Where Will The Next 50 Years In Space Take Us Expert Opinions

Michael GriffinNASA AdministratorOn the moon, we’re going to have opportunities for numerous scientific advancements, everything from large radio telescopes to cosmic ray detectors. But we’re also going to learn how to live and work on the surface of another planet before going to Mars. We need to do that. The first time you go to Mars, you’re going to be away from home for three years at a time. We should walk before we run.>Tom Wolfe>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikTom WolfeAuthor, The Right StuffThe purpose of the space program is not to maintain superiority in space but to build a bridge to the stars before the sun dies. Homo loquax (man speaking) or homo sapiens (rational man) is the only thoughtful creature in the universe, so far as we know. If he doesn’t build himself that bridge to escape across, all is lost. Von Braun said as much in the 1960s, but NASA couldn’t let its philosopher-in-chief be some veteran of the Wehrmacht with a Jawoll accent.>Michael GriffinPeter H. Diamandis>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since Sputnik(Photograph by Jacques Lowe)Peter H. DiamandisChairman, X PRIZE FoundationPrivately financed human lunar research outposts; fundamental breakthroughs in propulsion; one-way missions to Mars; trillion-dollar asteroid mineral claims; nanotechnology-enabled single stage-to-orbit spacecraft; first births in space; discovery of non-terrestrial microbial life … this is a small snapshot of what the next 50 years has in store for us. While the stage will have been set by the world’s government space programs, these breakthroughs will not come through the incremental funding of government space agencies, but through the same economic forces that opened the Americas and the American West.>Tom WolfeBuzz Aldrin>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikBuzz AldrinApollo 11 astronautLong-term, I see robotics prevailing on the moon. With the total vacuum and the radiation, it’s a more challenging environment for humans than Mars. Humans will pass through occasionally for main-tenance and updating the base, or for entertainment, but I don’t see any need for a permanent human presence there. The most important decision we’ll have to make about space travel is whether to commit to a permanent human presence on Mars. Without it, we’ll never be a true space-faring people.>Peter H. DiamandisRalph Cicerone>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikRalph CiceronePresident, National Academy of SciencesNASA’s being asked to finish old commitments such as the International Space Station and Space Shuttle, to finish big missions where there are cost overruns, and to begin to think about putting people on the moon and even to explore Mars. It’s trying to do too much with too little. The manned space program is exceedingly expensive. Before we do much more we’re going to need a lot more evidence of public commitment. If people and Congress don’t want to make that longterm commitment, we’d better find out fast.>Buzz AldrinSir Arthur C. Clarke>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikSir Arthur C. ClarkeAuthor, 2001: A Space OdysseyBefore the current decade ends, fee-paying passengers will experience sub-orbital flights aboard privately funded passenger vehicles, built by a new generation of engineer-entrepreneurs with an unstoppable passion for space. And over the next 50 years, tens of thousands will gain access to the orbital realm. It won’t be too long before bright young men and women set their eyes on careers in Earth orbit and say: “I want to work 200 kilometers from home-straight up!">Ralph CiceroneSally Ride>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikSally RideFirst American woman in spaceAstronauts will remain the explorers, the pioneers-the first ones to go back to the Moon and on to Mars. Having said that, I think it’s really important to make space available to as many people as we can over time. It’s going to take a while before there’s really a booming tourist industry in space, before we have the ability to launch people for less than $20 million a ticket. But that day is coming.>Sir Arthur C. ClarkeMark Udall>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikMark UdallCongressman, D-Col.Human spaceflight is, no question, inspirational. And there’s a strong argument that the major advances in knowledge have come from robotic spacecraft. But in addition to exploring the solar system and the universe beyond, we still have to devote sufficient effort to understand our own planet. Our space program has been invaluable for that effort. We have a responsibility to those that are going to follow us to take care of this place; it really is an island in the universe.>Sally RideBurt Rutan>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikBurt RutanDesigner of SpaceShipOneThe next 15 years will see thousands of people leave the atmosphere on sub-orbital flights. Our SS2 system (now in its development phase) might fly 100,000 people by 2024. If it is shown to be highly profitable, perhaps we will see 20,000 people traveling to orbit by 2035 and then thousands to the moon by 2050. If we make a courageous decision like the goal and program we kicked off for Apollo in 1961, we will see our children or grandchildren in outposts on other planets.>Mark UdallBoris Naydenov>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikBoris NaydenovZero-G Instructor, Gagarin Cosmonaut Training CenterCreating and establishing orbital laboratories around the Earth is just the first step in exploring near space. Humans also have the opportunity to explore the moon, Mars and other planets of the solar system in the next 50 years. But I think it is not possible for one country. We need to unite our efforts. The more people will be interested in peaceful exploration of space, the quicker mankind will develop new worlds.>Burt RutanJill Tarter>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikJill TarterBernard M. Oliver Chair for SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence)Fifty years from now, I’d like to see human access to low Earth orbit and the moon for research, profit and recreation. But I would exclude human presence from all other planetary bodies and satellites that might currently harbor indigenous life, or have done so in the past. We should take a longer view and avoid both the biological contamination that has characterized previous human exploration, and the habitat alteration that many will find tempting.>Boris NaydenovDr. Louis Friedman>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikDr. Louis FriedmanExecutive Director, The Planetary SocietyIf humans don’t get there in 50 years, Mars will probably end up being colonized by our robots. If we do make it to the Red Planet, then the universe will be ours.>Jill Tarter>Media Platforms Design Team IntroductionEditor’s Letter | –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –> –>The MoonLiving on the Lunar Base | Inside Orion Spacecraft | Moon’s Astronaut Threat | PodcastMarsSurviving the Red Planet | Buzz Aldrin’s Roadmap to Mars | Minding the Astronaut Brain | PodcastPrivate SpaceHandicapping the Race | Future of Space Business | Burt Rutan Q&A | PodcastSearch for LifeScouting Crucial Spacecraft | U.S. Satellites Targeted | MIT Prof Q&A | PodcastInteractive TimelineEvery Launch Since SputnikMedia Platforms Design Team