With the 50th anniversary of the moon landing approaching and 47 years since our last manned deeper space / moon landing what next for the Speedy and the Human Species? My avatar is actually the Moon and Mars reflected in a Speedy. Will we ever get there (Mars) and who will get there first? ….and will they wear an Omega / any wristwatch? Sadly I suspect in these days of corporate sponsorship unlike in the sixties any authorised selection process will have a big commercial/ inducement element. I cant comment on the technical design but I do find the new NASA suit illustrations uninspiring. If you are risking your neck in space / setting foot on a new world you want to stay cool.... and also look cool as well. SpaceX seem to be making a better stab at it aesthetically IMHO. I am interested what the forums thoughts are...….
I know it's kind of no cool to be a party pooper but I think the planet we already live on is a really nice environment to reside so why go looking for somewhere new and from what I have read very hostile. The billions of dollars spent yearly on space research could be put to much better use in developing countries . Who many lives could be saved annually on this budget. Just a thought . Who needs to go to the moon when we are already living comfort and safety on this one.
Certainly for my time left on this beautiful planet. If we invested this space money here at home then probably forever.
" Mars " has already been done... Omega should better choose to celebrate their ultimate "space watch" aka the Alaska Project Speedmaster https://www.fratellowatches.com/from-the-moon-to-mars-numbered-edition/
@peterkirk01 Sorry to be a Debbie downer but I just don't agree with what you say as whilst it may well last for your lifetime and still be liveable ( and that depends a lot on how old or young you are) Many of the great minds of toady seem fairly certain it is already to late to fix what was once this awesome planet, even if and OMG it's a massive IF the world powers and business's could all come and work together and agree to stop destroying the planet and its Eco system and started to try and fix whats already gone wrong with the planet and all whilst its still getting worse its still to late IMHO and that of many others. Many have already said for the Human Race to survive it has to explore the Universe and find other planets that can sustain life or quite simply it will be game over and the end of the Human Race. To inject a sense of reality talk of saving the planet and to stop doing all these bad things for the planet I remember first really being talked about in the mid to late 70's and guess what here we are some 40 years later and we are still just talking about doing it. I really can't think of one example of anything that the world has managed to fix not one and that makes me really sad and especially for the future generations and what they will have to face trying to live on earth. As for this "The billions of dollars spent yearly on space research could be put to much better use in developing countries . Who many lives could be saved annually on this budget. Just a thought ." You do realise that humanity (which IMO is joke as it barely exists) is capable of ending the starvation and suffering from treatable disease of the billions of people suffering but doesn't as there is no profit in doing that. If you look at the Billions of tons of food thrown away and yet people are starving, again the Billions dying of treatable diseases because drug companies need profits so keep prices high and supplies low and you really think a few Billion spent on space research would make any difference really? its all possible to fix but the will just isn't there as there isn't a profit for some one to make and then what would happen to all the Trillions of Dollars sitting in offshore Tax heavens and people being able to say I'm a Billionaire/Trillionaire. Its nice to think we all live on this great planet and think of others and not just ourselves but reality doesn't play that out so well IMHO. Marc
I think it is dangerous to say which endeavours bring us the most benefits. Wars have typically pushed forward technology very fast. I think exploration is a good alternative to war (especially as modern weapons can be so destructive) and as a species we seem to do better when we are on a mission or have competitive targets. F1 racing is another example where spin off technology does bring benefits. Major discoveries or achievements also have a habit of unifying humanity. Long story short I think we should continue to invest in space and look to have some off Earth bases. I don't see why this has to be an either/or choice with home planet initiatives and investment. Lastly if you look at past civilisations we mostly remember them for their monuments, conquests, inventions and art... not social policy... so mars, the lost Snoopy LEM or NASA LAGEOS might end up being our pyramids. Our tenure / time on Earth has been so short our situation is probably more tenuous than people realise..better to hedge our bets.
I don't think that would be used on a mission... I have never seen one in the flesh but I also always felt the planet prints lacked some definition / looked like one of my inkjet efforts. I have seen better rendered images / I like the moon surface on the new Apollo 8 DSOTM for example or the moon on the new 50th anniversary Apollo 11 gold watch.
