Port 80

This just in from InstaPundit: A new summit of proponents of space travel has called for setting human settlement of space as the major goal of the United States’s space program. We’ve seen calls like this one before, but it is worth noting the sheer variety of groups involved in this particular declaration - from longtime space activists such as Jerry Pournelle (see previous entry on Fallen Angels for more) to CEOs of space corporations to the X-Prize foundation to punch-happy astronaut Buzz Aldrin. To quote from the proposal:

The human settlement of space is a noble cause that deserves the attention and support of people throughout the world for the following reasons:

• To enhance prosperity for all people and make use of the abundant resources of outer space;
• To fulfill the drive for discovery and exploration, which is an innate human quality at the core of progress and thriving civilizations;
• To ensure the survival of human civilization and the biosphere, and protect them from natural and man-made disasters.

Expanding boundaries to this new frontier is a pursuit of freedom, a fundamental element of progress essential to the fulfillment of human potential.

I’ll be quite frank and say that the space program is right up there with national defense as one of the issues that I think are absolutely vital. To those who would argue that we are wasting our money in space, I would suggest first considering the short term, direct results of the space program, such as GPS, global communications, and accurate weather prediction. How many lives have been saved because satellites let us track hurricanes days before they strike land?

It is also necessary to consider the long term impacts of the space program - specifically as relating to the third point in the list above. The solar system has a large but finite lifespan. Sooner or later, the Sun will begin to cool and die. Furthermore, if current predictions of stellar evolution are correct, it will expand as it cools - an event that will probably boil away the oceans of Earth and render the surface of the planet sterile. (Yes, the sun will cool - but it will be cool for a star.) In the shorter term, there is always the chance of an asteroid strike or mass calamity. Every major geological age has ended with a mass extinction - some wiping out up to 90 percent of species on earth. We are high up enough on the food chain that there is a fair chance that such a major calamity will exterminate the human race on Earth.

The qualifier about “on Earth” is added deliberately. Obviously, catastrophes within our ecosystem will not affect other ecosystems - other ecosystems which can only be created or populated through human settlement in space. The key to settling these other ecosystems is starting now. Expanding towards space will be a technological and societal struggle possibly greater and more difficult than anything we have attempted before, and will require both resolve and foresight. Furthermore, we will need to start early, and work persistently at the problem for years, if not decades, if not centuries. Hollywood aside, major space flight initiatives do not get built in a day. Technology is cumulative - fifty years ago, the laptop I am typing this entry on would have not only been ridiculously expensive but technologically impossible. Now, a private citizen can easily carry more computing power than was possessed by the Manhattan project. Likewise, interstellar travel cannot start from scratch, but must build upon interplanetary travel, which must build upon lunar travel, which in turn must build upon cheap orbital launch systems, which must in turn build upon something like the level of technology we currently have.

Although the task will be long and difficult, we can accomplish the goal of interstellar travel and human space settlements given time. It will simply require foresight and resolve. The very same foresight and resolve that has led us to our current bold strategy to deal with the finite nature of oil reserves. Yes, in the face of the certain eventual failure of every oil reserve discovered or undiscovered, we gritted our teeth, made the hard choice, and built SUVs.

It’s a good thing that Buzz Aldrin chaired this summit. He’s got experience beating sensibility into the ignorant.

My wings are made of tungsten, my flesh of glass and steel,
I am the joy of Terra for the power that I wield.
Once upon a lifetime I died a pioneer,
Now I sing within a spaceship’s heart,
Does anybody hear?
-Julia Ecklar, Phoenix