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Tuesday, 23 January 2007 16:21 |
 | | Mark West |
Space exploration is making interesting progress these days.
But perhaps the most interesting thing about that progress is that NASA ÇƒÓ and the United States government ÇƒÓ is almost totally uninvolved.
Of all the myriad disappointments of the last two decades where the American government is concerned, none is more bitter than that of NASA. Congress, led by William Proxmire and similarly minded leaders of short vision and long wind, has trimmed NASAës budget over and over for serious scientific exploration. At this point, the flagship program of the agency is the Space Shuttle, a sort of flying school bus whose economies didnët make sense when it was designed and make even less sense now.
The
Space Shuttle has its defenders, to be sure; the gigantic contractors
like General Dynamics, who assemble the various components of the
shuttle, are vociferous advocates of the program. But, as far as
scientific research or utility go, I would argue that the Space Shuttle
has been a remarkably inefficient expenditure of money, reflective of
the weak standing of the scientific community in the various
faith-based administrations of the last two decades.
George W. Bushës
solution to the ongoing lack of vision and leadership at NASA has been
typical of an administration given to noisy rhetoric and no substance;
he has proposed a return to the moon and an eventual trip to Mars, all
to be conducted sometime after he has left office and to be paid for by
means unknown.
But, as I said
at the beginning, scientific research into outer space really does
continue. The "Cosmos I" project is an effort to launch a solar sail
into orbit.
The sail itself
would consist of very large and very thin Mylar panels, stretched out
to rigidity after launch by an inflatable superstructure. These sails
would catch the photons radiating from the sun, in much the same way
that the sails of a ship catch the wind.
Although this
"solar wind" doesnët provide the massive kick-start of propulsion that
a chemical rocket would, it is both continuous and free. In just three
years, a solar sail could reach a speed of about 100,000 miles per
hour. At that speed you could reach Pluto in less than five years, four
less than a chemical rocket would take.
Although it has
been plagued by bad luck, projects like "Cosmos" represent the cutting
edge of space science, perhaps precisely because no government is
involved.
And the "Cosmos"
project is entirely funded by private donations. Like open source
software, like co-operative stores, it is part of the emerging new
model of how business will be conducted in the future.
I wouldnët argue
for a moment that governments are incapable of conducting large-scale
research. Probably, the demands of travel away from the earth are such
that only governments can manage to make it happen.
Unfortunately,
with the sorts of leaders we have these days, space travel just is not
going to occur. Weëre not going to Mars; weëre not going back to the
moon. It would seem that the only place the current administration is
really interested in visiting is Tehran, and that path is a road paved
with human suffering rather than with scientific advancement.
ï
Mark West is a professor of mass communications at UNC Asheville.
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