Thinking about how to get to deep space

An early exposure to, and subsequent mild obsession with, the original Star Trek left me with a curious malady: I could muster absolutely no enthusiasm for contemporary space missions. Compared to the magical craft on Trek, NASA's rockets and shuttles were (and still are) so primitive. How could I get excited about a fragile space station, or tiny probes that needed months to reach a mere asteroid?

Fortunately (because I believe we need to be able to leave Earth if the human race is to survive in the long run), not everyone is so eager to run before learning how to walk. The New York Times reported in mid-October about DARPA's "100-Year Starship Study".

Participants — an eclectic mix of engineers, scientists, science fiction fans, students and dreamers — explored a mix of ideas, including how to organize and finance a century-long project; whether civilization would survive, because an engine to propel a starship could also be used for a weapon to obliterate the planet; and whether people need to go along for the trip. (Alternatively, machines could build humans at the destination, perhaps tweaked to live in non-Earth-like environs.)

There are a lot of great ideas cited in this article; do yourself a favor and check it out.

One thing the article makes clear is, the future probably won't look like Roddenberry's vision. (Does that mean we'll be spared the touchy-feely creepiness of people like Deanna Troi? Whew.)

I had to smile at this:

The $1.1 million study — $1 million from Darpa, $100,000 from NASA — will culminate with the awarding of a $500,000 grant to an organization that will take the torch for further work.

Darpa would then exit the starship business, sidestepping interrogation by Congress during the next budget hearings of why it was spending taxpayer money on science fiction dreams.

I guarantee that the cost of a Congressional investigation into where this money went would dwarf DARPA's and NASA's paltry contributions. Yet I think there's a better than even chance such an investigation will occur. Sigh.

Oh, and there was at least one participant who shared my impatience with current goals:

Some speakers said they thought the first goal over the next century should be colonizing the solar system, starting with Mars.

Dr. Obousy, for one, made his preference known in a couplet:

On to the stars!

Cowards shoot for Mars.