Perhaps a better example came from my own
experience. My wife and I were walking
at the wonderful Asheville zoo. We were
on a stairway; unbeknownst to us we were just outside the lion’s exhibit. A lion roared. I’ve heard the MGM lion do it at movies for
years. But this wasn’t a recording. It was a real lion at point blank range and
it bypassed our conscious minds to hit our hindbrains first. My wife flew up the stairs in a blur. Black belt that I am, I snapped around in a
fighting stance faster than ever before.
A classic example of fight-flight reflexes, for all that my only chance
against the lion would have been to choke it to death by stuffing myself down
its gullet. You can watch “Animal
Planet” until hell freezes over and it will not for one instant, approximate
the reality of what is like to hear a lion roar in person.
There are of course the usual arguments against
humans in space. But let’s start with an
examination of that statement, “humans in space.” Humanity is now and has always been “in
space.” The thing in the sky is a G-2
main sequence star perhaps halfway through its lifespan. Its attributes govern every second of our
existence on this ball of rock we live on.
We are in space every moment of our life. The so-called “realists” who think of space
as something outré, that doesn’t involve them, suffer from myopia of epic
proportions, like an astronomer who looks through the wrong end of a telescope.
Space has and can intrude
on even their parochial world in an instant.
October 29, 2003 - the Halloween Storm - spawned auroras that were seen
over most of North America. Extensive
satellite problems were reported, including the loss of the $450 million
Midori-2 research satellite. A huge
solar storm impacted the Earth, just 19 hours after leaving the sun. Days later on November 4, 2003, one of the
most powerful X-ray flares ever detected swamped the sensors of dozens of
satellites, causing satellite operations anomalies. Astronauts hid as deep as they could go in
the International Space Station, but still reported radiation effects including
ocular “shooting stars.”
Meteor Crater lies thirty-five miles from Flagstaff,
Arizona. It dates from an impact 50,000
years ago. We were here. We just weren’t under that one as humans hadn't
reached North America. Which is good, as
this was a 2.5 megaton wake-up call.
That was utterly dwarfed by the 1908 event in Tunguska, Siberia. That event, thought to be an airburst of a
bit of cosmic flotsam, was in the 10-15 megaton range, right up there with a
strategic-level hydrogen fusion bomb.
These cosmic marbles aren’t gone and there is nothing that says Earth’s
orbit is sacrosanct from them just because we have cell phones, cable TV and it
would be gosh darn inconvenient for us to stop a thirty-five mile long rock at
45,000 mph.
Mars is due to get one of those later this
year. It will come in over one of the
Mars rovers, who will not note it with anything other than detached mechanical
efficiency, if their limited instrument packages allow them to take any note at
all. We will get to see it on TV, but
there, my friends, for the grace of God, go we.
I remember looking up at comet Hale-Bopp during its
last approach to Earth. While others
were enjoying the cosmic light show (and I won’t claim to be immune to that) I
did realize that I was looking at global species extinction mere light-minutes
away, had the orbit been a little different.
A miss is as good as a mile with cosmic bowling but you are playing for
all the marbles. When you look at the
moon, realize that you are looking at a body created because something hit the
good earth we’re standing on, hard enough to tear that bit off and hurl it into
the sky. If that is too big for you, too
out there and distant for your contemplation, go stand by Upheaval dome in
Utah.
But a mere chunk of rock is survivable. It’s not likely to get all of us. Though it could. Even if it didn’t wipe us all out, would a
technic civilization ever arise again?
We’ve mined most of the easily reachable resources around. Could we start over again?
There are greater terrors in space that could whiff
out our planet like a child blows out a candle on a birthday cake. We can protect ourselves and our genetic
heritage from some of them. Asteroids
might be pushed or blasted away from us but if a gamma ray burst goes off in
our local area of space, well, game over.
Even basic levels of local space control will entail investment in
infrastructure in space that dwarf all we have done to date. We will need stations and not merely
something like the International Space Station, but true factories, colonial
stations and deep-space ships. This
can’t be thrown together from nothing, despite what Bruce Willis’ did in
“Armageddon.”
Some of the “robot-firsters” will decry manned
space, their advocacy exceeding that of Asimov’s Susan Calvin, “It’s too
expensive.” They will be joined by the social engineers, “We need all the money
to solve our problems down here on Earth.”
