Misuzu Onuki (center, standing) listens in on a student brainstorming session during a space tourism and culture lecture at ISU SSP 09. On the left is South Korean astronaut Yi So-Yeon, who is an ISU student this summer.
Space Tourism Society vice president Sam Coniglio and Japanese space consultant Misuzu Onuki kindly invited me to sit in on an ISU session they conducted on space commerce and society at NASA Ames. It was a fun and fascinating session to watch, particularly as an ISU alumnus.
Sam and Misuzu spent about an hour reviewing the present and future of space tourism and commercialization. As we move out into space, they said, humans will being to develop new cultures. They then broke the class up into eight groups of five or six students each and gave them the following scenario: The year is 2025, and there is a large space habitat orbiting the Earth. What would they build on it that could be profitable and reflect space culture?
The students immediately took to brainstorming, a process which, depending upon the chemistry in any particular group, can be either a joy or a nightmare. During this session, it seemed to be mostly the former. At every table, students were pitching in ideas and letting the conversations flow toward consensus. It was only the first week of the session, but these former strangers – who hailed for all over the world - were already working together as if they had known each other for years.
The proposals they developed were quite diverse. One group said the station could serve as a type of orbiting United Nations where all societies could meet to resolve their problems. Another group thought up a televised game show featuring a giant maze that contestants would have to navigate.
My favorite idea was the giant translucent dome. During most of the day, the dome would be open so that inhabitants could float around while the Earth passed underneath them. Several times a day, the dome would be closed so a movie could be projected onto it. It would be really interesting to see what sorts of films and visual presentations could be done on a large dome with the Earth and stars as backdrops.
Then there was the Bow Wow group, which seemed to have had the most fun.
These students figured that rich people would love to take their pets along into space. They devised a stylish spacesuit for dogs, with a complex plumbing mechanism to deal with doggie doo-doo. It was very cute – and a good insight into space tourism. It has been reported that former Dallas star Victoria Principal would like to take her dog aloft on a Virgin Galactic suborbital flight.
In addition to developing some very interesting ideas, the session achieved its goal of getting the students to work together. It’s always great to see ISU students coming together like this, overcoming all their cultural, professional and language differences to plan a positive future for us among the stars.
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