Space the final tourism frontier
The National
Humanity must explore space not only to capitalise on huge economic opportunities, said Eric Anderson, the chief executive of Space Adventures. Our innate desire to explore means we should do it anyway.
“Decades from now, we will need to bring the resources of the solar system into our economic sphere of influence,” he told delegates to the Global Space Technology Forum being held in Abu Dhabi this week. “We need to colonise other planets.”
And Earth’s history, marked by catastrophic events that have reshaped the path of life itself, makes space exploration an even more pressing necessity. “These events will happen again,” Mr Anderson said, “and it is a prime reason why we as humans need to become a multi-planet species. To ensure our long-term survival, humans need to have more than one home.”
With a new administration about to take charge in Washington, The Planetary Society outlined a new roadmap for America’s exploration of space. In brief, it pretty much comes down to:
Mars - In
Asteroids - In
Moon - Booo-rrring!
That’s basically it, really. The press release follows after the break if you’re interested. If not, that may be as much as you need to know. Oh yeah, they’re also in favor of more climate research.
Continue reading ‘Planetary Society to Moon: Drop Dead! Oh, Right…Sorry…’
A Flagship class Titan explorer balloon. Credit: Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Space.com’s Leonard David reports that NASA and ESA planetary scientists are working out the details on possible flagship-class missions to Jupiter and Saturn that include landers, balloons and a mini-submarine.
“We have the outer planet flagship mission in the [NASA] budget … I do believe it will happen,” said Dr. Fran Bagenal, who heads up the chair of the Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG). “I couldn’t have said that four years ago … now I have great confidence that this will happen.”
One mission under review involves two orbiters to study Jupiter and its frozen moon Europa, which scientists believe possesses a subsurface ocean. Russia has proposed a Europa lander for the flight.
The Saturn mission would involve a main spacecraft that would orbit the gas giant and a smaller one to explore its satellite Titan. The Titan vehicle could deploy an atmospheric balloon, surface probes, or a mini-submarine to explore the moon’s methane lakes.
China’s growing expertise in space and rocket development is causing concern among its neighbors. A review by the National Institute for Defence Studies, a Japanese think tank, says that China’s program is “a vital means of achieving military competitiveness against the United States.”
“The organisations engaged in China’s space development have strong ties to the People’s Liberation Army and a considerable number of its satellites are presumably intended for military purposes,” the review states.
PLANETARY SOCIETY PRESS RELEASE
Pasadena, CA, — On March 29, 2008 in Brookline, Massachusetts, The Planetary Society will launch a series of Town Hall meetings to engage the public in charting a course for human space exploration beyond Earth orbit. This first Town Hall meeting will be hosted by the Clay Center Observatory of the Dexter and Southfield Schools, and is free and open to the public.
Planetary Society Vice-President Bill Nye the Science Guy will conduct the meeting, which will include short presentations followed by public discussion. Planetary Society Board member and scientist, Heidi Hammel, will provide an overview of current and planned activities in space exploration; Erika Wagner, an Aerospace Medical Engineer at MIT, will present a “Generation Y” perspective; and Gerry Haas will present a citizen/taxpayer viewpoint. However, the majority of the meeting will be dedicated to audience participation.
“The upcoming change in U.S. Administration is certain to bring many changes and new political priorities,” said Louis Friedman, Executive Director of the Society. “We need to examine the current Vision for Space Exploration to see what it will take to gather greater political support and public interest to carry out the Vision,” he added.
Continue reading ‘Planetary Society to Conduct Public Meetings on Space Exploration’
Britain’s Channel 4 will be airing a two-part series about famed physicist Stephen Hawking this week. Stephen Hawking: Master of the Universe, which will be aired on March 3-4.. The channel’s website has extensive information about the series and physics in general.
The Guardian has a story here by Rachel Cooke, who interviewed Hawking. There are quotes from the physicist and his colleagues, with discussions about space exploration, philosophy, religion and alien beings. The story also includes an interesting account of what it is like to interview Hawking, who is confined to a wheelchair and can only speak with the help of a computer.
The York University newspaper Excalibur has an article on the future of space exploration, which it sees in the form of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo and other tourist vehicles.
“Popular opinion sees space flight as a sidebar to human development. Even NASA, with their use of aging, decrepit and obsolete shuttles, appears to believe the same. But fear not, for our savior has arrived in the form of a virgin. Well, the Virgin Galactic program that is. Virgin has taken the initiative in commercializing space travel as a luxury for those who can afford it,” Brent Rose writes.
Alex Howerton has an interesting op-ed piece at The Space Review looking at the present and future state of American space exploration and doesn’t find much to feel confident about. Inadequate funding, weak political support and an apathetic public are all dragging down the U.S. effort. A change of administration next year may well doom the human moon program.
Howerton has a solution, however: go back to the future. He proposes resurrecting the 1986 National Commission on Space report, Pioneering the Space Frontier. Dubbed the Paine Report after its chairman, Dr. Thomas O. Paine, it is an excellent road map for future space exploration, Howerton says.
You can read his full commentary here.
The Huntsville Times has an op-ed by David King, director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, in which he promotes space exploration as the key to American global leadership.
“Continuing an aggressive space exploration policy is essential to maintaining and advancing the technological superiority that is critical to our nation’s prosperity and security in an increasingly competitive and dangerous world,” King writes.
