O Nosso Futuro no Espaço

Gostei de ver este video. Muito revelador de várias “tensões internas” no esforço espacial norte-americano…

Partilho muitas das opiniões do Neil de Grasse Tyson.

Quem se lembra do Surveyor na Lua? E a maneira como os dois engenhosos rovers Russos são “esquecidos” também é profundamente sintomática.

Gostei também das intervenções do representante da Planetary Society

Penso que o “sectarismo” enfraquece muito os esforços espaciais.

Para mim, a questão (humanos versus robots) já nem se deve colocar, e é um sintoma do nosso atraso conceptual, (paradigmas antiquados) em que ainda não se está a encarar as missões “espaciais” em termos da propagação para fora da terra dum “ecossistema & technium” que inclui (entre várias outras coisas) os humanos, e as missões tripuladas.

A natureza não deita fora arvores. Penso que “deitar fora” satélites é um desperdício.

Deixá-los reentrar na atmosfera no fim das suas “vidas úteis” é profundamente errado.

O que hoje descrevemos como “lixo espacial” é o que outras pessoas que virão no futuro poderão vir a encarar dum modo totalmente diferente.

A expressão “lixo espacial” poderá até vir a cair em desuso.

Penso que o tal space junk” devia ser enviado para orbitas “muito altas” para um dia virem a ser utilizados como mátéria prima.

Justamente (irónicamente?) não falta “espaço” para os “arrumar” algures onde possam vir a ser úteis. Tantas órbitas possíveis… Nos oceanos, em zonas como o mar dos sargaços e nos “gyres do pacífico” já se formam ilhas de matérias “artificiais” que hoje não sabemos aproveitar dum modo económicamente viável e que por isso consideramos como sendo “lixo”.

Lembram-se do que os humanos fazem aos robots “obsoletos” no filme A.I. Artificial Intelligence?

Para mim há algo com demasiadas semelhanças com as “Flesh Fairs” quando nos damos ao luxo de deixar reentrar satélites que vão “arder” na atmosfera dum modo espectacular…

( David is captured for an anti-mecha Flesh Fair, an event where obsolete mechas are destroyed in front of cheering crowds. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A.I._Artificial_Intelligence Ver no Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1js5bD68Nw8 )

Felizmente, devido ao peso da “realidade da economia” começam finalmente a surgir ideias que me pareçem mais “aconselhávies”:

Link: http://boingboing.net/2011/10/23/darpa-wants-vampire-satellites-to-harvest-parts-from-dead-sats-prior-to-de-orbit.html

Citação:

More than $300 billion worth of satellites are estimated to be in the geosynchronous orbit (GEO—22,000 miles above the earth). Many of these satellites have been retired due to normal end of useful life, obsolescence or failure; yet many still have valuable components, such as antennas, that could last much longer than the life of the satellite. When satellites in GEO “retire,” they are put into a GEO disposal or “graveyard” orbit. That graveyard potentially holds tens to more than a hundred retired satellites that have components that could be repurposed – with the willing knowledge and sanction of the satellite’s owner. Today, DoD deploys new, replacement satellites at high cost—one of the primary drivers of the high cost is the launch costs, which is dependent on the weight and volume of antennas. The repurposing of existing, retired antennas from the graveyard represents a potential for significant cost savings.

Link para a DARPA: http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Releases/2011/10/20.aspx

Sugiro também esta entrevista a Steve Squyres com sete perguntas:

Profile:

Steve Squyres is a planetary scientist at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. He is the lead scientist for NASA’s Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity

1) Next week you will be travelling underwater off the coast of Florida as part of NASA’s NEEMO undersea exploration mission. Why?

In 2025 NASA wants to send humans to explore asteroids a kilometre in size or smaller. These are effectively microgravity environments. Nobody knows how to do field geology in microgravity – the best way to simulate it is underwater.

2) This is quite a change from your usual job, managing NASA’s Mars rovers.

I have been saying publicly for years that I am a big supporter of human space flight. This is the chance for me to stop talking about it and actually do something towards it.

3) How big is the underwater laboratory you will be working in?

It’s about the size of a school bus, and it sits on the seabed at a depth of 19 metres. There will be six of us there – four NASA crew members and two folks from the National Undersea Research Center.

4) Have you spent much time underwater before?

I did some research diving in Antarctica back in the 1980s. We were interested in understanding what the sediments deposited in lakes on Mars might look like; Martian lakes would probably be covered with ice too.

5) What will a typical day be like in the underwater laboratory?

It’s going to be very intense. We have a very full mission timeline. Two crew members will go outdoors performing extravehicular activities – there’s one EVA in the morning and one in the afternoon, three hours apiece. We are not using scuba equipment, but instead have helmets to provide air and continuous voice communication.

We’ll be simulating the process of doing basic field geology tasks on the surface of an asteroid, like deploying instruments and collecting samples. We will be trying lots of ways to do it, using ropes and small one-person subs to move crew members around.

6) What are the benefits of sending humans to an asteroid, rather than just robots?

In Antarctica, we had a remotely operated vehicle exploring the lake bottom. We could look around and answer first-order questions with it, but I found I didn’t really understand things until I got suited up and went down in that environment myself, where I could touch the surface and interact with it.

The human-robot argument is a silly argument to have. The key is to find the right mix of both. I think humans are going to be much more effective geological explorers than a robotic system would be, but robots are less expensive, and you want to find the right balance.

7) Are you hoping to be on board NASA’s asteroid mission in 2025?

I’m 55 years old. I’m 10 years older than anybody on the NEEMO crew. I think this is going to be the closest to an asteroid I’m ever going to get. I’ll be watching the asteroid mission on TV from my rocking chair.

Artigo: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn21053-rover-scientist-why-im-spending-13-days-underwater.html

Hey, mais aqui:

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2011/10/20/our-future-in-space-panel-at-tam-9/#more-39605

😀