Comments on: Per Aspera Ad Astra

By: Brandon Seifert

Brandon Seifert — Sun, 08 Jul 2012 15:29:30 +0000

I definitely think we need to focus heavily on commercial development, but due to the way the industry as a whole has been set up I do not think this can be done efficiently and effectively without NASA there as an advisor and customer, at least in the immediate future.

I don’t think we need to worry about the Chinese at all. Everything they’re doing now we’ve done already and have been doing for the last 50+ years. IF they end up going to the Moon I think you’ll see political interest begin to pique, and IF they decide to go to Mars, then and only then will you see the American victory-machine wake up. I do not think China will go to Mars before SpaceX (that is Elon Musk’s ultimate goal with the company in the short-run).

I think GEO and deeper space is definitely a perfect set of goals, but I don’t expect to see commercial companies out there for another 2–3 decades as we can barely penetrate LEO. It is definitely a critical issue, but I think a more critical issue is re-inspiring the public and making space and science sexy again.

The argument, based on the idea that mankind no longer pursues and celebrates scientific discovery and no longer explores as it could, presses the importance of challenging ourselves. The speech is mean to inspire. By exciting the general public, perhaps interest in science and exploration can be piqued, and maybe people will wonder about the universe around them again. The goal of the speech is to strike tones of excitement, urgency, and inspiration.

I want to focus on getting people to come to a logical conclusion regarding the development of space exploration and science through their own emotions. That logical conclusion being “Go for it! We need to explore space!”, of course. If you don’t like something, if it doesn’t catch your attention, pull your heart-strings, or move you, then you’re much less likely to align your interests with it. I want to get people to think about the status quo and question it. I want them wonder about the things we are currently capable of, the things we are capable of doing in the future, and why we aren’t pursuing them to a greater extent.

Pathos touches on human passion, inspiration, and fear; all emotions deeply planted within the very nature of exploration and discovery. By reigniting these emotions within the public, interest in space and science could be instilled and a new emphasis on these fields could be created. The general public may and most likely does not understand the scientific and engineering background related to space exploration, nor will they understand the political and economic complexities that promote or prevent exploration. But they understand the danger and the risk, as well as the immense exhilaration of doing something for the first time in history.

So yes, I definitely agree with all of you, however I think the MOST IMPORTANT challenge that must be accomplished first is making people want space again.

By: John Strickland

John Strickland — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 23:39:39 +0000

This s a fine statement in support of the space program in general. Dr. Hawking has also done some good work recently in this regard. What is needed now is a more concrete approach to creating what some of us call “Access to Space”, not just Low Earth Orbit, (LEO) but GEO, the L-points, lunar orbit, Mars orbit and the surfaces of both objects.
We now seem to be winning the battle to get better access to LEO (with the efforts of people like Elon Musk), but little progress has been made in the other areas, since we have no projects to create reusable spacecraft and “gas stations” in space to refuel them. This is the most critical issue now for the space program. How to split responsibility for developing such vehicles between industry and NASA is a major question still unresolved. Once we have a transport system in place, access to many locations will become much easier, and a whole new era in space exploration and development will unfold.

By: Claude Phipps

Claude Phipps — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:28:21 +0000

I agree completely. Not only "to the stars" of course but also to the understanding of our origins through truly magnificent experimental programs like the LHC. The near-proof of the existence of the Higgs boson announced last week is I believe the most important thing that's happened in science in my working lifetime. It is an exquisitely complex theoretical item that has now been observed. Two teams of three thousand scientists were involved! Scientists were standing outside the CERN facility all night, like for a rock concert, hoping to get in for the announcement. Peter Higgs from the University of Edinburgh himself was there, and was lucky enough to live to see what he predicted in 1964 come true. I am confused why the official physicists' point of view seems to be that it was terribly embarrassing for Leon Lederman to have called it the "God particle" and then retract and call it the "Goddamned particle." Without it, nothing would have mass. We would zip through each other like the neutrinos do, except that we and the rest of it wouldn't exist in the first place. If it isn't God, what is? The half century of scientific faith leading up to this announcement is the kind of faith I can believe in! Fifty years is a long time in anyone's life. At the end of it, something appeared.

By: Ray Wright

Ray Wright — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 16:13:37 +0000

Agreed — and on both comments above! I’m thinking that the reason that the Chinese space programme is progressing so fast is that the Chinese government, which does not need to worry about troublesome things like elections, has set itself a goal in space and they are going to see it through, whatever. They will have the Moon and Mars to themselves, I’m sure.

By: Brandon E Larson

Brandon E Larson — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:54:39 +0000

I’m with my namesake here, because a politician’s promise is only good until the next election if at all. We (the USA, that is) live in a free country with a free market economy, at least in theory. It is time we start acting like it and take advantage of it to do what needs to be done ourselves rather than wiat for our masters in Washington to do it for us, like we have done for the last 80 years. I’ve already outlined my thoughts and my research in my past posts, so I won’t go over it again, but I just put my own time and resources into the cause rather than begging for some token support from NASA and the NSF.

Now if we can just get tthe cranks and trolls like Rossler off of this site it would be a great discussion forum. Are you listening Mr. Klien?

By: Keith Taggart

Keith Taggart — Sat, 07 Jul 2012 15:35:23 +0000

Well said! The only point that I would add is that the Chinese seem to have picked up the torch and vision of space flight so humanity will go to the stars. There is also a small group of entrepeneurs in the US who have started to build a commercial space effort that may or may not succeed. Perhaps it is time for people to suppor those efforts and forget about what our government does or does not do in space.