One day, thenewgreen and steve got to talking, and decided that despite how good the audio podcasts are, why not try one with video. This is the first installment of what might be many. What feedback do you have for us? What could make this better?
Participants: mk, b_b, ecib, steve, theadvancedapes
A big shout out to steve for putting this video together. Fantastic work!
You'll notice that we've created the account TNGPODCAST that we will post the audio and video-casts from. If you're interested in the content, follow this account. Thanks for listening/watching.
The question stands: What is it about space that most fascinates you?
Thanks for a great podcast guys, and a brilliant video production. Watching this brings back all these memories and feelings... as mk said near the end it's the feeling of standing at the edge of the ocean. Space makes us feel so small, and in the face of all this expanse you can't help but feel totally empty. And from this emptiness comes peace and a feeling of acceptance of your place in the grand scheme of things. Your mistakes vanish. We are so unimportant compared to this scale... and yet... we as individuals are still the most important thing of all. This dissonance makes me spin. I feel dizzy, high, inspired and lost. It's like being in love. I watched the first moon landing as a 1-year old. Of course I don't remember it, but I do remember watching one of the last landings when I was 4. I grew up with space books, space ship models hanging from my ceiling. My dad was friends with Gordon Cooper. Being an astronaut was all I wanted to be. I had a fellowship lined up with NASA during my senior year of high school. And then Challenger blew up and NASA cancelled their fellowship program, amongst many other programs. I ended up joining the circus instead. Huh. A part of me is still out there. Private space travel is extremely exciting to me. I can only hope that I can be rich enough before I get too old. And if I'm very old before I can afford it... I think I'd like to die in space.
It is a bit like standing on the shore of the Ocean, but we have a familiarity with the ocean that allows us to mentally scale the size of it. We have globes, maps arial shots of the earth etc. With space the scope is so immense that we cannot scale it per practical reference. It feels like fiction, which is one of the reasons I find it so alluring.I had a fellowship lined up with NASA during my senior year of high school. And then Challenger blew up and NASA cancelled their fellowship program, amongst many other programs. I ended up joining the circus instead. Huh.
NASA's loss was the circus' gain.
Oh, how I love questions like these :). Great stuff, by the way! Hard to put to words all of the emotions that space & space travel conjure up. But actually, I think I can pick my favorite part: the feeling I get when I think about the massive, beautiful, and dangerous frontier we have in front of us, waiting to be explored. Everything we're used to is scaled up exponentially in space; distances between things, their sizes, dangers, everything is just so much more immense. I love it.
I really wish that we would get going on missions to some of the more interesting moons in our solar system. Europa could have a subsurface ocean of water. Titan has methane lakes and an atmosphere of nitrogen, and plenty of complex organic compounds. Io is covered in volcanoes. Enceladus has a possible subsurface water ocean, internal heat, and releases plumes of water, methane, and CO2. Every one of these could bring discoveries as interesting as those found on Mars.
Every one of these could bring discoveries as interesting as those found on Mars.
Do you think it will be governments that are heading to these moons or private industry? You once wrote a piece about how robots are taking away manned space missions, do you think that there will be a stark divide: Govt = robot exploration / Private industry =space tourism?
Is there merit in it, or is profit simply cash? What is the time frame for the returns, etc. What I like about space is that you can't know, really, what you will learn by going there. I think some companies are getting into space, precisely because it is a laboratory that almost guarantees new breakthroughs in science. Those should be profitable at some point, but I agree I don't think companies are gonna go mine for gold or oil any time soon. But to answer your question, what I like about space is that the encounter with it challenges our abilities and assumptions like very few encounters still do. I agree that venturing into space is potentially an evolutionary event, and I'm all for evolving. Being active in our engagement with space changes how we can feel about the Earth itself. Astronauts have talked about how meaningful it is to them to simply look at the Earth, and how that changes what it means to them.
The thing about companies mining in space is actually interesting. As of right now, a lot of our technologies are held back based on not having enough access to rare-earth metals such as gold, lithium, platinum, etc. Perhaps this is even a part of the reason Elon Musk became a part of SpaceX, knowing Tesla's electric cars were going to need a lot of lithium for their batteries; so much so that they're building a gigafactory to double the global output of lithium batteries in the next 2 years, and even build further factories elsewhere based on demand. I haven't done the math, but I think, if with our current output of lithium batteries we're already becoming aware of our limit in lithium reserves, a yearly doubling, tripling, etc. the yearly output will make it as apparent, if not more so than our current oil crisis. And it's not as if we'll go back to oil, or stop using rare-earth metals. We'll need to venture into the void of space collecting them from wherever we can, and bringing them back to our home (wherever that may be at the time). This however invokes a further question in me. If we were to be forced to evacuate the earth and live somewhere else, would we still continue with earth-based industry? By that time space travel will presumably be a better-known science and possibly be able to be set up and performed by robots, and robotic engineering will be advanced enough that things like assembly lines will be able to run autonomously with minimal human interaction. I think it would be interesting to find out if the human government would decide to further destroy earth as a lost cause and to avoid damaging other planets needlessly, or if we'd decide to spread it through the solar system to do minimal impact everywhere. Perhaps even have industrial sectors based in moon and planet-like satellites that can be landed on and maintained manually, but wouldn't require things such as cooling, and would maintain the beauty of all the planets.
