Neil deGrasse Tyson on the 10th Annual Asimov Debate

The 10th annual Isaac Asimov Memorial Debate— Moon, Mars and Beyond: Where next for the manned space program? — will take place at the American Museum of Natural History on March 15, 2010 and is presented, in part, in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the opening of the Frederick Phineas and Sandra Priest Rose Center for Earth and Sapce and the 75th anniversary of the opening of the original Hayden Planetarium.

Where to go next is one of the hottest topics for NASAs manned program. Should we proceed straight to Mars, should we return to the Moon, or should multiple destinations be the goal? Central to the debate are thorny issues that relate to science, launch hardware, international competition, national security, shrinking budgets, and political will. The Obama administrations recent decision to indefinitely delay the next voyage to the Moon while simultaneously planning a new launch vehicle makes this Asimov Debate particularly topical and newsworthy.

Moderated by Neil deGrasse Tyson, astrophysicist and Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, this years Asimov Memorial Debate will include panelists Kenneth Ford (Institute for Human & Machine Cognition), Lester Lyles (United States Air Force), Paul Spudis (Lunar and Planetary Institute), Steven Squyres (Cornell University) and Robert Zubrin (Mars Society).

Produced/Edited by James Sims. For more information visit http://www.amnh.org

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• space
• solar system
• moon
• nasa
• isaac asimov
• amnh
• hayden planetarium
• natural history
• nyc
• debate
• education

[johnnylightning258]

Go back to the Moon, then plan for Mars. We need to go to Mars.

[spenceII]

Or we could just reduce the defence budget. There is something I don't like about turning space into one giant billboard.

[cockthisfucker]

If only we had people like him running the world. By the way does anyone know the music in the background during the interview?

[jessyjessy4]

interesting video and very informative

[SuperDogbrown]

very interesting video thanks

[MediumNothinFull]

Dr. Tyson, I need to talk to you.

[GreatNorthWeb]

whenever i see a video of someone speaking in front of their bookshelf, I always look carefully at the book titles and the trinkets behind the orator. look very carefully behind neil's right shoulder on the shelf beneath the mask. is that a male bondage doll? is neil hiding some dark secret? ;)

[bary1234]

All this marvellous science and knowledge, and yet we still have religions. Damn, thats embarassing and disgusting. Primitive barbaric bronze-age superstitious cults are still holding humanity down.

We have to make indoctinating children in to religions illegall. If religious people cant brainwash defenceless children anymore, organised superstition will die in one generation. And this world will be so much brighter and better place for it.

[lee8264]

@7j8i9m Have you heard about the Los Almos Labaoratory new plans to remove thorium from all the nuclear waste from the stockpiles of nuclear weapons?.They have found a way to remove what they term as green nuclear energy this thorium and have 3,200 metric tons of it.This is equivalent to 3,500,000 of coal or 200 tons of uranium.They call it green energy because it can't meltdown in reactors like the one in Japan.In the US 1out of 10 bulbs are already powered by nuclear waste go green.Peace

[7j8i9m]

@lee8264 We could do the Mars and back right now, as a passenger voyage, if we weren't afraid of nuclear power being turned to nefarious purposes.

[thetenthfetter]

@spenceII He's not talking about selling add space in outer space, he's talking about projects like Virgin Galactic.

[GhostInTheShell29]

@spenceII "Human behavior is economic behavior. The particulars may vary but competition for limited resources remains a constant. Need as well as greed has followed us to the stars and the rewards of wealth still await those wise enough to recognize this deep thrumming of our common pulse."

CEO Nwabudike Morgan, "The Centauri Monopoly"