Disabuse yourself of the notion that if all Earth’s
miniscule space budgets were plowed into the social budgets of countries, that
there would be a measurable decrease in the world’s problems. Trillions have been poured into anti-poverty
programs. Whether this has been
effective or not is a discussion for another place- however one must notice
that poverty, ignorance and warfare are doing quite well. If they were a stock they might have gone up
like you hope your 401K would. In any
event, the world’s space budget is a mere rounding error on social spending.
Even more fundamentally, the two issues are
unrelated. Space is a technological
battle with a social component. Poverty
is a political and social problem and far less a scientific one. It is related to the nature of our species
and its existence. Or as my Dad put it
in the most basic terms, “ If at the beginning of time you gave everyone in the
world a refrigerator, at the end of the first month there would be those with a
thousand refrigerators and those with none.”
And so it will always be.
Space is not simply a
hole into which money that could be better used for food stamps or worker
retraining is flushed. It fundamentally
helps economies and the poor. The single
most powerful example of this is the weather satellite. Storms that sank ships and destroyed cities
are now spotted early enough for avoidance and evacuation. Farmers have the ability to plan for weather
and crop management in a way their ancestors could not have dreamed of.
Communication satellites
make the world one huge party line. The
president of the United States and the premier of China can speak in
real-time. A doctor in New York City can
diagnose and help treat an appendectomy in Antarctica. On a more basic level, electronics have
become so reliable they are almost taken for granted. We have computer chips, solar cells,
biomedical sensors, cell phones, blackberrys and laptops from the space
program’s drive for technology.
Other may piously intone
that we should not go out in to space until we get our act together as a
species. The idea that we must somehow
correct all of Earth’s ills or somehow evolve to a pure state of political organization
is naiveté. Or if it is not, it may well
be that in exploring space we will gain the perspectives needed to allow change
to come. Perhaps we will truly come to
see Spaceship Earth as the small fragile place it is, with no safe place to
leave our hazardous junk and no crew who are unimportant. Earthrise on the moon made a seachange in how
we see ourselves and our little blue marble.
The rise of the world-wide ecological movement has some root in the arid
soil of the moon.
But
there is no sign on the cosmic rollercoaster that says you must be this tall
and morally evolved to take this ride. I
do not see our species changing that much as we head to the stars. We are man most mortal and doomed to die (for
all we are putting it off as far as we can each generation). We will lie, pollute and corruptly make our
way among the stars. And why not? We were not made as angels and we will not
become angels anytime soon. We were not required to be angels when we
left the cave, when we left Africa, when we walked the land bridge into America
and when we sailed from Europe. The
sanctimonious, who set themselves over the rest of us in judgment, will
probably never find us fit enough for the stars. Had it been left to them we’d still be in
caves.
Our machines are our tools and servants, good ones
too. We will take them with us and
occasionally send them ahead for there will be hells in the galaxy that no
mother’s child should face. We will
leave some of those to our mechanical friends.
But if our footprints do not overtake their tires and tracks, if we do
not confront God’s handiwork and wrest from it the “meaning of it all” then we
might have as well stayed home with our Xbox, playing HALO and watching Lucas
and Spielberg’s more interesting pictures of space. Or perhaps in the anteroom to Hell we will
meet the dinosaurs-they will look at us and say with sympathy born of a mutual
fate. “Asteroid? Bummer.
So you didn’t have a space program either?”
Sidebar Spacer Spinoffs (Editors Note this can
obviously be as short or long as serves your purposes)
Computer
Technology - NASA Spinoffs
SEMICONDUCTOR CUBING - NASA initiative led to the Memory Short
Stack, a three-dimensional semiconductor package in which dozens of integrated
circuits are stacked one atop another to form a cube, offering faster computer
processing speeds, higher levels of integration, lower power requirements than
conventional chip sets, and dramatic reduction in the size and weight of
memory-intensive systems, such as medical imaging devices.
STRUCTURAL ANALYSIS - This NASA program, originally created for
spacecraft design, has been employed in a broad array of non-aerospace
applications, such as the automobile industry, manufacture of machine tools,
and hardware designs.
AIR QUALITY MONITOR - Utilizing a NASA-developed, advanced
analytical technique software package, an air quality monitor system was
created, capable of separating the various gases in bulk smokestack exhaust
streams and determining the amount of individual gases present within the
stream for compliance with smokestack emission standards.
VIRTUAL REALITY - NASA-developed research allows a user, with
assistance from advanced technology devices, to figuratively project oneself
into a computer-generated environment, matching the user's head motion, and,
when coupled with a stereo viewing device and appropriate software, creates a
telepresence experience.
