I hate the fatalist attitude that humanity seems to be taking towards space-ventures lately. Specifically Mars-One and the Space Elevator. If we as humans keep saying that we CANNOT do something, and don't even bother to try, we won't make great achievements. It seems like everyone is happy to just get a new iPhone every year and maybe a couple more MPGs on their car as the extent of their technological advancement. It's been over 40 years since we've had someone beyond LEO.
I remember how excited everyone was when Curiosity landed on Mars, and I was too, but to be honest, it wasn't the first time we landed a rover on Mars. To be fair, it was a great achievement, but it wasn't a great advancement. Since the Polar Lander crashed in 1999, we've successfully landed 5 consecutive times (including Beagle 2, which landed successfully, but failed to deploy communications gear, so was unable to complete it's mission).
The only time I would want to hear the term 'give up' is people talking about being healthier for lent by giving something up, or maybe our little war in the middle east. We could give up on that and I would be OK. We should never give up on advancing scientifically.
I hate the fatalist attitude that humanity seems to be taking towards space-ventures lately. Specifically Mars-One and the Space Elevator. If we as humans keep saying that we CANNOT do something, and don't even bother to try, we won't make great achievements. It seems like everyone is happy to just get a new iPhone every year and maybe a couple more MPGs on their car as the extent of their technological advancement. It's been over 40 years since we've had someone beyond LEO.
I remember how excited everyone was when Curiosity landed on Mars, and I was too, but to be honest, it wasn't the first time we landed a rover on Mars. To be fair, it was a great achievement, but it wasn't a great advancement. Since the Polar Lander crashed in 1999, we've successfully landed 5 consecutive times (including Beagle 2, which landed successfully, but failed to deploy communications gear, so was unable to complete it's mission).
The only time I would want to hear the term 'give up' is people talking about being healthier for lent by giving something up, or maybe our little war in the middle east. We could give up on that and I would be OK. We should never give up on advancing scientifically.