That's All Folks!

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.” With the mothballing of the space shuttle it occurs to me that the future now belongs to someone else.

Our “can-do spirit” has eroded into, “can’t-do”.

I hope that Sir Richard Branson from Virgin Galactic is hiring.

What else is there to say?

Thank you to NASA and the final team aboard the Atlantis. Please return safely and take your place in history; after all, you are living proof that we once dreamed.

No Return to the Moon (at least by the United States)

I was only an infant when man first set foot on the moon. I have no memories of that moment in history when everything became possible and science fiction became science. I have taught about that moment in history and how it inspired the world to reach for bigger and better things. How many different advances were made and how many jobs and careers had been launched right along with those Apollo missions. I remember telling my class that there were plans afoot to return to the moon and that they could expect to see this happen within the next 8 – 10 years baring any drastic cuts to NASA.

Well, here are the drastic cuts: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9150040/White_House_killing_NASA_s_moon_mission_reports_say. That nixes the moon and the Space Shuttle. As for Mars – who knows?

I did pass along my excitement at the notion that private companies would now become major players in space travel. I discussed the X-Prize and Space Ship One and Virgin Galactic and Sir Richard Branson and the VSS Enterprise and how a real and true revolution was going to be taking place in their lifetime. I just didn’t know that the revolution would be happening as quickly as it will be. When the Space Shuttle is done and over and mothballed our government expects private enterprise to take up the slack. This is, at once, a good thing (mostly) and a bad thing. Private industry will open up the market much wider than NASA ever could hope to. Need a satellite placed in orbit? Virgin Galactic could do that in between passenger trips. How about repairs to the Hubble telescope? Sir Richard could probably put those repairmen just where they need to be. I wonder, however, what corporate entity is going to represent the United States on the International Space Station? The hatch opens and the contingent from the United States are all wearing Red Bull or Monster Energy Drinks or Viagra tee shirts and hats. As they say in some circles, “That’s the weak sauce.” And, Gentle Reader, THAT is the weak sauce.

If I could go back in time I would have told my class that Wall Street investment bankers, American car manufacturers and credit card company bailouts would prove to be more important than their futures. I would have told them that they should really consider learning Japanese or Chinese if they wanted to be in on the lion’s share of technological advancement in air and space technologies. Oh sure, I would have encouraged them in math and science and foster an interest in the possibilities; I would have just recalculated their aspirations. Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “The future belongs to those who believe in the power of their dreams.” I would have set those dreams a little lower. Really, where do I think I am, Tokyo – Hong Kong?

Oh, if I could but turn back the clock.

Look, I understand. It is just not that important to us here in the States. Why would it be? We have it all. We have been there and done that. Exploration, advancement, and goals for the future - our overtaxed attention spans just can’t handle that amount of pressure. Our standards in education have sealed the deal. We are a service society. We do not produce. Those days are gone. Production is now in the hands of those who have put it at a premium, those who invested in their futures by training the next generation to actually want to be engineers. Humanity will return to the moon. It is as sure as the tides. Here in the United States of America - well, we’ll be able to watch it happen on our flat screens. I just hope that they don’t have to preempt “American Idol” to do so. Our sensibilities just couldn’t take it.

Note from the author… While writing this blog I encountered another little article from BBC. It is about how some states (currently California) are attempting to protect the Apollo 11 landing site from other countries that have active plans to go to the moon… unlike us: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8488783.stm.

How Free Enterprise Will Save the Future of Space Exploration

We were going back to the moon in 2020. I taught a summer camp class on “Star Trek” this past summer at my local Community College. The meat and potatoes of my class was not only Star Trek, but also a history of space exploration, where we are and where we, humanity, may be heading in the next handful of years. I told my class about the Ares and Orion programs from NASA where were going to be replacing the Space Shuttle and that, if the funding was there, humanity would be returning to the moon. Well, funding will be going to other places for now. Chances are NASA will not be able to afford the trip.

Abstract ideals such as exploration are not enough for your Average Joe to hang his hat on and get behind. No. Exploration has to have purpose, has to be a means to an end; it has to turn a profit. Historically, this has always been the case. It is, therefore, not proper for me to throw too many stones towards the bureaucrats.

So just how does one make exploration a profitable venture? Well, you’ve got to give ‘em the old razzle-dazzle. You have to captivate the senses of said Average Joe and you have to show a profit at the end of the day; a reason for reason, so to speak. Before he died, Arthur C. Clarke postulated that orbital platforms could be tethered to the earth like great swinging stones. Why? These tethered orbital platforms would have access for experimentation and tourist dollars but the best benefits would be to communication and to energy production since as this orbital platform is cutting its way through the ionosphere it is producing electricity which, in turn, would be completely green and, as long as the orbital platform remains tethered to the earth, inexhaustible. Think of how many jobs such platforms would provide for Average Joe’s around the world. Speaking of energy and jobs how about orbital solar arrays? Unfiltered sunlight, unspoiled by the earth’s atmosphere, channeled directly to your outlet from Mother Nature herself. Money made.

I don’t have the capitol to attempt either of these options but someone out there does. Don’t believe me? Well, back in my Star Trek class I also told my students about Virgin Galactic and how Sir Richard Branson was going to be putting the future of space travel into the hands of entrepreneurs instead of bureaucrats. This December (2009) the VSS Enterprise is going to be making history. Based on the technology from Space Ship One (which won the X-Prize and is now hanging in the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum between the X-1 and the Spirit of St. Louis) it will usher in a new era. Space flight is now within the Average Joe’s hands. Granted that Average Joe will have to pay about 200 K for a ticket but let it be known, that is a LOT cheaper than NASA, not only that but this technology is real; it has happened and, come December, it will be happening on a regular basis. Here is Virgin Galactic’s computer generated promo of what is about to happen – NEXT MONTH: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IytjSl6voP0. New Mexico is now the home to the world’s first Spaceport. Seriously.

Free enterprise will save space exploration. It is a matter of time and a matter of profit. We were going back to the moon in 2020. I do not believe that NASA can do it. With the world the way it is unprofitable exploration is not at a premium. If you can make a dollar, yen or rupee that mindset will change in a New York minute. Therefore, I say give Sir Richard Branson a shot; I believe he will have us to the moon much sooner and at a fraction of the cost that the bureaucrats are projecting.

If I could afford it, I’d go aboard the VSS Enterprise inaugural flight. What about you, Gentle Reader?