Seeing that some people see money on space research could be better spent I wonder where they stand on more earth bound research like the large hadron collider at CERN. Billions are spent on that but understanding the true nature of the Universe could unlock amazing potential and even short term help the development of for example fusion power solutions. https://home.cern/science/accelerators/future-circular-collider
It's very easy to argue about spending money here on earth to solve hunger, disease and other maladies instead of space exploration or other human endeavors. It's a false argument, imo. You cannot spend people into prosperity and just throwing money at poor societies always results in failure. Before the Industrial Revolution ca. 1790 most people lived in abject poverty with hard lives and short lifespans. In the 230 years since its start, including the modern concept and practice of that now often dirty word 'capitalism', billions of people have been lifted out of poverty. There is no better system to get humans out of the grinding cycle of poverty. Instead we seem to be going down this path of socialism which was responsible for a lot of misery in the 20th century and through to today. We are not ruining the planet regardless of what the pearl clutchers keep wailing. We are not making it inhabitable and the more we pull people out of poverty the better the environment will get. We need to keep the concept of 'equality of opportunity' firmly as our goal and NOT the 'equality of outcome' which is a recipe for disaster. In other words, Capitalism is a hell of a lot better than Socialism.
@Evitzee I know it's the internet so sarcasm is hard to decipher but you really can not be serious when you say "We are not ruining the planet regardless of what the pearl clutchers keep wailing. We are not making it inhabitable and the more we pull people out of poverty the better the environment will get." As IMHO it really isn't a case of not ruining the planet or not making it inhabitable as both of those are exactly what modern day mankind has done and is still doing at an ever increasing and alarming rate. Also as you put it pulling people out of poverty has nothing to do with improving the environment in fact just the opposite is true unless and until we make radical changes to how that is done as they will use more resources and increase pollution not decrease it thus escalating the issues the planet already faces as this is so far from being the solution as possible IMO. As for your claim that Billions have been lifted out of poverty you must be joking just some facts for you "It is estimated that the world population reached one billion for the first time in 1804. It was another 123 years before it reached two billion in 1927, but it took only 33 years to reach three billion in 1960 and According to the United Nations, world population reached 7 Billion on October 31, 2011." So just when were these Billions of people lifted out of poverty then? as I'm sure they would like to know. Or do you really believe that air pollution, water pollution and all the insects and animals declining at alarming rates and going extinct is a good thing and that capitalism is the answer? If so where can I get the rose tinted glasses you seem to view the world threw but seriously socialism is not the cause and capitalism is definitely not the answer Mankind's disregard for the consequences of his actions are the biggest threat and cause and is what with out a doubt is causing the destruction of this once beautiful planets Eco systems all for short term gains and long term pain and that is why nothing gets done because it will be someone else's problem in the future so those today grab what they can and leave it for someone tomorrow to fix except in this case tomorrow never comes. Marc
Environmental destruction is so often caused by capitalism and greed, I want to say always but I guess sometimes it is caused by simple thoughtlessness or stupidity. Destroying forests for lumber, factory owners dumping pollution into the eco system to save money because the end user and everyone in the “value chain” demand products at the cheapest possible prices. Or creating new versions of the same smart phones and making the old ones obsolete. The list goes on and on.
If the earth is "lucky", the human species will manage to destroy itself before it destroys all other forms of life around here.... so it can reset itself and start all over again the work it completed over millions of years to give us all the beauty we have enjoyed... and are now wasting and destroying.
True, but both their successes and their eventual downfalls were due to their various social policies - due to the stuff you don’t see. I think there’s a lesson in that. By the way, our pyramids will be the massive depots of nuclear waste...they will serve as a glowing reminder of our presence on this ball long, long after we’re gone. None of this is to say we shouldn’t do the space thing. It’s cool and who knows what it’ll bring.
@dialstatic - I like the quote that civilisations are destroyed by their solutions not their problems... just look how complicated finance is these days :0) I do agree for example the Chernobyl elephants foot is a strong calling card … but Lageos 1 (shimmering gold ball above) is not predicted to re-enter the atmosphere for another 8.4 million years and it is prettier and less toxic so it still gets my vote :0)
New Lunar lander ….Blue Moon announced today … stepping stone for a Mars base maybe? https://omegaforums.net/threads/jeff-bezos-unveils-blue-origins-new-blue-moon-lunar-lander.94750/
Space program to date has reaped benefits of thousands of times more value than the money spent. As for poverty. The vast majority of middle class people in most countries in the 19th century and earlier would envy the poorest person in Europe or North America of today. The true pestholes of the modern world are as they are because the inhabitants have been too busy killing each other over generations old feuds ,that only they seem to take seriously, to take advantage of modern economies. The Strong Man Dictators of said pestholes take advantage of this by deliberately keeping their populations poor and hopeless.