Consumer/Home/Recreation
- NASA Spinoffs
ENRICHED BABY FOOD - A microalgae-based, vegetable-like oil called
Formulaid developed from NASA-sponsored research on long duration space travel,
contains two essential fatty acids found in human milk but not in most baby
formulas, believed to be important for infants' mental and visual development.
WATER PURIFICATION SYSTEM - NASA-developed municipal-size water
treatment system for developing nations, called the Regenerable Biocide
Delivery Unit, uses iodine rather than chlorine to kill bacteria.
SCRATCH-RESISTANT LENSES - A modified version of a dual ion beam
bonding process developed by NASA involves coating the lenses with a film of
diamond-like carbon that not only provides scratch resistance, but also
decreases surface friction, reducing water spots.
POOL PURIFICATION - Space technology designed to sterilize water on
long-duration spacecraft applied to swimming pool purification led to a system
that uses two silver-copper alloy electrodes that generate silver and copper
ions when an electric current passes through them to kill bacteria and algae
without chemicals.
RIBBED SWIMSUIT - NASA-developed riblets applied to competition
swimsuits resulted in flume testing of 10 to 15 percent faster speeds than any
other world class swim-suit due to the small, barely visible grooves that
reduce friction and aerodynamic drag by modifying the turbulent airflow next to
the skin.
GOLF BALL AERODYNAMICS - A recently designed golf ball, which has
500 dimples arranged in a pattern of 60 spherical triangles, employs NASA
aerodynamics technology to create a more symmetrical ball surface, sustaining
initial velocity longer and producing a more stable ball flight for better
accuracy and distance.
PORTABLE COOLERS/WARMERS - Based on a NASA-inspired space cooling
system employing thermoelectric technology, the portable cooler/warmer plugs
into the cigarette lighters of autos, recreational vehicles, boats, or motel
outlets. Utilizes one or two miniaturized modules delivering the cooling power
of a 10-pound block of ice and the heating power of up to 125 degrees
Fahrenheit.
SPORTS TRAINING - Space-developed cardio-muscular conditioner helps
athletes increase muscular strength and cardiovascular fitness through kinetic
exercise.
ATHLETIC SHOES - Moon Boot material encapsulated in running shoe
midsoles improve shock absorption and provides superior stability and motion
control.
Environmental
and Resource Management - NASA Spinoffs
MICROSPHERES - The first commercial products manufactured in orbit
are tiny microspheres whose precise dimensions permit their use as reference
standards for extremely accurate calibration of instruments in research and
industrial laboratories. They are sold for applications in environmental
control, medical research, and manufacturing.
SOLAR ENERGY - NASA-pioneered photovoltaic power system for
spacecraft applications was applied to programs to expand terrestrial
applications as a viable alternative energy source in areas where no
conventional power source exists.
WEATHER FORECASTING AID - Space Shuttle environmental control
technology led to the development of the Barorator which continuously measures
the atmospheric pressure and calculates the instantaneous rate of change.
FOREST MANAGEMENT - A NASA-initiated satellite scanning system
monitors and maps forestation by detecting radiation reflected and emitted from
trees.
SENSORS FOR ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL - NASA development of an
instrument for use in space life support research led to commercial development
of a system to monitor an industrial process stream to assure that the effluent
water's pH level is in compliance with environmental regulations.
WIND MONITOR - Development of Jimsphere wind measurement balloon
for space launches allows for making high resolution measurements of the wind
profile for meteorological studies and predictions.
TELEMETRY SYSTEMS - A spinoff company formed to commercialize NASA
high-data-rate telemetry technology, manufactures a high-speed processing
system for commercial communications applications.
PLANT RESEARCH - NASA research on future moon and Mars bases is
investigating using plants for food, oxygen, and water to reduce the need for
outside supplies. This research utilizes Hydroponics (liquid nutrient
solutions) instead of soil to support plant growth and finds applications for
vegetable production on Earth.
FIRE RESISTANT MATERIAL - Materials include chemically-treated
fabric for sheets, uniforms for hazardous material handlers, crew's clothing,
furniture, interior walls of submersibles and auto racer and refueler suits.
RADIATION INSULATION - Aluminized polymer film is highly effective
radiation barrier for both manned and unmanned spacecraft. Variations of this
space-devised material are also used as an energy conservation technique for
homes and offices. The materials are placed between wall studs and exterior
facing before siding or between roof support and roof sheathing. The radiant
barrier blocks 95% of radiant energy. Successful retrofit installations include
schools and shrink wrap ovens.
purification.
