should we do with all the objects in space? Join the discussion Saturday 29th June at 12pm SLT

Would you like to hitch a ride on Oumuamua, the extra-solar traveller that stayed here for a short time?  Do you support Comet Interceptor, the ESA plan to be ready for the next interstellar visitor, so that we can gather information from it?  Who knows, some interstellar visitors may be alien drones.Or would you like to capture an asteroid as JAXA plans to do?  To mine it, to understand it, to figure out how we could live in...

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GeekSpeak – The Logistics of Space- Join the discussion Saturday March 2nd at 12pm SLT

Soon we will start building in space and on the moon and Mars.  What will our bases and space stations look like?  What will they be made of?  It will be hard to make plastics on the moon, but aluminium is very common and it will be simple to make concrete from moon dust.  Water and iron are easy to find on asteroids.  Will future space stations be made entirely of iron?  Or ice? This week we will try to imagine...

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GeekSpeak – how will we change when we go into space?

What will humans become once we venture out of the earth’s protective environment?Will humans be carefully chosen for all colonizing missions?  Only very small people, because it saves on food and space?  Only those with little aggression, for obvious reasons?Will humans be engineered for space colonization?  Will their DNA be changed to protect them from radiation sickness?  Will they be given chloroplasts so they can make...

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GeekSpeak – Asteroids – what should we do to avoid collisions? Join the Discussion July 14th at 12pm SLT

Asteroids have hit Earth in the past and will hit Earth in the future.  What should we do to protect ourselves?  Should we be spending money on technology that will deflect asteroids?  Since there are 10,000 near earth objects that might cause problems perhaps we should see asteroids as a serious danger.Or should we attack asteroids ourselves?  Should we harvest them until nothing remains to threaten us?  What will we...

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GeekSpeak – what job would you like to have in space? Join the discussion Saturday May 19th at 12 pm SLT

Within 10 years there will be multiple space stations orbiting Earth.  This week we will talk about living and working on such stations.  Will people suffer from nausea because the station will rotate and Earth will rise every 10 minutes?  Or will they get used to it?What will it be like to work in zero or low gravity?  How would a hairdresser manage if hair floats around?  Will special hairstyles be invented for those...

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GeekSpeak – space, what will it ever do for us?Join the discussion Saturday, February 17th at 12pm SLT

We are entering an era when every high school student has to make a cubesat for his homework.  At the same time more and more satellites are launched, on average one per week.  We rely on space satellites now for GPS, for communication, for the weather report.Space has brought us so much new technology; digital cameras, pens that work underwater, scratch resistant lenses.  What else is to come?What do you see in the future? ...

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GeekSpeak – factories in space? Join the discussion May 13th at 12pm SLT

Last week a company announced a plan to build a factory in space, a factory that would be run entirely by robots.  If you were in charge of such a factory what would you make?  Or what do you think others would make?  Medicine?  Machine parts?  Weapons?  Illegal drugs?  Spaceships?  Parachutes?  Would you run pig farms up there?There are advantages to working in space factories.  Cold welding of...

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GeekSpeak – life on an orbital station: Join the discussion Saturday April 22nd at 12pm SLT

It is already possible to visit the International Space Station as a tourist.  When there are several giant space stations just a 10 minute flight from earth many people will want to visit.What will life be like on a zero gravity space station?  Will the stations be the most popular tourist destinations ever?  Or cheap theme parks with bad food?The views of earth will be amazing.  Zero gravity will be fun, at least for a while. ...

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