I know there’s a lot of anger over billionaires with vanity space programs in certain quarters, but nonetheless some things about it are worth taking note.
The latest (and second) manned flight of Jeff Bezo’s Blue Origin spacecraft is something I had to watch if only to see William Shatner make it to space. The run up to the launch was an infomercial in many respects, but it was still fascinating to look at it.
We’ve come a long way.
I’m old enough to remember the start of the U.S. space program, what with watching a Mercury — Redstone launch, staying up late to see Armstrong step onto the moon, actually being at the Cape for the Apollo 17 launch. And the loss of Challenger… I remember where I was when I heard the news.
But here and now we’ve gotten to the point where we have purpose-built hardware for space tourism. Granted it’s still pretty basic — Blue Origin is just up and down at this point, as is Virgin Galactic. SpaceX has more ambitious plans which will be coming soon.
We’ve crossed a threshold; we’re seeing hardware built and flown that is reusable, and the technology will continue to develop. This is still an activity that takes a lot of money, but it’s not an exclusive government monopoly any more. I’ve been waiting for this my whole life.
When Shatner emerged from the capsule, it quickly became apparent that the experience of seeing the earth from above the atmosphere had a profound impact on him. It was not what he expected; he had to struggle to find words for it.
It’s something that has come out time and time again from those who have made it to space. Seeing the earth below and the universe above is a revelation. At some point we may get to a point where we start taking it for granted, but this is the promise that seemingly died with the last Apollo mission and stalled with the Shuttle. Are we finally there yet?
The legendary science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein’s future history series includes “The Man Who Sold The Moon”. Commercial space travel gets off to a start thanks to a visionary billionaire; written decades before Musk or Bezos, it is prescient in some ways.
“The future isn’t what it used to be” but space is going to be part of it in ways we can’t imagine.
Actually, some of us can — and it is happening.
About The Future...
For those who argue dealing with climate change has to take priority over everything else — and they’re not wrong — it would be a mistake to dismiss space as a luxury we can’t afford. Shatner’s reaction shows how the personal experience can shape attitudes. We need to change minds and educate on a massive scale to really start taking care of the planet. Space is one way to do that.
We also need good information to act effectively. The European Space Agency’s Copernicus program is giving us an unparalleled look at the earth. Its Sentinel Missions are powerful tools for keeping a watch on the entire planet and building up a huge database of observations.
The James Webb Space Telescope is going to be able to see farther out into the universe and farther back in time than ever before. It will change our basic understanding of the universe — including fundamental concepts in physics with implications we can only guess at.
The late G. Harry Stine was a space visionary. His novel “Space Doctor” under the name Lee Correy tells the story of the construction of the first Solar Power Satellite from the viewpoint of the doctor who has to set up space hospital to deal with the medical needs of the massive construction project.
His novel “Manna” set some years farther into the future describes a world where the industrialization of space is on the threshold of transforming society, where the resources of space make clean energy abundant and resources from space make it possible to create greater prosperity than ever for the human race. IF, that is, we can transcend the old mindsets obsessed with maintaining power and economic control from a world view that is functionally obsolete.
While Stine was a writer of fiction, he was also a writer of fact-based extrapolations about what the future could/should be like. His book “The Third Industrial Revolution” is a blue print for the industrialization of space. The core of his thesis is this.
The sun pours out vast amounts of energy; space-based infrastructure able to capture it could meet all of earth’s energy needs with clean, zero-carbon power and power space-based heavy industry. The only constraint is constructing it and the transportation systems needed to support it. Materials are not a problem; they are already out there once we develop the hardware to exploit them.
Stine’s vision was that this transformation from shifting to space-based industry allows the earth to become in effect a global nature reserve, a park-like home for the human race that preserves the biological systems we need to sustain life and live well.
The future isn’t what it used to be — the trick is to make it what we want and need it to be. Today’s crazy ideas could be tomorrow’s solutions. Who would have thought a TV show that only ran for 3 seasons in the 1960s would still be shaping the future we’re living in now?