07.22.09
Warped sense of priorities leading to disaster
NASA and the world have been marking the 40th anniversary of the first moon landing on July 20th 1969.
The crew of Apollo II, Michael Collins, Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin got together in a rare reunion and spoke about their experiences and about the future of space exploration.
It is those views and the views of other commentators that I find quite astonishing. Speaking about the space race between America and the then Soviet Union, which was the catalyst for the Apollo programme, Neil Armstrong said:
It did allow both sides to take the high road with the objectives of science and learning and exploration. It provided a mechanism for engendering cooperation between former adversaries. In that sense, among others, it was an exceptional national investment for both sides.
Science, learning and exploration? A mechanism for engendering cooperation between former adversaries? Perhaps I’m missing something here but my understanding/memory of the space race is somewhat different. I remember it as a ruthless propaganda war between two superpowers fighting to enhance national, military and political superiority.
It was part of a much wider Cold War which itself was a misnomer because it was only ‘cold’ for American and Soviet citizens. It was very, very hot for the millions who were killed and injured as the two superpowers fought each other in proxy wars primarily in Africa and South America.
The comments about future space exploration were even more bizarre.
Michael Collins:
I worry that the current emphasis of returning to the moon will cause us to become ensnared in a technological briar patch, needlessly delaying for decades the exploration of Mars, a much more worthwhile destination. Focusing on a lunar return could imperil plans to reach more interesting destinations.
Buzz Aldrin: Calling for NASA to first go to the moon then to near-Earth objects like the potential Earth-collider Apophis and eventually to the Martian moon Phobos.
We can reach these destinations on the pathway to Mars within the next two decades and added that his plan would put astronauts in line to land on Mars some 66 years after the first humans set foot on the moon’s Tranquility Base, an event that occurred 66 years after the Wright brothers’ first powered flight.
NASA’s director of exploration systems integration said:
We’re going back to the moon, not for flags and footsteps but for a sustained presence. We’re going to use the moon as a stepping stone to Mars and we’re going to look at other interesting spots, like asteroids and near-Earth objects, and we’re going to look at all the other exciting places to go in this solar system.
These gentlemen want to expend enormous amounts of time, money and resources to have a look at some ‘interesting places’ millions of miles out in space while 21st century civilization is rapidly heading towards major disaster on planet earth.
The entire scientific community, with a few exceptions, is in agreement that environmental damage, over population and uncontrolled commercial and industrial growth is destroying the planet.
I agree with James Lovelock’s prediction that 80% of humans will perish by 2100 AD as a result of global warming leaving the remnants of humanity struggling to survive in the Arctic where the climate will be just about tolerable. Trips to Mars will not then be uppermost in human priorities.
Don’t misunderstand me, I love astronomy, I believe humans are natural space creatures and I firmly believe that, if we manage to survive, our destiny is in space and not just on our home planet. But that’s a big IF we survive and judging by our actions to date I’m not very confident that we will.
Instead of wasting resources on trips to Mars we, and when I say we I mean the entire planet, should be urgently working to get off the planet and live in space. In fact we should have been working at this project since at least the 1960’s when we first began to realise the damaging effect humanity was having on the environment.
Depressingly, because of the enormous resources and extent of global unity required it is probably too late for such a massive enterprise.
Humanity today is behaving like a family planning a holiday in a far off land and hoping that the fire raging in the backroom will, somehow, be extinguished by the time they get back.
Permalink Comments off