A Space Age on Earth by Arthur R. Woods

Dear Mike

Thank you for your thoughtful feedback. The purpose of my essay was how a change in our perception about the true dimensions of our planet could be an effective strategy for moving humanity beyond the atmosphere giving it more space and more resources for its development and survival. In other publications, I have addressed the existential risks and the possible solutions inherent in the Space Option concept.

I don't believe I specifically mentioned "overpopulation" and "uncontrolled growth" as "the" problems, although it is generally acknowledged that the growth in population, now and in the coming decades, is straining both our societal structures and the ecological balance of the planet.

Indeed I wrote: ."Humanity itself must be considered as its most valuable resource and, in order to steer the future, its overriding challenge is to find suitable ways to feed, clothe and otherwise nourish this resource in a comfortable and prosperous manner without upsetting the social and ecological balance.".

We have seen that as soon as a society or a nation obtains a certain higher standard of living its population stabilizes. Thus, having a goal to provide a higher standard of living for all the inhabitants of Earth should then become a priority. Surely, humanity's chances for dealing with its current and future problems will be far better in a "resource rich" future rather than in a "resource poor" one and these additional resources may be accessed in the realm of Greater Earth. Thus a change in our perception may enable this to happen.

I wrote on page 4:

"Within the boundaries of Greater Earth our species will find the room, resources and opportunities that it will need to survive and prosper in the coming millennium. To do so, its next step is to exercise its fullest capabilities to occupy and enjoy this new territory. Undertaken responsibility and consequently the severe pressures and stresses currently facing our civilization may be mitigated which may in turn lead to eventually achieving worldwide security, prosperity and ecological balance. "

For the environmentalists, the technologists and for many other areas of society, this concept could satisfy and incorporate their specific goals. For most of humanity, the ultimate benefit would be having a realistic hope in a prosperous and peaceful future with many new possibilities. I would say that is would be an attractive benefit on the far side of the passage that you mention.

If you haven't already done so, I suggest you read Walter Putnam's concise and eloquent essay that adds the necessary "guiding principle" to this discussion.

Thanks and good luck to you, too,

Arthur

Dear Marc

Many thanks for your positive comments. I have downloaded your essay and I will look for synergy. I will read it soon and add my comments to your page.

Good luck to you, too!

Arthur

Tee

Thank you for reading my essay and for your positive comments.

Yes, I believe nanotechnology can and will be the "game changer" in many areas. In the case of space development it is the key for enabling the space elevator which gets us out of Earth's gravity well safely and cheaply. This in turn would allow SPS to be deployed.

I have downloaded your essay and I am looking forward to reading it soon and I will add my comments to your page.

Arthur

Dear Georgina

Thank you for reading my essay and for the opportunity to address your comments. I agree with you that "we" all should be more responsible with our use of resources and become better stewards of our precious planet. Recycling industrial products for their reusable materials makes both ecological and economic sense. As pointed out in the article you mentioned, in order to work out which waste streams can be profitably recycled, innovation will be the key in this process.

One important resource that we can't recycle is energy. Thus, having plentiful environmentally benign energy in the future is desirable to power our civilization and to address other societal problems. As I pointed out in my essay, near space development offers several approaches to meeting the growing energy requirements of the future - Space Solar Power and later Helium-3 fusion. If we want to "electrify" our transportation systems - i.e use less hydrocarbon fuels - then we are going to need a lot of clean energy.

It is a misconception that space tourism will contribute significantly to the air pollution problem such as that caused by commercial air transportation. As pointed out in this article Why greens should be pro-space the carbon dioxide emissions of manned spaceflight are currently nonexistent compared to aircraft and auto emissions. Consider 2012, which saw only five crewed flights (four Soyuz flights, and one Chinese Shenzhou flight); these emitted less than 0.0002% of the carbon dioxide that global air travel did (itself about 2% of all emissions) If Branson's Virgin Galactic succeeds, it would roughly double the human space flight contribution, meaning it would remain six orders of magnitude less than air travel emissions.

