SPACE, A WONDERFUL ILLUSION

 

Dozens of very large companies are involved in spaceflight and space exploration, some with a greater success than others and many failing abysmally.  Although the majority are private companies, some funded by shareholders and others through private equity firms and personal wealth, but almost all of them depend on government contracts and government largesse to keep them in business.  The persnickety problem remains a return on investment and not just a few pennies either.  Many proposed ideas such a space mining have never been attempted before.  All those ideas look great on paper.  No more than lofty ideas filled with potential and of course the lure of a handsome return on investment.  Concepts without proven viability are a hard sell, especially when cash strapped governments are reluctant to part with tax dollars, especially in the face of a lack of public interest, a public far more interested in the hard-pressed problems facing Earth and upset with high levels of taxation that barely put a dent in tackling issues that remain persistent, stubborn and refuse to go away.

Neither the moon nor mars are tickling anyone’s fancy as vacation getaways or getting away from Earth period.  SpaceX has made great inroads, but the bulk of their commercial success lies in launching satellites and government funded missions.  Only the satellite industry has proven profitable due to our addiction to information gathering and sharing, highly entertaining but lacking in real substance.  If anything, we’ve become experts on media addiction, but selling us wholeheartedly on space is not one of them.  And with global paranoia and conflicts ramping up to new heights, a globally coordinated effort to explore and colonize space is not in the cards.  By the time we figure out how to get to space economically and profitably we will in all likelihood have killed ourselves.

Back on earth we haven’t sat on our laurels when it comes to developing weapons of mass destruction and NATO and the U.S. are sitting on pins and needles as they watch how their weapons fare in the emerging battlefields across the world.  I mean, why develop all that costly military hardware if you can’t try it out.  You can’t indefinitely train troops for battle readiness.  We train people to duke it out and kill each other.  And the battle for space supremacy is no different.  NASA was challenged to put Americans on the moon and twelve astronauts did walk on its surface.  We performed feats in the 1960s that are now calling for a repeat.  NASA spent over 30 billion dollars and all we have to show for these heroic attempts are about 800 pounds of moonrock and bragging rights.  Everything came to a screeching halt and nothing happened in the interim and for obvious reasons.  No real return on investment.  A lot of space junk and nothing more.  Some other impressive technologies emerged as potentials and the space shuttles were indeed a marvel to behold but the technologies we employ are not only costly, the bulk is wasted or cannot be reused.  No shelf life.

The Artemis rocket has a ninety percent fuel load and a ten percent load capacity.  And only a fraction of that rocket, a capsule, returns to Earth.  We haven’t figured out how to bring back huge payloads from space-based mining operations.  Shuttles and capsules come back on fumes as all the energy is used going up.  There are no re-fueling stations in space, nor stores or any other convenience we’ve come to rely upon on Earth.  Duplicating what we have on Earth in deep space is rather problematic.  Surviving inside heavy suits strolling around a dusty and rock filled landscape may be fun a few times, but the novelty will soon wear off.  Living inside a permanent bubble won’t be great either, especially in cramped quarters.  There is a renewed reason as to why we pursue space this time around and it has little to do with who first lays claim to the moon or mars or any other piece of space real estate.

We haven’t been nice to planet Earth.  Our impact has been disastrous and continues at an increased pace as our human population continues to soar in numbers.  We’re running out of things and energy is at the top of the list.  We’re proven experts at coming up with one fantastic plan after the other, although scheme is a better word.  Beating each other up over land and resources is increasingly costly and futile.  Many parts of planet Earth are inhospitable and impractical for human development and habitation.  Space lacks the one thing that is needed the most for a successful exploration:  Infrastructure.  On Earth planes fly from city to city, from nation to nation and across continents.  They land on airstrips and planes are reloaded and refueled, all of it seamlessly and profitably.  Planes cost millions of dollars but some have been in the air for decades and have safely transported millions of passengers in comfort and style.  Accidents are rare.  Not only are space rockets one-time-use items, they are horrendously expensive.

In the mid-nineties one of NASA’s top managers spoke at a space symposium and touched upon the fact that the exploration of space with conventional spacecraft is simply not feasible.  We’re still spinning our wheels and we’re not going anywhere.  Space is a hostile environment.  Cold and dangerous.  The trick is to find cost effective ways to either go back and forth efficiently or to find new places to settle; finding a space-Columbus willing to traverse the heavens in search of new worlds.  The awkwardness of space lies in the vastness and the fact that space exploration with conventional spacecraft simply won’t work.  The problem is not just money or a long-term vision or investment, it is time.  Within the near infinity of space we’re nothing more than an insignificant speck, a blob, a floating ball.  Earth is our miracle.  Within the vastness of space, millions or billions of lightyears away, there may well be planets similar to ours but we lack the technology and the time to get there.  If other civilizations are out there they cannot get to us and we cannot get to them.  Time and space are unsurmountable obstacles.  We are creatures driven by curiosity and imagination and we won’t give up trying and dreaming.  Space will remain the stuff of dreams and speculation.  In the meantime there are some pressing needs on Earth that demand our attention and it will dampen our space expectations . . . and investments!