Perhaps oil-rich middle east countries can afford to pump large quantities of seawater to low areas (possibly as far as landlocked oil-poor african nations?).
It might be possible and it sounds very beneficial if it could be done, BUT it certainly does not sound at all practical. This was done near enough to the Red Sea that the water could flow into the farm via a man-made river. The water would have to be continually brought in. The system to replicate this a great distance from the ocean would probably be astronomically expensive. And would it even work at such a scale? Could one bring large amounts of saltwater inland and properly contain it, now allowing it to affect surrounding ecosystems?
The size of the pipelines/whatever to pump in the water would be the first in a very long series of problems. And simply getting so many countries to work together in bringing this pumping system through to its intended destination... I like the idea, but even if this current project is extremely successful, which sounds likely, it would be quite some time before anything like this could even be seriously considered.
This could provide jobs where they are badly needed, provide food on otherwise unusable land, provide leather and buiding materials, create oxygen, and leave the land in better condition than it was in to begin with. This guy must be an alien, since I am not sure at this point that human beings could come up with something that has this much promise.
My only real question is this: If this were done on a massive scale, using a lot of 'desert' land, could it impact weather conditions? Look at what large lakes or large swampy areas can do to the weather.
If this super-telescope will allow us to look at earth-sized planets, will it also allow us to gain more insight into those fifty or so planets that we have already discovered? It did not sound that likely from the NASA article, more that it would simply allow us to detect these same planets more directly. Other than simply gathering information, what are we gaining from this? It does not sound like we will be learning much other than possibly locating a few more planets that we know absolutely nothing about. Someone clue me in on what the benefit is with this, beyond simply being 'BIGGER! BETTER!'
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Perhaps oil-rich middle east countries can afford to pump large quantities of seawater to low areas (possibly as far as landlocked oil-poor african nations?).
It might be possible and it sounds very beneficial if it could be done, BUT it certainly does not sound at all practical. This was done near enough to the Red Sea that the water could flow into the farm via a man-made river. The water would have to be continually brought in. The system to replicate this a great distance from the ocean would probably be astronomically expensive. And would it even work at such a scale? Could one bring large amounts of saltwater inland and properly contain it, now allowing it to affect surrounding ecosystems?
The size of the pipelines/whatever to pump in the water would be the first in a very long series of problems. And simply getting so many countries to work together in bringing this pumping system through to its intended destination... I like the idea, but even if this current project is extremely successful, which sounds likely, it would be quite some time before anything like this could even be seriously considered.
This could provide jobs where they are badly needed, provide food on otherwise unusable land, provide leather and buiding materials, create oxygen, and leave the land in better condition than it was in to begin with. This guy must be an alien, since I am not sure at this point that human beings could come up with something that has this much promise. My only real question is this: If this were done on a massive scale, using a lot of 'desert' land, could it impact weather conditions? Look at what large lakes or large swampy areas can do to the weather.
If this super-telescope will allow us to look at earth-sized planets, will it also allow us to gain more insight into those fifty or so planets that we have already discovered? It did not sound that likely from the NASA article, more that it would simply allow us to detect these same planets more directly. Other than simply gathering information, what are we gaining from this? It does not sound like we will be learning much other than possibly locating a few more planets that we know absolutely nothing about. Someone clue me in on what the benefit is with this, beyond simply being 'BIGGER! BETTER!'