In my last blog I wrote about my thoughts on the future of energy. I said I wanted to detail some of my views in upcoming blogs.. However, A subject has arisen that I think needs discussing sooner rather than later due to the upcoming election.
In the past a massive rocket topped off with 2 spacecraft with a computer no more powerful than a bargain bin calculator for a buck today. Lifted off and sent mankind to the moon! The year? 1969... Almost 40 YEARS ago!
So one can see why so many are angry that the best we can seemingly do is tinker around with Hubble.. Launch a space station who's science is easily beaten on earth 90 percent of the time. And deploy a number of probes....
Sadly, Likely clockwork.. Bush and his advisers launched a scheme to help him win the election by announcing a BIG new moon effort.. Too bad it turned out to be total crap in my view. Yes, it is only a matter of time before the new congress will shut down the Ares program...
Continued...
So what is next? Well to answer that we have to ask what is the priority of space for now?
Is it..
A) To explore the cosmos?
B) To find solutions to earth problems?
C) To Profit
For the last 30 years it has been mostly C with a little B thrown in for good PR... And yes overall it has been worth it. We can watch TV anywhere in the US without a cable.. We can navigate street by street.. etc...
However, That is slowly changing. GPS is about as good as it is going to get. The EU system will improve accuracy a bit.. However, Its priority is to ensure GPS remains on even in times of war and not to soup things up. The shuttle is basically limited to ISS and Hubble.. Etc...
So C is finished... What about A?
Do we want to explore mars? Of course! The question is now when...
Believe it or not. New advancements that could be used to reduce the cost and increase the safety of a manned mars mission come out just about every year! And one VERY important advancement is on the horizon...
http://en.wikipedia.org/... or VASIMR is what can open up reasonable cost missions to the planets.. It is efficient and can go into high power mode for times when you need a burst of power.
So when do we want to go? 2030 sounds reasonable to me. The rest is up to developments like EEstor so that we don't have to use fuel cells all the way to mars... EMC2 fusion so the VASIMR has a power source... And full spectrum nanotechnology solar power systems so that we can cruise with the reactor off..
Once we can build a ship to reach mars.. We can visit all sorts of places in the solar system.
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What about B? Yes earth has many problems right now with one of the biggest being the energy crisis.... So how can space help in that regard? Well 2 ways. He3 and Space Solar
He3: http://en.wikipedia.org/... This fuel is best extracted from the moon and if fusion research again drifts towards He3 (Currently drifting towards abundant Pb11) We will need to mine the moon to get this.. It would likely take 100 billion and a start of 2030 to get going with a reasonable sized output.. However, If it is needed badly enough it will be funded.
Space Solar: http://en.wikipedia.org/... Simply put a large solar power in space where you can absorb a hell of alot more energy and the material can stretch for miles... Then you use a thin microwave beam to transfer it to the middle of nowhere where it is received and converted into electrical power... Overall it is quite possible but I much prefer to work on fusion first because fusion would cost alot less and last alot longer. However, If launch technology continues to improve to the point where someone outside the .gov can run a shuttle service... It may just happen...
Another big need in the future is eyes.. And by that I mean eyes to the cosmos. As we have learned that nuking an incoming asteroid is not a reasonable way to destroy it due to it breaking up... Out best bet is if we can spot an asteroid incoming 20-30 years out. That requires that we get some birds designed to monitor the sky up there. If we have a few decades to do something with a bad incoming "roid" I am quite sure humanity will find a solution.
In conclusion I just wanted to start some thinking on dk about what we really can do in space in the future. This is very important because Obama and Congress will likely have to make some hard decisions about the future of space and we need to be informed so that we encourage them to make the right decision.
Thank you for reading!!