Rep. Alan Grayson on Manned Space Flight: It's Part of Our Nature to Want to Explore

[wnnw98]

ALAN GRAYSON FOR PRESIDENT

[rayzortek]

@wnnw98 oops 

[wnnw98]

@rayzortek "oops" what?

[rayzortek]

@wnnw98 he might have time now that he is an unemployed loser now

[wnnw98]

@rayzortek time for what "now" that he is a what "now?"

[rayzortek]

@wnnw98 if it was a reply what do you think

[wnnw98]

@rayzortek i think when grayson is out of office in a few weeks he will have time to give you english lessons.

[rayzortek]

@wnnw98 so says  the supporter of a LOSER HA HA HA

[wnnw98]

@rayzortek O M G U R SO FUNNY....  HA HA HA

[rayzortek]

@wnnw98 yea i know

[xyzoneon]

They're always saying that automation can completely replace humans in high tech but so far they have been proven wrong. For instance around early jet fighter plane theaters they said seeking missiles would obsolete guns, but that was wrong.

[xdir]

The govt should pull in the top engineering companies and make a seperate entity to NASA purely for exploiting space.

Pump in a $trillion to create a mining colony on Mars, make it profitable and corporate America will find a way to cut costs and make it feasible

[knowledgemonger]

There is nothing on Mars worth sending back to earth. The shipping costs will eat the entire profit. As a result, no company is going to do a mission to Mars without it being a government program.

If it is going to be a government program, it is far better to have the government do it directly. The myth that you can really save money in the long run by outsourcing such things is just that, a myth. Look at the cost of using private contractors in Iraq to see.

[xdir]

@knowledgemonger There's helium3 on the moon, Mars should have minerals and be easier to colonize, NASA should team up with ESA the Russians and the Chinese to launch a global effort. Its time for humans to come together and push for intraplanetry exploration.

[knowledgemonger]

I don't disagree that there is stuff on Mars that could make it easier for people to live there. What I was addressing was the idea that there would be something worth going there to get.

[xdir]

@knowledgemonger If we can get Helium3, it would revolutionize nuclear power generation. Just 40tonnes would generate a years supply of electricity with no nuclear waste.

[knowledgemonger]

We already have some He3. It is not the benign stuff you seem to think it is. It is part of the waste from our existing reactors. If it is released, it must be reported.

[xdir]

@knowledgemonger We have far too little HE3, plus the cost of generation on earth makes it financially unworkable. Any nuclear waste has to be reported as it will be radioactive, the waste produced from He3 is benign.

India is already planning ways to retrieve He3 from the moon, as a recent space nation it has many hurdles to overcome but when it does the US will regret not beating them to it.

[knowledgemonger]

I seriously doubt that there will be any such power system based on any sort of fuel from the moon. He3 is not all that common even on the moon.

The protons and gamma rays that the He3 reaction produces are not really benign. They are less trouble than the neutrons that the current reactors make but still are trouble, Electrostatic containment requires impractical voltages.

[xdir]

@knowledgemonger India calculates there are millions of tonnes on the surface or just below, collection and bringing it back will be an issue.

Any nuclear reaction is harmful, but thats all containable, we worry about the waste after - which He3 does not have.

The electrostatic containment requires immense power BUT the power generated will be even more.

[knowledgemonger]

When I said "impractical voltage" I meant just that. The problem is one that can't be solved by throwing more watts at it. The reactor will naturally have ionizing radiation. This means that they won't be able to prevent an arc from forming. Adding more power to an arc just will make matters worse.

Most of the radioactive materials in the waste from nuke power is not the fuel. It is other materials that have been subject to radiation.

[davematherly]

@xdir

Any minerals mined on Mars would be used there, in Martian foundries to build stuff.

Pointless to send it home.

Minerals are more easily found on the plethora of near Earth asteroids. There are many big ones just inside and just outside our solar orbit.

They're behind us and in front of us.

