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| Lileks on Apollo: "...each planet would feel like a blank page in a passport..." |
| 2009-07-21 |
| As I’ve said before, nothing sums up the seventies, and the awful guttering of the national spirit, than a pop song about Skylab falling on people’s heads. “Skylab’s Falling,” a novelty hit in the summer of ’79. It tumbled down thirty years ago this month, and didn’t get much press, possibly because of the odd muted humiliation over the event. But it wasn’t end of Skylab that gave people a strange shameful dismay. It was the idea that we were done up there, and the only thing we’d done since the Moon trips did an ignominious Icarus instead of staying up for decades. So this wasn’t the first step toward the inevitable double-wheel with a Strauss waltz soundtrack, or something more prosaic. Wasn’t that the way it was supposed to work? Moon first, then space station, then moon colonization, then Mars. If a kid could see that, why couldn’t they? What was stopping them? Money, of course; a reason to do it; sufficient know-how. A proper adversary competing in the same arena. (The Reds weren’t heading for Mars, although that would have been an exceptional piece of propaganda. Not too many political systems have planets that match their ideological hue.) Institutional bloat. Cultural anomie. By the time we got our national mojo back in the 80s the culture had shifted, and the overculture was full of people whose hackles bristled when people started talking about national greatness, national destiny, as these were just code-words for whatever sort of warmongering madness that “actor” in the White House wished to bring down on our heads. But that was just part of it: mostly, I blame good special effects. Once we could experience space, and alternate near-futures in which we could see the great beyond in realistic ships piloted by Bruce Willis, the appetite for the real thing slaked off. Robot exploration is very cool; I’d like more. As someone noted elsewhere, we should have those rovers crawling all over the Moon, at the very least. It’s just down the street. But think how much grander we would feel if we knew that our first mission to Jupiter was coming back next month. (Without the giant space-fetus.) How we would imagine our solar system, how each planet would feel like a blank page in a passport waiting for a stamp. Perhaps that’s what annoys some: the aggrandizement that would come from great exploits. Human pride in something that isn’t specifically related to fixing the Great Problems we face now, or apologizing for the Bad Things we did before. Spending money to go to Mars before we’ve stopped climate turbulence would be like taking a trip to Europe while the house is on fire. |
| Posted by:Mike |
| #1 The problem with returning to the Moon is that NASA is caught up in reinventing the wheel. It loves to do basic research, but abhors the practical efforts needed for a long term, cumulative mission. This means that the robots that should go to the Moon should not do much of any kind of basic research, but should instead mine hard rock tunnels, slowly and methodically, over the course of a year or two, so that when astronauts return to the Moon, much of their habitat will have been built. Out of the vacuum, enhanced and cosmic radiation, extremes of heat and cold, and the very abrasive Lunar dust. By not having to bring their habitat with them each time they go to the Moon, they can bring much more supplies and equipment. The robots would have to be nuclear powered, and once their mission was over, that nuclear furnace could provide abundant energy for the astronauts. The robots' lander would be on a one way mission, so should be cannibalized for pressure doors, reinforcing rod, floors, walls and ceiling. Once mined, the tunnels should be reinforced with ceiling rods, then sprayed with sealant against micro fissures. Once the pressure doors are installed, the cave could even be pressure tested for leaks. And once the astronauts had arrived, the robots could be used to tunnel for water ice. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2009-07-21 14:36 |