Category Archives: Space Science

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, Science And Society, Space, Space Science, Technology and Society

Missing The Point At The Economist

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I just want to pull my hair, of which I have little to spare, when I read editorials like this:

Luckily, technology means that man can explore both the moon and Mars more fully without going there himself. Robots are better and cheaper than they have ever been. They can work tirelessly for years, beaming back data and images, and returning samples to Earth. They can also be made sterile, which germ-infested humans, who risk spreading disease around the solar system, cannot.

Here we go again. Humans versus robots, it’s all about science and exploration. It is not all about science and/or exploration. The space program is about much more than that, but the popular mythology continues.

Humanity, some will argue, is driven by a yearning to boldly go to places far beyond its crowded corner of the universe. If so, private efforts will surely carry people into space (though whether they should be allowed to, given the risk of contaminating distant ecosystems, is worth considering). In the meantime, Mr Obama’s promise in his inauguration speech to “restore science to its rightful place” sounds like good news for the sort of curiosity-driven research that will allow us to find out whether those plumes of gas are signs of life.

Hey, anyone who reads this site know that I’m all for private efforts carrying people into space. They also know that I don’t think that anyone has a right to not “allow them to do so,” and that I place a higher value on humanity and expanding earthly life into the universe than on unknown “distant ecosystems.” What have “distant ecosystems” ever done for the solar system?

I also question the notion that Obama’s gratuitous digs at the Bush science policy had anything whatsoever to do with space policy. And of course, to imagine that they did, is part of the confused policy trap of thinking that space is synonymous with science.

Economics, Political Commentary, Space, Space Science, Technology and Society

Lunar “Science”

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Rob Coppinger describes some potential scientific research that could be performed on the moon. As I note in comments over there (assuming that he approves it) he seems to be under the misapprehension that a lunar base (particularly a lunar base that will be as insanely expensive to build and support as NASA’s planned architecture would render it) can be justified on the basis of science return. It cannot.

I think that the root of the problem lies in his statement:

Back in August (how time flies!) I began to set out Hyperbola’s architecture for exploration…

Despite the name “Vision for Space Exploration,” this really isn’t about exploration (as I’ve also noted before). Exploration is just a means to an end. Even more, it’s not about pure science, or knowledge for knowledge’ sake. If we can’t come up with some compelling reasons for developing space technology (and more affordable means than Constellation as currently planned), it’s simply not going to happen.