Maybe I'll update about what's going on later this week. But I wanted to get this out there for discussion & to hear your thoughts.
When I woke up this morning, I was thinking for awhile before I got up. As I'm sure most of you know, they sent a probe to Pluto last week (story here) Which I think is pretty cool that they can do. No doubt about that. However, I also wonder, what's the point? What is the usefulness in spending all that money on discovering something that is so far away, and that I don't know how it would be any use to us? I think it would be interesting to go more into the core of the earth, to discover that. Plus, since we're living on earth, that might actually be more useful, and if we discover things about what's down there, it might be of value to us, and we could somehow use that information.
Your thoughts on this?
When I woke up this morning, I was thinking for awhile before I got up. As I'm sure most of you know, they sent a probe to Pluto last week (story here) Which I think is pretty cool that they can do. No doubt about that. However, I also wonder, what's the point? What is the usefulness in spending all that money on discovering something that is so far away, and that I don't know how it would be any use to us? I think it would be interesting to go more into the core of the earth, to discover that. Plus, since we're living on earth, that might actually be more useful, and if we discover things about what's down there, it might be of value to us, and we could somehow use that information.
Your thoughts on this?
posted by Jill at
8:46:00 p.m.
3 Comments:
Jill, my thoughts:
Sending a probe to Pluto is kinda pointless if you only consider it's direct usefulness to life on earth. But the point of sending a probe that way is to expand our knowledge of our neighbourhood. To understand our solar system and how it came to be the way it is.
This information can be used to theorize about other solar systems. To determine the likelihood of life around nearby stars. This may not be important right now, but it's always nice to find out if you have neighbours and to get to know them. People are a bit obsessed with that kind of search too, right?
Also, if I'm not mistaken, the Pluto probe was a fairly low budget endeavour. This money could have been used for other local investigations, but what could be done? The Earth's core is too hot for a probe to explore and there isn't really all that much down there anyway. The money could have been used to develop environmentally friendly [insert item here], or to fund further research on global warming, or to buy acres of rainforest. Those things are good to look at, but not important to those with the money in this case.
Anyway that was just my thoughts. :P
By
Anonymous, at 9:11 p.m.
Hey Jill =)....i agree with mike....sending the probe to pluto is an effort to understand our solar system alot better, and to see if the conditions there are as they theorized. The sample collection and such will either reinforce what was already hypothesized about that area of the solar system or disprove it. And as far as getting to the center of the earth...i dont think its possible...cause its like a ga-gillion degrees HOT. lol... I dont think there's much down there but molten lava and such?? Anyways...it'd be cool if we could find away to store all of that thermal energy and use it somehow.....later,
Sophie
By
Anonymous, at 9:34 a.m.
I agree w/ both of you.
People have been facinated with space, the universe and everything since they could look up. Every space mission they spend $$ on gets them a step closer to finding out how we came to be.
Although I'd rather be saving the rain forest, some people think finding the answer to "the ultimate question" is the most important thing in the ... universe :D
By
'lue, at 4:25 p.m.
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