Health
and Medicine - NASA Spinoffs
DIGITAL IMAGING BREAST BIOPSY SYSTEM - The LORAD Stereo Guide
Breast Biopsy system incorporates advanced Charge Coupled Devices (CCDs) as
part of a digital camera system. The resulting device images breast tissue more
clearly and efficiently. Known as stereotactic large-core needle biopsy, this
nonsurgical system developed with Space Telescope Technology is less traumatic
and greatly reduces the pain, scarring, radiation exposure, time, and money
associated with surgical biopsies.
BREAST CANCER DETECTION - A solar cell sensor is positioned
directly beneath x-ray film, and determines exactly when film has received
sufficient radiation and has been exposed to optimum density. Associated
electronic equipment then sends a signal to cut off the x-ray source. Reduction
of mammography x-ray exposure reduces radiation hazard and doubles the number
of patient exams per machine.
LASER ANGIOPLASTY - Laser angioplasty with a "cool" type
of laser, caller an excimer laser, does not damage blood vessel walls and
offers precise non-surgical cleanings of clogged arteries with extraordinary
precision and fewer complications than in balloon angioplasty.
ULTRASOUND SKIN DAMAGE ASSESSMENT - Advanced instrument using NASA
ultrasound technology enables immediate assessment of burn damage depth,
improving patient treatment, and may save lives in serious burn cases.
HUMAN TISSUE STIMULATOR - Employing NASA satellite technology, the
device is implanted in the body to help patient control chronic pain and
involuntary motion disorders through electrical stimulation of targeted nerve
centers or particular areas of the brain.
COOL SUIT - Custom-made suit derived from space suits circulates
coolant through tubes to lower patient's body/ temperature, producing dramatic
improvement of symptoms of multiple sclerosis, cerebral palsy, spina bifida and
other conditions.
PROGRAMMABLE PACEMAKER - Incorporating multiple NASA technologies,
the system consists of the implant and a physician's computer console
containing the programming and a data printer. Communicates through wireless
telemetry signals.
OCULAR SCREENING - NASA image processing techniques are used to
detect eye problems in very young children. An electronic flash from a
35-millimeter camera sends light into the child's eyes, and a photorefractor
analyzes the retinal reflexes, producing an image of each eye.
AUTOMATED URINALYSIS - NASA fluid dynamics studies helped
development of system that automatically extracts and transfers sediment from
urine sample to an analyzer microscope, replacing the manual centrifuge method.
MEDICAL GAS ANALYZER - Astronaut-monitoring technology used to
develop system to monitor operating rooms for analysis of anesthetic gasses and
measurement of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and nitrogen concentrations to assure
proper breathing environment for surgery patients.
VOICE-CONTROLLED WHEELCHAIR - NASA teleoperator and robot
technology used to develop chair and manipulator that respond to 35 one-word
voice commands utilizing a minicomputer to help patient perform daily tasks,
like picking up packages, opening doors, and turning on appliances.
Industrial
Productivity/Manufacturing Technology - NASA Spinoffs
MAGNETIC LIQUIDS - Based on the NASA-developed ferrofluid concept
involving synthetic fluids that can be positioned and controlled by magnetic
force, the ferrofluidic seal was initially applied in a zero-leakage,
nonwearing seal for the rotating shaft of a system used to make semiconductor
chips, solving a persistent problem‹contamination due to leaking seals.
WELDING SENSOR SYSTEM - Laser-based automated welder for industrial
use incorporates a laser sensor system originally designed for Space Shuttle
External Tank to track the seam where two pieces of metal are to be joined,
measures gaps and minute misfits, and automatically corrects the welding torch
distance and height.
MICROLASERS - Based on a concept for optical communications over
interplanetary distances, microlasers were developed for the commercial market
to transmit communication signals and to drill, cut, or melt materials.
MAGNETIC BEARING SYSTEM - Bearings developed from Space Shuttle
designs support moving machinery without physical contact, permitting motion
without friction or wear, and are now used in electric power generation,
petroleum refining, machine tool operation, and natural gas pipelines.
ENGINE LUBRICANT - A NASA-developed plasma-sprayed coating is used
to coat valves in a new, ten-inch-long, four-cylinder rotary engine,
eliminating the need for lubricating the rotorcam, which has no crankshaft,
flywheel, distributor, or water pump.
INTERACTIVE COMPUTER TRAINING - Known as Interactive Multimedia
Training (IMT), originally developed to train astronauts and space operations
personnel, now utilized by the commercial sector to train new employees and
upgrade worker skills, using a computer system that engages all the senses,
including text, video, animation, voice, sounds, and music.