While some rockets do use hydrocarbon fuels such as kerosene, others such as Ariane, Delta, Saturn and the Space Shuttle primarily use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen which produces water-vapor when ignited. If the space elevator ever replaces rockets, then access to space would be driven by electrical power most likely produced in space.

In order to be marketable and successful space tourism will have to justify its environmental footprint. Richard Branson has already incorporated this into his advertising , Elon Musk of spaceX also has launched the Telsa electric car. Planetary Resources co-founder Peter Diamandis has led the X PRIZE Foundation to support competitions for high-efficiency cars. Clearly, the key players in the NewSpace industry believe that space development and helping the Earth's environment are not contradictory goals.

The space industry has always been an area of innovation which in turn benefits green technologies. Developing life-support systems for space habitation means building closed-loop ecosystems and developing new methods of agriculture and resource sustainability. All of these space technologies will have immediate and dramatic effects for our society on Earth.

There is much more to be said on this subject and a good book on the subject is Paradise Regained: The Regreening of Earth By Greg Matloff, C. Bangs, Les Johnson.

I hope I have given some insight into your question. I have downloaded your essay and look forward to reading and commenting on it soon.

Arthur

Dear Georgina

Your original question was about the probable impact of space tourism on air pollution and that it was a terrible waste of energy and resources. As space tourism hasn't actually begun and it is difficult to judge how successful it will eventually become and it remains to be seen if it will become a problem that can't be solved through innovation or regulation. The co-author of the studyRockets-ozone in the article that you referenced says: "This is not an urgent problem. But if we wait 30 years, it will be.""

Several companies are planning to offer a similar sub-orbital experience with a balloon flight for considerably less money and less environmental impact. As to your concern, would this be acceptable?

FYI, I am tracking space tourism headlines on my website and, if you are interested, you can follow developments there.

However, I have a sense that you are actually more concerned with space development in general. The issue that you bring up is that some types of rocket propulsion especially those that use solid fuels are more damaging to the ozone layer than others. Accurate data is not yet available but, as in every other technological development, the challenge will be to apply our knowledge and experience to find the best possible solution if he problem is critical. A British company has been developing the Skylon rocket which will be a reusable, hybrid air-breathing spaceplane that uses liquid hydrogen and oxygen as propellent. And, as I mentioned in my essay, people are working on the space elevator which would make the use of rockets obsolete. With continuing advances in nanotechnology this could become a reality within the next decade or two. Thus, I am optimistic that the environmental footprint of the space industry will continue to improve.

However we must also appreciate how much humanity has learned and profited from space technology and how dependent modern society has become on it. Space telescopes are providing us with information about the history of the universe and new, potentially life-harboring planets. The image of the whole Earth taken during the Apollo program became the symbol of the environmental movement has dramatically shown us our beautiful and fragile island of life floating in the vastness of the cosmos that we call home. Today, Earth observation satellites are providing extensive data on the weather, the climate, terrestrial resources and on the movements of military forces. GPS systems guide our transportation. The finance community relies on instant communication via satellites thus the global economy could not function without space technology. Telecommunication satellites enable conversations such as this one. For all of these aspects of contemporary life we still rely on rockets to place these assets into orbit or beyond. Without them these space assets contemporary civilization would stop.

Of course there is also a major downside, there are also thousands of nuclear warheads on top of intercontinental missiles pointed at our future. This is surely the biggest environmental and existential threat facing humanity at the moment. For me, that is an "urgent" problem.

Humans and their technologies will always impact the environment in one way or the other. The challenge is to find the proper balance between the activities of our species and the rest of life sharing our planet. Our ultimate goal is to survive and thrive in the best way possible. I believe I emphasized this aspect in my essay.

Thanks again for the opportunity to expand on my essay.

Arthur

Robert

Many thanks for reading my essay and for your positive comments. I have read your excellent essay and will comment on your page. I do believe we share similar insights about what is at stake and that the survival of our species is our main priority.

Best regards,

Arthur