They pass us up and we pass them up, all the time. They have very little gravity and are always close enough at one point in the year to get to or come home from easily.

And they endanger us all!

[xdir]

@davematherly If we humans can generate cheap/clean abundunt electricity, it will solve so many problems, it might actually bring peace on earth!!!

Currently the energy required to create the fuel for any space mission is immense, using electrolysis to make Oxygen & Hydrogen from water.

If we can get Helium3 and harness it to generate electricity, we will have enough energy to create Oxygen & Hydrogen on the cheap, making space flight as cheap as first class travel.

[davematherly]

HHO disassociating technology is more than old fashioned hydrolysis.

Stan Meyer pulsed his current at 20,000-ish Hz, and used the hydro/oxy 'Browns' gas to power his VW in the 90s.

His secret in upping the joule output was to ionize the gas in two steps, upping the electrons to their next two levels of 'excitation'. Afterward, HHO's joule output beats that of octane.

He was poisoned in '98. at a restaurant.

HHO could be used this way to power a house, easily. Generators running on water.

[xdir]

@davematherly Stan Meyer's method have never been independently tested, making HHO in small scale is not possible.

[davematherly]

@xdir

its being independently tested all over the world currently. Only one man in Nv has the ionization down, and is struggling to get a patent.

I've heard nothing about this now for over a year.

May never hear...

it all about the joule output, and very few know the solution

[knowledgemonger]

There really is no such thing as HHO. It is a classic case of people not understanding what they have done. It is a mixture of H2, O2 and water vapor. Applying 20KHz to water does nothing special. You need to get up to much higher frequencies before anything unusual starts to happen. 20KHz is so close to DC that the chemistry isn't going to notice.

[davematherly]

The distance between the anode and cathode is most important is dissociating the water molecules.

I think 20K Hz kept the temp from rising constantly.

The 2 step ionizing ups the joules to a value higher than octane.

You can state the officially 'known' science but Meyers did something nobody had done, received his patent, and proved his combustion engine ran on water alone. With NO added electrolytes.

Today its used to enhance fuel efficiency, and is works w electrolytes, no ionizing.

[davematherly]

But needs constant cleaning - it gets very dirty in the water tank.

[davematherly]

Have you seen the news report (from Arizona I think) in which a doctor researching microwave treatments for tumors found that a micro waves pulsed at 20KHz dissociated water in a test tube.

He lit the hydrogen on fire with a match and the flame burns as long as the microwaves are running.

It was a couple years ago, and it re-sparked my interest in the water car.

Explain Meyers running his car on Hydrogen, if you are indeed the 'knowledgemonger'?

Have you seen the HHO torches that cut steel?

[knowledgemonger]

The radio wave energy input was more than the fire's energy output.

There was some initial confusion because he was using salt water. This means that the gas contained some chlorine and a little sodium. This made the flame a lot brighter than a hydrogen flame would naturally be. He was looking for a way to cure cancer BTW.

[davematherly]

If I remember correctly, water has a number of harmonious resonant freqs. 20KHz is one.

I'm not THE knowledgemonger, and am running from memory. But there does appear to be a method to burn H2 using the O2 cleanly, replacing hydrocarbons.

And the current red herring of the "fuel cell" is nothing in comparison.

The idea that we will need to BUY hydrogen is insulting.

[knowledgemonger]

There is a resonance in the earths field down near 2KHz. The next one, IIRC is up near 2.5GHz. There is a big gap between because the low frequency one is the hydrogen proton. The higher ones are the electron bonds which are very strong.

The making of Hydrogen in the H2 form from water takes more energy than you can get back by putting it back into the H2O form. From an individual point of view it is a method of storing energy not creating it. Solar panels could be the input.

[cmfluteguy]

Manned missions were absolutely instrumental in keeping our Hubble space telescope functioning.

I have seen little from NASA that putting people in space is very cost effective for the proposed return.

It would be great if NASA could proffer more compelling proposals to justify any future manned missions.

