Human space exploration still 'do-able!'

There seems now to be a tendency to view the current state of affairs in space exploration as a major setback. And, in many ways it is. But it's also an opportunity for a renewed and more cooperative approach to space exploration.

In 2004, when former U.S. president George Bush announced his country's plans to return to the moon, it could have been and was viewed by some as a means to divert at least some attention away from a clumsily executed and increasingly unpopular "War on Terror." However, its resultant Constellation program also marked an important step in maintaining a human (and largely American) presence in space in the wake of the retirement of the aging shuttle fleet.

A new administration brings a new set of priorities. And a return to the moon - and even beyond - is sadly not high on that list.

Human exploration isn't popular to many and they do have a point. It is inherently unsafe and inherently expensive, with robotics capable of doing many of the things human beings would be able to do and at a fraction of the cost. But robots can't do everything. They can't move autonomously. They can't make snap decisions. And they can't get themselves out of sticky situations creatively, should they arise.

Ah, but there's that price tag again. About $400 billion by some estimates to get a crew of people to Mars.

Clearly, there is a lot of room for recriminations. A lot of work already completed on the Constellation program will now go into mothballs. Or, does it need to?

Here's the thing...a lot of nations in the world are already "spacefaring" or, at the very least, have their own space agencies and are involved in space exploration technology development. Canada is most definitely one of the latter! Other nations like China, India, Japan, etc., have already shown tremendous prowess at launching satellites, material and even people of their own into space. Russia is already a major player.

So why not make space exploration more of an international effort? I know, I'm hardly coming up with anything new here. This sort of idea has been rattling around for years. But could this new change in American focus be a new opportunity to take what has been learned and "spread the cost?"

Any nation that participates in a united effort to get to space will also be the first to accrue the benefits. And any space exploration development project does lead to new technology development. So already, that is one major incentive.

And it just seems to make sense. For one thing, it's already agreed by international treaty that space, the moon and the planets do not belong to any single nation. Why should their explorations be any different?

There is so little that unites the nations of the world. However, a shared interest is certainly a good place to start. And a truly international success that lands an international crew on the moon or even Mars would benefit from shared success far more than they would from singular resentment and envy.

of course, as this article on Spacedaily.com points out, it is likely to be a difficult row to hoe as many nations continue to look on their neeighbours with suspicion and insist that they can do it on their own. However, it is worth it for nations to start putting such foolishness away. The reasons are far too many to list and none are more important than the other.


If it can be conceived of, it can be done. All it takes is a little will. And a good dash of hope.

Clear skies.

So...NOT the end of the world, then!

On Tuesday, it was announced the Large Hadron Collider near Geneva, had smashed two 3.5 trillion electron volt beams of gold ions together. The combination resulted in record energies never before produced on Earth, almost instantaneously creating conditions similar to the universe in the first milliseconds after the big bang.

Almost just as quick, internet discussion groups were alive with both declarations of praise and predictions of doom.

Of course, you're probably aware of the LHC is. It's the product of the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), a consortium of 20 European states that spent 10 billion Euros to build the LHC, the largest scientific instrument ever built. it is a 17-mile circumference track of superconducting magnets that direct opposing beams of charged particles into collisions of tremendous force! Imagine the kinetic energy of two baseballs colliding into each other at 100 miles per hour each. Doesn't sound like much? Well then, condense that into an atom. That's a big whack for a little atom!

Of course, for the past couple of years, a lot of talk has been heard over "will this create a black hole and destroy the Earth?" It has even spawned lawsuits in order to prevent the switch being thrown. However, in addition to courts rejecting the bid on the grounds that it was out of their jurisdiction, there were also arguments that nature does this kind of thing over our head every day. In fact, the particles that come into our atmosphere from cosmic phenomenon are even stronger and rain all manner of subatomic particle on us.

So here's the thing...the chances of such an occurrence are not zero. But they're also so remote, you might as well be worried about being trampled by a dinosaur in the next 30 seconds. Hasn't happened yet? Not surprising!

And there were those saying "What a waste of money! It could have been spent on 'real' problems here." To me, that's a spurious argument. First of all, it assumes that "throwing money" at a problem is a solution. Frequently, it's only the cause of more problems.

Secondly, it assumes that not enough money is being spent on certain problems already. However, if you listen to actual economists and people on the ground dealing with these issues rather than Bob Geldof and Bono, the real problem is not the amount of money being spent, but the fact that it isn't getting where it's going. In fact, again, a lot of it boils down to the expectation that money somehow solves everything.

Finally,it presumes to be able to predict how discoveries by CERN will actually be used. Indeed, with every experiment of this type, it opens up the possibility for new and better understanding of the fundamental laws of nature. That, in turn, can lead to advancements in technology that can and have been proven to enhance the quality of life.

So, by next year or so, we should be seeing the LHC powering up even higher to it's maximum 14 trillion electron volts. What amazing discoveries can we look forward to?

See you at the bottom of the black hole!