# The Great Ongoing Space Exploration Thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** science-math\ **Created:** [November 16, 2020, 12:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703 "2020-11-16T12:18:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 117
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2323 "2025-12-19T19:27:44Z")
True. But the most common Starlink version in orbit (1.5) weighs ~650 lbs. A CT weighs ~6500 lbs, 10x as much. It’d just be fun to watch. More fun for sure than watching the rest of Elon’s antics. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2025, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2324 "2025-12-19T20:06:51Z")
If you shake it hard it’s down to 6,000 pounds taking into account all the parts that will be falling off. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2325 "2025-12-22T14:31:13Z")
> **[Japan's new flagship H3 rocket fails to put geolocation satellite into orbit](https://apnews.com/article/japan-space-rocket-satellite-b52096bf8f2533dcd120e5942ef9d5be)** > > Japan's space agency says its H3 rocket has failed to place a navigation satellite into orbit. This marks a setback for the country's new flagship rocket and space launch program. ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2326 "2026-01-06T01:49:58Z")
Good news! > On Monday, Congress made good on those promises, releasing [a $24.4 billion budget plan](https://rules.house.gov/bill/119/PIH-FY2026-CJS-EnergyWater-Interior) for NASA as part of the conferencing process, when House and Senate lawmakers convene to hammer out a final budget. **The result is a budget that calls for just a 1 percent cut in NASA’s science funding, to $7.25 billion, for fiscal year 2026**. > **[NASA’s science budget won’t be a train wreck after all](https://arstechnica.com/space/2026/01/nasas-science-budget-wont-be-a-train-wreck-after-all/)** > > There's very little to not like in this." Trump had wanted to cut it in half. ---
**Author:** ![smithsb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smithsb/32/12107_2.png) [@smithsb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smithsb)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2327 "2026-01-06T02:50:03Z")
And get to the moon before he dies. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2328 "2026-01-06T08:54:20Z")
> [@PastTense](#): > > Trump had wanted to cut it in half. More likely Richard Vought wanted to cut it in half; Trump just went along with it. Now if they can do the same for the NSF, CDC, and NIH research budgets, there won’t be the destruction of US science that we’re facing. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2329 "2026-01-06T14:28:04Z")
Nitpick: **Russell** Vought. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2330 "2026-01-06T14:28:54Z")
Oops, right. Thanks for the correction. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 6, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2331 "2026-01-06T15:31:52Z")
> [@smithsb](#): > > And get to the moon before he dies. What a splendid idea. Let’s put him on the SLS. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2332 "2026-01-07T11:44:24Z")
Here’s some sad news. _If_ it pans out. Which we almost certainly won’t know for a long time and only after many dollars, Euros, or Yuan are spent. > **[Jupiter's moon Europa lacks the undersea activity needed to support life,...](https://phys.org/news/2026-01-jupiter-moon-europa-lacks-undersea.html)** > > The giant planet Jupiter has nearly 100 known moons, yet none have captured the interest and imagination of astronomers and space scientists quite like Europa, an ice-shrouded world that is thought to possess a vast ocean of liquid salt water. For... ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2333 "2026-01-07T13:39:33Z")
Bummer. But this made me laugh: > A new study led by Paul Byrne, an associate professor of Earth, environmental, and planetary sciences, throws **cold water** on the idea that Europa could support life at the seafloor. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2334 "2026-01-07T13:58:15Z")
I’m sure the English Lit major working in WashU’s PR department enjoyed tossing that in there. Writing puff pieces about recently completed research papers must get real tiresome. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2335 "2026-01-07T15:55:03Z")
It’s nice when you can make a splash with your writing. ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2336 "2026-01-07T19:02:31Z")
Those sort of headlines are normally written by the sub editor. Get it? Sub? Submarine? …I’ll get my coat. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2337 "2026-01-07T20:30:20Z")
You’re all wet. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2338 "2026-01-07T20:43:33Z")
Dammit, we can’t know until we have some actual evidence. Only way to get that is have instruments in place for observations. The only form of life we know so far is on Earth… and it ALL seems to use the same biochemical machinery, suggesting a single origin? But those molecules _might_ not be the only way life _could_ arise: carbon chemistry seems to have the potential for many possible combinations? ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2339 "2026-01-07T21:07:10Z")
Single cell life occurred almost immediately on Earth but it took another 3 billion years for multicellular life to emerge and that breakthrough appears to have happened only once. The scant evidence we have suggests that complex lifeforms may be exceptionally rare. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2340 "2026-01-07T21:14:53Z")
We have quite a good thread on all aspects of Drake, etc. Perhaps best not to launch that convo in here. This was started in 2022, revived in 2024, then again a couple months ago. This ref is to the first Oct 2025 revival post: > [@Have we reached the point when it is kooky to not believe in massive amounts of intelligent life having evolved throughout the universe?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-we-reached-the-point-when-it-is-kooky-to-not-believe-in-massive-amounts-of-intelligent-life-having-evolved-throughout-the-universe/969972/406): > > Just resurrecting this zombie as there was a really interesting study which proposes that an advanced civilisation might want to live in what it calls a “red frame environment”: an area with heavy time dilation which would therefore allow it to explore outwards in a way that synchronises the rate of passing time. They could position objects in and out of different reference frames to exploit time dilation to build resources or advance their technology very quickly. And it gives them time to adv… ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2341 "2026-01-07T21:50:22Z")
> [@](#): > > an advanced civilisation might want to live in what it calls a “red frame environment”: an area with heavy time dilation which would therefore allow it to explore outwards in a way that synchronises the rate of passing time. Interesting; do you mean a civilization that lives in the bottom of a deep gravity well (like in close orbit around a black hole) so that time passes for them at about the same rate as it does for explorers accelerating to a high fraction of C in flat space; so the people who launched an expedition and those who went on it can stay in close synchronization? My only quibble is how much extra dilation would be involved in climbing out of the gravity well before being able to embark on a voyage to other solar systems. I had envisioned “slow” civilizations that used hibernation at home to effect the same thing, waiting centuries to hear back from explorers. > [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](#): > > Single cell life occurred almost immediately on Earth Did it? One hypothesis related to the abiogenesis and Fermi Paradox questions is that before complete self-reproducing cells emerged they were preceded by billions of years of molecular evolution in interstellar space; so that it was only after 9 billion years following the Big Bang that chemical complexes had finally emerged that could make the leap to full cellular self-reproduction. ---
**Author:** ![xtenkfarpl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/c2a13f/32.png) [@xtenkfarpl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/xtenkfarpl)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2026, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703/2342 "2026-01-07T21:52:22Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Perhaps best not to launch that convo in here. I won’t disagree, it’s a somewhat different discussion, Though we are starting to approach the point where we have some technology that could become relevent. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703.md?page=116) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-great-ongoing-space-exploration-thread/925703.md?page=118)