[78booby]

"ex top NASA official guilty

of ethics violations"

check out that one.

[MrQuan2u]

he's right! we can send robots anywhere in our solar system even outside of our solar system. with the technology we have now its easy. whats hard is sending man to mars!

[PhilistineTheArtLuvr]

I disagree strongly with Mr. Grayson on this issue but, I have to say, I admire, a-d-m-i-r-e, the man.

Thanks Mr. Grayson for all your hard work on behalf of all the American people, whatever side they might take.

[tomuch619]

Thanks for being such a rational person Rep.Grayson

[diamonddave514]

maybe we can send him back to mars

thats his home planet

then he can call blackwater to save his ass when he gets scared

[DoctorCataclysm]

I have to agree with the detractors here.

Mr. Grayson is making the mistake many other politicians before him have. He is stepping into specialized fields armed with only a limited opinion.

[MasterFhyl]

Where have you been? Greasy has done that from the beginning.

[yes4me]

hmm... interesting... sending a human to Mars? That's real tough... is that really feasible in my human life? They need to recycle not only the astronauts urine but oxygen too... then maybe we have a shot at it... and then they may never come back... it is pretty far and the gravitation is not like the moon... so who want to go to their death for history? I know I would but I am no astronaut

[karlsantos]

The recycling of oxygen and water is already done. the big problems are the limits of endurance of the human body on low or no gravity environment. those problems have been studied in the many space stations that have existed, but the brains are no where near a satisfactory solution yet.

[yes4me]

Interesting... I didn't know we are that far ahead. thx!

[karlsantos]

one of the manufacturers of water purification equipment is even spending money developing a cheap version of the water purifying system so that it can be used in poor countries.

Most people don't realize how much water they really need to stay alive.

without these kind of systems over half the payload of every space flight would be water.

[redthunder3979]

stop pissing money away on wars for pipelines

and you will have money for other things

[Richardgwm]

Wow. I knew it would happen eventually. An issue on which I disagree with Alan Grayson.

Grayson is absolutely right on everything else, but unmanned space exploration is the right way to do science.

[Jma0322]

Agree. Sending man to mars is so much more expensive, risky, and costly than sending unmanned probes. It would be nice to send people, but the costs are not nearly worth it yet.

[mrjoanofarc]

I wish I could vote for Alan Grayson!!! But I'm glad I don't live in Florida. ;)

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

Mr. Grayson, I admire most of your agenda. Here you are in error. A suicide mission to Mars, is not what anyone wants. But your impatience, if it were instituted, would insist on just that. Any cost effective and successful mission to Mars requires that a moon base be established, and that multiple generation of robotics be designed, built and employed to failure, before a manned mission to Mars, will not be a very expensive and dissuasive government imposed multiple murder.

[uberjim83]

That's not how it happened with the Moon.

[DonQuixotedeKaw]

LOL! No you're right. But the moonshots, tough, and technologically aggressive as they were, are a pimple on the but cheek of the troubles, by comparison, that we still have only poor, and no ways yet to face, in a Mars mission, not doomed by the disastrous PR, (dead hero's) to end space travel as we know it. The logistic needs are exponential. We don't need space martyrs. If we let the machines help us get the answers, then we can follow safely. But not until, without insane overkill budgets.

[uberjim83]

So because something bad might happen which would cause an end to space travel, we should voluntarily end space travel? Screw that.

[styrofoamheart]

sound is never synced on this channel. :(

[wickedlick]

Love Grayson but I don't understand why he put Bolden on the spot like that. He asked the question next but wouldn't except a answer. Just seemed like a dirty move by a lawyer.

[EcrossH]

I LOVE Grayson, but I have to disagree with him. Humans need to spend their resources and efforts at successfully colonizing EARTH first! It's a real, goddamn shame that we cannot even master colonizing the planet we evolved on.... We still have no practices that allow humans to come into balance with inhabiting this world - our population is skyrocketing, our resources are dwindling, and we absolutely trash the very ecosystem that sustains our bodies and our economy. Fail.