HIGH-PRESSURE WATERSTRIPPING - Technology developed for preparing
Space Shuttle solid rocket boosters first evolved into the U.S. Air Force's
Large Aircraft Robotic Paint Stripping (LARPS) system, and now used in the
commercial airline industry, where the waterjet processing reduces coating
removal time by 90 percent, using only water at ultra-high pressures up to
55,000 psi.
ADVANCED WELDING TORCH - Based on the Variable Polarity Plasma Arc
welding technology, a handheld torch originally developed for joining light
alloys used in NASA's External Tank, is now used by major appliance
manufacturers for sheet metal welding.
Public
Safety - NASA Spinoffs
RADIATION HAZARD DETECTOR - NASA technology has made commercially
available new, inexpensive, conveniently carried device for protection of
people exposed to potentially dangerous levels of microwave radiation. Weighing
only 4 ounces and about the size of a cigarette pack, it can be carried in a
shirt pocket or clipped to a belt. Unit sounds an audible alarm when microwave
radiation reaches a preset level.
EMERGENCY RESPONSE ROBOT - Remotely-operated robot reduces human
injury levels by performing hazardous tasks that would otherwise be handled by
humans.
PERSONAL ALARM SYSTEM - Pen-sized ultrasonic transmitter used by
prison guards, teachers, the elderly, and disabled to call for help is based on
space telemetry technology. Pen transmits a silent signal to receiver that will
display the exact location of the emergency.
EMERGENCY RESCUE CUTTERS - Lightweight cutters for freeing accident
victims from wreckage developed using NASA pyrotechnic technology.
FIREMAN'S AIR TANKS - Lighter-weight firefighter's air tanks have
been developed. New back-pack system weighs only 20 lbs. for 30 minute air
supply, 13 lbs. less than conventional firefighting tanks. They are pressurized
at 4,500 psia (twice current tanks). A warning device tells the fireman when he
or she is running out of air.
PERSONAL STORM WARNING SYSTEM - Lightning detector gives 30-minute
warning to golfers, boaters, homeowners, business owners, and private pilots.
SELF-RIGHTING LIFE RAFT - Developed for the Apollo program, fully
inflates in 12 seconds and protects lives during extremely adverse weather
conditions with self-righting and gravity compensation features.
.
Transportation
- NASA Spinoffs
STUDLESS WINTER TIRES - Viking Lander parachute shroud material is
adapted and used to manufacture radial tires, increasing the tire material's
chainlike molecular structure to five times the strength of steel should
increase tread life by 10,000 miles.
BETTER BRAKES - New, high-temperature composite space materials
provide for better brake linings. Applications include trucks, industrial
equipment and passenger cars.
TOLLBOOTH PURIFICATION - A laminar airflow technique used in NASA
clean rooms for contamination-free assembly of space equipment is used at
tollbooths on bridges and turnpikes to decrease the toll collector's inhalation
of exhaust fumes.
WEIGHT SAVING TECHNOLOGY - NASA research on composite materials is
used to achieve a 30-percent weight reduction in a twin-turbine helicopter,
resulting in a substantial increase in aircraft performance.
IMPROVED AIRCRAFT ENGINE - Multiple NASA developed technological
advancements resulted in a cleaner, quieter, more economical commercial
aircraft engine known as the high bypass turbofan, featuring a 10-percent
reduction in fuel consumption, lower noise levels, and emission reductions of
oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and unburned hydrocarbons.
ADVANCED LUBRICANTS - An environmental-friendly lubricant designed
to support the Space Shuttle Mobile Launcher Platform led to the development of
three commercial lubricants for railroad track maintenance, for electric power
company corrosion prevention, and as a hydraulic fluid with an oxidation life
of 10,000 hours.
ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM - The Flywheel Energy Storage system, derived
from two NASA-sponsored energy storage studies, is a chemical-free, mechanical
battery that harnesses the energy of a rapidly spinning wheel and stores it as
electricity with 50 times the capacity of a lead-acid battery, very useful for
electric vehicles.
NEW WING DESIGN FOR CORPORATE JETS - NASA-developed computer
programs resulted in an advanced, lighter, more aerodynamically-efficient new
wing for Gulfstream business aircraft.
AIDS TO SCHOOL BUS DESIGN - Manufacturer uses three separate
NASA-developed technologies originally developed for aviation and space use in
their design and testing of a new school bus chassis. These technologies are a
structural analysis computer program infrared stress measurement system, and a
ride quality meter system.
Other spinoffs in this area include: Safer bridges, emission
testing, airline wheelchairs, electric car, auto
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