I don't disagree. I see what you believe, I however don't think "a lot" of "our" technologies are held back due to a lack of rare earth metals. If that were so I believe we would have more market pressure to recycle said metals. Elon Musk... I get the feeling that what he wants to do and what will be done might differ, and I don't think the difference will be decided so much by the availability of lithium. I would guess that the success or failure of his endeavors will have more to do with corporate and governmental actions (or non-actions). Uh, hrm.... Yes? But, in a different way. I mean it depends way too much on what you consider the traditions of earth-based industry. I doubt humans will treat the rest of the universe with too much more care than they (we) have Earth. My guess would be that we will have some form of space based slavery. That hangs on my definition of slavery..... Odd to have this thread pop back up.The thing about companies mining in space is actually interesting.
As of right now, a lot of our technologies are held back based on not having enough access to rare-earth metals such as gold, lithium, platinum, etc.
This however invokes a further question in me. If we were to be forced to evacuate the earth and live somewhere else, would we still continue with earth-based industry?
It would seem that our encounter with space is like no other, at least that's what people with first-hand experience claim. The Overview Effect is something I should very much like to experience someday. There is certainly something noble about partaking in endeavors of these magnitudes solely for the sake of experience and research without any certain monetary returns. I am excited to see what the future holds, as I can tell you are too. Thank you for the comment and welcome to Hubski!
You mention the Apollo missions in the podcast and how they were largely fueled but he Cold War. I almost long for a competitive spirit like that to reemerge. Perhaps with China?
I don't mean an arms race etc. But what is wrong with some healthy competition? Ideally, this could be a global initiative. This would be absolutely fantastic but if not, having two nations race to be the first to do "X", could really help advance the field. Competition can exist without vitriol.
I don't know. I suppose I just have a deep aversion to any form of tribalism or nationalism. I see space exploration in terms of a investigation into not only space, but also into our own context. Everything we learn about space regards us as one species on one planet. If anything I see it as an opportunity to diminish international politics, not reinforce them.
This was really well put together, and I felt like the visuals increased the impression the podcast made on me! In the future I'd love original footage, of say, the interviews themselves (as long as that's feasible).
Thanks ecib. The credit for the video goes entirely to steve. But I think it is the beginning of a really fun collaboration between the podcasts and his video-casts.
Four things about Space. 1) I like space. 2) When steve sent me the link to this podcast, I watched it before going to bed. I had a dream about space during night. 3) I take up plenty of space and I want to take up less. 4) I am constantly searching for my role in space. Because I think I have been miscast.
1) Me too. It's fun watching my daughter begin to be interested in it too. Reminds me to "look up" more often. 2) That's awesome! I would welcome such a dream. Was it of the "Star Wars" variety or more NASA realism? 3) I hear that 4) Only recently have I begun to think about this. I spend a lot of energy working towards something that in the end I don't think I'll much care about. I'm not sure I'm "miscast" but I am not exactly allocating my time in the most beneficial way. Good luck in finding your "role" Reese. Glad steve sent the video to you, I really like what he created.
I really like your comments, thenewgreen! Thank you for your support and clever wit. I liked it when you said "not allocating my time in the most beneficial way". I feel that I do this often. Maybe that is where the "miscast" feeling is coming from. However sometimes I am really kind to myself and I stop and feel peace and gratitude for all that I have. My friends and family and such. It is truly a rewarding and lovely experience. Plus if all of that fails there are always cookies.
Hey Fox, No not yet. I need to get on that. Truthfully, I'm not exactly sure how to go about that. I'll look in to it this weekend. Thanks for the nudge though.
Do you think you will ever revisit any topics down the line? Obviously there is enough content to have different podcasts for a while, but it might be interesting to see how views have changed if anything major takes place (If something is found on Mars, etc.). And if you need someone to contribute, im up for it.
I would like to preemptively point out that I accidentally say 1968 instead of 1969 as the year we first stepped on the moon. Thanks to sounds_sound for pointing that out. Now I cannot listen to the intro without cringing. My apologies to all involved.
No, you shouldn't I am really glad you pointed it out, otherwise I'd go around the rest of my life miss-stating the year we landed on the moon whilst claiming to be a space enthusiast. You likely saved me a lifetime of sideways glances and mutterings under the breath.... space enthusiast my ass ... I really appreciate your setting me straight. You're a good friend and fine human being. and... P.S. You're a jerk.
Space seems like fiction, like it is not real. Then sometimes I'm able to see stars in the sky and it seems more real. It's that glimpse of it being real that fascinates me. I'm still pretty young, maybe someday I'll actually get to be there. Maybe I'll stand on Mars?