July 17 2008 / by futuretalk
Category: Space Year: General Rating: 4 Hot
By Dick Pelletier
The immense popularity of Star Trek suggests that “to boldly go
where no man has gone before” could become humanity’s mandate for
the future.
Satellite Industry Association President Richard Dalbello sees
the space industry as the jewel of our economy. It drives
innovation, creates jobs, and positions us to begin mankind’s
greatest dream – to explore other worlds. 
But many believe our progress is too slow. Past explorations
produced huge benefits much faster. 25 years after the Lewis &
Clark exploration, wagons rolled west to Oregon and clipper ships
landed pioneers in California. 25 years after the Wright Brothers,
citizens could fly around the country. By contrast, landing on the
moon – our “giant step for mankind” – has only produced 40 to 50+
years of earth orbits and a few unmanned flights.
Space enthusiasts say this slow progress shows we are
misdirected. They would like to see faster development of moon and
Mars settlements and strong incentives created for private
businesses to design and build space colonies and other facilities
in space.
Space flights are expensive today, but once travel to and from
orbit become cheap; profit-driven entrepreneurs will head for the
high frontier to build hotels, permanent housing, and entertainment
and sports facilities.
Exploring space will also push genetic research. Better Humans
author Simon Smith claims environments such as Mars extreme cold
temperatures and toxic atmosphere will require biological changes.
Sending humans into space without genetic modification would be
impractical. (cont.)
US, EU and China all plan major space projects in the next 20 to
30 years. Spin-off benefits and military goals help drive this
global enthusiasm. Non-stick cookware, cable TV, the Internet, and
cell phones all owe their existence to space exploration. Future
spin-off benefits could include improved driverless cars, advanced
robots, and scramjet flights to anywhere on earth in an hour or
less.
But we need breakthroughs to achieve this glowing future. Gene
therapies to make space travelers comfortable in hostile
environments are 15 to 20 years away, and faster propulsion systems
are needed to bridge huge space distances in a timelier manner.
Will this future happen? Experts believe technologies will
develop at lightning speeds in the 21st century. Between now and
2030, we could see more breakthroughs than in the last 200 years.
From 2030 to 2050, advances might outpace all of human history. And
from 2050 to 2100, massive discoveries beyond the wildest
imaginings of science fiction could appear.
Anthropologist Ben Finney says “the space revolution is leading
humanity into an uncharted social realm that will change humankind
irreversibly.”
As we trek into this future aided by technologies we cannot even
imagine today, it’s easy for this writer to believe that more
humans could live in space than on earth by 2150. And we will
always keep in touch with these hearty space pioneers, because
sharing experiences of life in a strange new world will enrich us
all. Comments welcome.
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