You may have noticed that having a blog on the internet makes one an instant expert on everything. Today I have become an expert on outer space and share my expert predictions based on having read several articles on internet blogs written by people who know little more about the subject than I do.
The Moon
Compared to other stuff in space, the moon is really close to earth, but compared to stuff on earth the moon is a long way away. Getting to and from the moon is not easy, but can be done. The environment is very harsh, with no atmosphere, unbearable surface temperatures, almost no water, and dust particles with edges like knives.
Predictions:
1. People will travel to the moon again, not because we need to, but because we are people and people do stuff like that.
2. There will be no settlement on the moon; the environment is just too miserable.
3. Robotic bases will be built on the moon as staging areas for moving materials back and forth between earth and space.
4. A large solar collector on the Moon will beam concentrated energy from the Sun to receivers on the Earth.
5. There will be ongoing regular tourist flights to the moon to watch the earthrise, hit golf balls, etc. because we are people and people do stuff like that.
6. The harsh environment on the Moon will cause equipment at the robotic bases and solar collectors to wear out quickly.
Mars
Mars is a lot farther than the moon. The environment on Mars is not as harsh as that of the Moon, but still not friendly to humans. Resources necessary for life are extremely limited. Getting people there and back will be difficult, dangerous, and unnecessary, but we will do it because we are people, etc.
Predictions:
1. Humans will, of course, travel to Mars, and some of them will return alive.
2. Attempts at human settlement of Mars will fail because life there will be so miserable no one will want to stay.
3. Research stations will be built on Mars where tourists claiming to be researchers will visit for a few months at a time at taxpayer expense.
4. Robotic bases will be built on Mars to process ores from asteroid mining into minerals for transport to Earth.
5. Humans will eventually succeed in contaminating Mars with viable microorganisms that will evolve over time into a variety of living things adapted to life on Mars.
Asteroids
Asteroids are little things that float around in space. No one in their right mind would ever want to visit one.
Predictions:
1. Millions of investors will lose money on astroid-mining companies that go bankrupt.
2. If a company succeeds in mining an astroid and delivering the product to Earth, it will be bought out of bankruptcy for a pittance by a privately-held consortium that will make a profit by continuing the operation until the equipment wears out, and then abandoning it.
The Rest of our Solar System
The rest of the objects in the Solar System are way far away, and most have environments even more hostile than the Moon.
Predictions:
1. There is no chance any human will ever visit one of these objects and return alive.
2. Hobbyists claiming to be researchers will continue launching unmanned spacecraft at the things at taxpayer expense.
3. If we are really lucky, we might be able to contaminate one of the less-extreme objects with viable life, but I doubt it.
Exoplanets
Exoplanets are planets outside of our Solar System. They are so far away that it is crazy to even think of people ever sending a spacecraft to visit one. If we did send a spacecraft, we would be long dead before it got there, and any signal it sent back would be too weak for our descendants to detect.
Predictions:
1. Hobbyists claiming to be researchers will continue building expensive devices to study exoplanets at taxpayer expense.
Posted 2024/06/21