Why Space Advocates and Environmentalists Should Work Together

71 Pages·2014·4.96 MB·English

Afterword: Why Space Advocates
and Environmentalists Should Work Together
Aerospaceisnotusuallyconsideredverdant.Jetaircraftemittonsofcarbondioxide
into the atmosphere; some of the companies that make them are defense contrac-
tors, and nobody considers weapons of war, necessary or not, to be green. These
companies are in business to make money for their shareholders and will only be
greenifitsomehowbenefitstheirbottomlineoriflawormandaterequiresthemto
be so. This reality, and there are exceptions, also taints those involved in space
explorationanddevelopment.Butpaintingtheentirecanvaswiththesamebrushis
notonlygrosslyunfair,itisalsoincorrect.
Manypeoplewhodevotetheirlivesandcareerstotheexplorationofspaceare
notinitforthemoney.Sure,theyneedtoearnalivinglikeeveryoneelse.Butthat
is not why the authors of this book chose their careers. Greg Matloff is an
astronomer and astronomy professor. He lives, breathes, studies, and teaches
about the heavens. He does this, in part, because studying the universe tells us
somethingaboutourselves.Aswehaveexploredtheuniversearoundus,wehave
learnedhowpreciousourplanetEarthtrulyis.
C Bangs explores archetypesofEarth anddepicts cosmological elements from
anecologicalandfeministperspective.Onepremiseofherworkisthatwearepart
of Earth and all the elements of our bodies at one time were within a star. We
contain both systemswithin us. Herartinawide varietyofmedia isinformedby
mythology and the hope for human evolution. Space is not only about individual
heroicsornationalpride.Ultimately,itdealswiththeexpansionofconsciousness
andthesurvivalofthehumanspeciesandotherterrestriallifeforms.
Forexample,bystudyingtheclimateofMars,wehavesomethingtowhichwe
cancompareEarth’sclimate.Thisprovidesuswithanotherdatapoint,andthatis
vitally important because it is difficult, if not impossible, to explain anything
generally with only one example. An analogy would be trying to draw a line
using only one point. You are free to draw such a line in any direction within a
360(cid:1) angle. Making conclusions about any specific line that one draws as being
“correct”isthereforeimpossible.Withtwopoints,youmaydrawaline.Itmaystill
not accurately describe the system, but it will likely be closer to correct than any
G.Matloffetal.,HarvestingSpaceforaGreenerEarth, 205
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206 Afterword:WhySpaceAdvocatesandEnvironmentalistsShouldWorkTogether
other of the infinite set of lines that could have otherwise been drawn through a
singlepoint.
Les Johnson is a NASA physicist and manager. He dreamed of working for
NASA since he was a 7-year-old boy in Ashland, Kentucky, and watched on
television as Neil Armstrong set foot on the Moon. He knew then that he wanted
tobepartofthatgreatadventureandthathehadtobecomeascientistinorderto
doso.
Thethreeofusarenotunique,norareweintheminorityamongthosewhowork
inthefieldofspaceexplorationandscience.Mostofourcolleagueswithwhomwe
have discussed career motivations (“Why did you study science and become an
astronomer/physicist/engineer?”) share our fundamental love of knowledge and
passion to explore, develop, and use space for the betterment of humankind. And
thispassionisnotlimitedtoscientistsandengineers.
BusinessmanRobertBigelowisusingthefortuneheearnedinbusinesstofoster
space development. He is the founder and owner of Bigelow Aerospace near Las
Vegas, Nevada, which is building what may be the world’s first orbital hotel.
Bigelow has already flown subscale prototypes into Earth orbit and has plans to
loftfull-scalepressurizedmoduleswithinthenearfuture.
Anotherbusinessman,ElonMusk,isusinghisdot.comwealthtodevelopanew
generation of inexpensive rockets to carry machines and eventually people into
spaceatalowercostthaniscurrentlypossible.
EnvironmentalistssharethevisionofprotectingandpreservinglifeonEarth.By
workingtogetherwestandamuchbetterchanceofbeingabletomakethisvisiona
reality.
As we gaze skyward on a starry night, we are struck by how immense and
seeminglylifelesstheuniverseappearstobe.Ifwearenotaloneamongthestars,
thenweareamongaveryfewcivilizationslikelyseparatedbyanabyssthatwillbe
impossible to cross. Hence the imperative that we preserve that which makes us
unique.Wearepartofalivingplanet.Exploringanddevelopingspacewillhelpus
makethisabetter,greenerworld.
Brooklyn,NY,USA GregMatloff
Brooklyn,NY,USA CBangs
Madison,Al,USA LesJohnson
Appendix 1: The Current NASA Approach
to Human Life Support in Space
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208 Appendix1:TheCurrentNASAApproachtoHumanLifeSupportinSpace
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212 Appendix1:TheCurrentNASAApproachtoHumanLifeSupportinSpace
Appendix 2: NASA’s Current Plans for Human
Exploration Above Low Earth Orbit Include
the Multi-Purpose Crewed Vehicle (Orion)
and the Huge Space Launch System (SLS)
Booster
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