[Marth48]

I love Grayson, but I'm not interested in spending billions on some mission impossible in the hopes of setting foot on Mars when we could just send robots.

[TTEchidna]

I agree wholeheartedly. It's not the same to go down a street with Google's streetview as it is to actually walk down that street.

[calypsodelta99]

babies arm? whaz that mean?

[jeremyshambles]

i think its a reference to ones , well, natural endowment in the trouser region, cheers

[hellomarkrodriguez]

Homerun Grayson, the man of MOXY! Yeah!

[FlashWeiner]

Space is the Place!

[jessie74]

Grayson is the man !!

Keep fighting the good fight Alan !

[manonthemount]

nationalize space exploration and cut the private sector handouts! we should give big salaries to the best engineers at NASA so that the brightest minds are helping society instead of creating complex derivatives for wall street

[DojoNDude]

I agree. We should be exploring the economic crisis and every change in Law and taxation that brought us here.  Have you ever wondered how many excellent engineers, brain surgeons, NASA scientists and inventors have gone into banking? What a waste of humanity. Giving yourself over to wallow in greed diminishes both you and your race/society. Even a capitalist should have goals beyond his own enrichment.

[gerry1976]

There is a lot more to do HERE on earth than to spend trillions in vain out in space. A lot of that money goes to the bank acounts of the ejecutives involved in the NASA program, so basically is giving the money away to already wealthy people.

[harvey101107]

i would be very sad to see the death of manned space exploration because of petty politics.

[TillThenPlease]

Grayson's awesome!

[pinochet222]

I say robots can do so much these days and safely sustaining human life is so expensive and complicated, that it really doesn't make sense!

NASA should concentrate on a long term Mars/Moon base program, where researchers and astronauts could live and work on the surface for a long time!!

Meanwhile, sending robots is more than enough!

[medliberty]

This is all very fuzzy thinking. There is little or no benefit from this boodoggle. Its time to call it off and save many billions. Space is a big industry in Central Florida where Grayson is from so consider the source.

[steelhamster]

Would rather pay for space exploration than fund private corporations via tax and subsidies.

[TheUnitedStatists]

wanna hear my health plan Alan Grayson die, Alan Grayson die quickly

[Vogter2100]

@TheUnitedStatists oh and that would help your fellow humans?

[alecaf89]

I want this guy as president

[joblowphoto]

Why did he vote for the continuation of the PATRIOT ACT!

[steelhamster]

The next step in human evolution is to explore space. We need to explore viable planets to colonise, especially as this one is headed down the toilet.

[myrelative]

what is your relation to reality?

neither is this planet going down the toilet, nor does it make any sense to go to mars for colonisations.

planets to potentially colonize are SO far off, that you can either give up or massively fund physics research.

sending 3 people to mars doesn't make any sense.

[steelhamster]

Can't see why we cannot do both. Science is the wave of the future, but we should not hinder human endeavour to reach the stars.

[myrelative]

ooh, mr. grayson I'm so sorry.

we will immediatly build a planet between moon and mars to land on, just for you and your dickish questions.

[desurgeon]

GRAYSON 4 PREZ!

[HerbertHKohl]

Sending robots and gaining more scientific knowledge sounds good to me.

[minteko]

Radiation problem? Never was a problem for short visits to the moon 40 years ago, so with todays tech we should be able to stay longer no problem.

[HerbertHKohl]

Radiation has always been a problem with space travel, its just that the moon missions were much shorter than a mars mission, so the risk was more acceptable.

[ryno99]

Grayson is an ass,, but its funny. As long as he ends corruption Im happy. Let him be an asshole. Only democrat with a set of balls

[rioishikawa]

we NEED space exploration... we can't keep thinking that earth can support the human race forever... someone has to do it even if it isn't the United States but we NEED this for posterity and preservation

[d3v07]

he's such a douche, but we love you for it Grayson.