What is possible is the development of a space plane. The Space Shuttle has been a step in this direction, as will be Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship One. Other ways are under investigation, including blimps that could go directly into space.
What is possible is the development of a magnetic sled system that can send large volumes of raw materials and cargo into space in an endless series of tough little spaceships. This system could be powered by a solar power station in space, with the energy beamed to Earth by microwave or laser. The Japanese are considering both methods for beaming power to Earth from their solar power station in space due to come into service by 2030.
What is possible is to provide all Earth’s energy needs from solar power stations in space, where the Sun’s energy is 5 times stronger than on Earth. This would remove the need to go nuclear, which may turn out to be a problem with diminishing supplies of easily accessible uranium. Solar power from space would allow fossil fuels to remain fossils.
What is possible is the construction of automated factories in space, using energy from the Sun and materials from the Moon, Mars and asteroids, which could produce any product, even food, that is
shipped to Earth in recyclable shuttles on one-way trips. With our current advancement in automation, remote control systems and robotics, no human presence would be required in the automated
factories and therefore an atmosphere would only be provided where necessary.
What is possible is securing a sustainable presence beyond Earth, which I call the Liberty Line, where no further resources are needed from Earth and where the wealth of space is essentially free beyond the Liberty Line. It would be possible, if the Human family became convinced of the need, to make a giant leap to the Liberty Line and through the rapid development of our already highly advanced technology, ensure that human civilization has a future on Earth and among the stars. Should a mountain-sized asteroid, the like of which knocked out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago, be detected on a collision course with Earth, there is no doubt that humanity would unite to meet the threat and swiftly establish a permanent and sustainable presence in space. Climate change, driven by global heating, poses just as dangerous a risk, but we are failing to see the need to respond with a space-based insurance policy and vision of hope that would inspire wide-spread support for space solutions that would in turn place us in a confident position to fight for a healthier Earthly environment.
What is possible is the construction of human habitats in orbit, that could be located anywhere in the Solar System, that provide an Earth gravity by rotation (centrifugal force – like the space station in
the movie ‘2001: A Space Odyssey’). The challenge for providing safe uman habitats in space will be protection from solar and cosmic radiation, asteroids, including micro-rocks, space junk and conflict, including terrorism. I wonder if security in space might only be achieved by shifting to a more peaceful society on Earth, so that the resentment factor is removed. That is why I suggest that our security in space and peace on Earth may lie in delivering a healthy and creative life for all Earth’s children. With a view to the Liberty Line, this would become possible, without fighting over the limited resources on Earth.
What is possible is to fight for a healthier Earthly environment from the confident position of ensuring our survival in space.
What is possible is to design and build a future in the Solar System where poverty and death by starvation are spectres of humanities wild adolescence.
What is possible is to design and build a mature society and economy in the Solar System that values the abilities and contributions of each and every human being, where the ferocity of competition is balanced by the inclusive necessity of cooperation.
What is possible is to build an adjustable sunshade in space at La Grange 1 that can cool the Earth in a safe way, if the temperature on Earth starts rising too high with global heating and as efforts to
reduce greenhouse gases will not be immediately effective. It will take decades to bring greenhouse gases down to an acceptable level, even after current levels stop rising and they will not stop rising
any time soon if a warming Arctic region starts releasing enormous volumes of stored-up methane in the permafrost and ocean floor. A space sunshade will also be helpful in the future as the Sun steadily increases its radiant heat with age, until life will no longer be possible on Earth.
What is possible is to send fleets of robot space craft to distant star systems, craft that are small and filled with nano machines, sent out using solar sails driven by a powerful laser beam. They could make landfall at the distant star system, gather resources, build larger machines, send information back to Earth and build an automated factory that in turn could manufacture fleets of robot spaceships that are sent on to other star systems. In time this would create a great web of robot-machine communications that spreads out among the stars at the speed of a solar sail like seeds on a summer wind.
What is possible is to consider a human migration to a distant star that may last many generations, where fusion power (not fission) may be the only reliable power supply. The stellar migration could be resupplied by robot spaceships that could travel closer to the speed of light. The robots already at the destination star system could be instructed to build the city of dreams, or rebuild it, in preparation for the descendants of the stellar migrants. This thought seems impossible, to have a community in deep-space isolation, until it is realised that the migrants would be in constant communication with Sol (the Solar System) and would be a cultured scientific community involved in active research, such as finding fast ways to travel to the stars.
What is possible is to lose the space option through climate wars that could rip our civilization to shreds, or climate change tipping points tumbling toward a runaway greenhouse effect and a desert like Earth with little room for humans. James Lovelock has warned, that because our Sun is steadily warming, now 25 percent hotter than at the dawn of life 3.5 billion years ago, global heating could cause the Earth systems to shift to a permanently hotter phase and we know from Earth’s natural history that global environmental changes can happen quite quickly.
What is possible is for enough people on Earth to raise their awareness above the flat Earth of the thin layer of atmosphere in which we live and realise that we are on the verge of a most amazing
future, but if we cling to the Earthly nest, we may wreck the Earth and even fall from the evolutionary tree of life to kiss the dinosaurs in the fossil record.
What is possible is for the Human family to choose survival and follow Nature’s lead with expansion and diversity, unless we really are suicidal lemmings bent on sky-diving into extinction and wish to
risk becoming road-kill on the cosmic highway.
