by R E Kearney
There is also a psychological impact as well as physiological changes. When Earth shrinks to merely a dot on the horizon and the crew begin to live and work on the surface on Mars, the time delay across the vast expanse of space increases and eventually phone calls with loved ones become impractical. With communication signals taking between three and twenty-two minutes to travel each way, the ability to sustain a real conversation with anybody on Earth is not an option ever again. This may eventually change the way that the crew view themselves. Psychologically, it is speculated that they will become Martians within weeks and will view themselves as a separate entity from Earthlings.”
So, once again, as Richard Branson says, “There is no Planet B.” But, we must continue searching, if for no other reason than to hit ourselves right between the eyes with the reality that we must save Earth, because moving will not be easy, if at all possible. Also, there are multiple benefits to mankind to be gained by continuing to explore and search. For example, following is a list of innovations we use every day that were developed as a result of NASA’s study and exploration of space.
Health & Medicine
LED (Light-Emitting Diodes) Lighting – The LED technology used in space shuttle plant growth experiments has contributed to the development of medical devices to relive “minor muscle and joint pain, arthritis, stiffness, and muscle spasms, and also promotes muscle relaxation and increases local blood circulation.” In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense uses LEDs now as a “soldier self-care” system to treat minor injuries and pain and to improve endurance in combat.
Infrared Ear Thermometers – NASA developed this thermometer using “infrared astronomy technology to measure the amount of energy emitted by the eardrum, the same way the temperature of stars and planets are measured.”
Artificial Limbs – NASA’s space robotic and extravehicular activities have now been applied to create more “functionally dynamic artificial limbs.” Additionally, temper foam was developed by NASA which prevents friction between the skin and the prosthetic.
Ventricular Assist Device – The ventricular assist device (VAD) functions as a “bridge to heart transplant” by pumping blood throughout the body to keep critically ill patients alive until a donor heart is available. “Weighing less than 4 ounces and measuring 1 by 3 inches, the pump is approximately one-tenth the size of other currently marketed pulsatile VADs, making it ideal for children.
Transportation
Anti-Icing Systems – NASA scientists developed a thermoelectric deicing system called Thermawing, a DC-powered air conditioner for single-engine aircraft called Thermacool. This allows “pilots to safely fly through ice encounters and provides pilots of single-engine aircraft the heated wing technology usually reserved for larger, jet-powered craft.”
Highway Safety – The cutting of grooves in concrete to increase traction and prevent injury was first developed for the Space Shuttle to reduce aircraft accidents on wet runways. It was later expanded into highway and pedestrian applications.
Improved Radial Tires – “Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company developed a fibrous material, five times stronger than steel, for NASA to use in parachute shrouds to soft-land the Vikings on the Martian surface.” Goodyear later added this technology to its new radial tire to increase tread life by over 10,000 miles.
Chemical Detection – Moisture and pH-sensitive sensors were created to warn NASA of potentially dangerous corrosive conditions in the Space Shuttle before significant structural damage occurred. This new type of sensor was later adapted by the Department of Defense for detecting chemical warfare agents and potential threats, such as toxic industrial compounds and nerve agents.
Autonomous Vehicles - NASA’s latest private-sector partnership is expanding into enabling the autonomous mobile future. Last year, the space agency teamed up with automaker Nissan to integrate and test autonomous technologies that have been deployed for over two decades on its Mars rovers in consumer ready cars. The partnership’s goal is to have a fully autonomous car on the road by 2020.
Public Safety
Video Enhancing and Analysis Systems – Video Image Stabilization and Registration technology used by NASA in space is now in the hands of FBI agents to analyze video footage. Aside from law enforcement and security applications, the technology has also been adapted to serve military professionals for reconnaissance, weapons deployment, damage assessment, training, and mission debriefing.
Land Mine Removal – NASA utilizes its surplus rocket fuel “to produce a flare that can safely destroy land mines,” that is able “to reduce propellant waste without negatively impacting the environment.” The flare uses solid rocket fuel to burn a hole in the mine’s case and burn away the explosive contents before it is safely disarmed.
Fire-Resistant Reinforcement – “The Apollo heat shield was coated with a material whose purpose was to burn and thus dissipate energy during reentry while charring, to form a protective coating to block heat penetration.” Now the the heat shield coating is being used in fire-retardant paints and aircraft foams for aircraft, including a new “intumescent epoxy material” that expands when exposed to heat.
Firefighter Gear – Firefighting equipment widely used throughout the United States is based on a NASA development that coupled Agency design expertise with lightweight materials developed for the U.S. Space Program.
Consumer, Home, & Recreation
Temper Foam – “As the result of a program designed to develop a padding concept to improve crash protection” for the Shuttle and airplane passengers, NASA developed temper foam or “memory foam.” The material is now in most mattresses and pillows.
Enriched Baby Food – “Commercially available infant formulas now contain a nutritional enrichment ingredient that traces its existence to NASA-sponsored research that explored the potential of algae as a recycling agent for long-duration space travel.” The ingredient can now be found in over 90% of infant formulas sold worldwide.
Portable Cordless Vacuums – Wireless drills and other appliances were created by Black & Decker for the Apollo and Gemini space missions. “For the Apollo space mission, NASA required a portable, self-contained drill capable of extracting core samples from below the lunar surface.” This invention later led to the development of the Dustbuster.
Freeze Drying Technology – “In planning for the long-duration Apollo missions, NASA conducted extensive research into space food. One of the techniques developed was freeze drying.” The benefits were amazing as freeze drying food kept 98% of the nutrients but weighing 80% less, which is now used to help help homebound seniors maintain a healthy diet.
Environmental & Agricultural Resources
Harnessing Solar Energy – Solar energy was first utilized in space, and now “homes across the country are now being outfitted with modern, high-performance, low-cost, single crystal silicon solar power cells that allow them to reduce their traditional energy expenditures and contribute to pollution reduction.”
Pollution Remediation – “A product using NASA’s microencapsulating technology is available to consumers and industry enabling them to safely and permanently clean petroleum-based pollutants from water.” This technology was recently deployed in the cleanup of catastrophic oil spills such as BP’s Deep Water Horizon and the Exxon Valdez.
Water Purification – As part of designing a complex system of devices intended to sustain the astronauts living on the International Space Station and, in the future, those who go on to explore Mars, NASA has been turning wastewater from respiration, sweat, and urine into drinkable water for years. This technology is now available for underdeveloped countries where well water may be heavily contaminated.
Computer Technology
Better Software – NASA is collaborating with tech companies like Google and InterSense “to solve a variety of challenging technical problems ranging from large-scale data management and massively distributed computing, to human-computer interfaces�
�with the ultimate goal of making the vast, scattered ocean of data more accessible and usable” both in space and on Earth.
Structural Analysis – NASA has created thousands of computer programs over the decades to design, test, and analyze stress, vibration, and acoustical properties of a broad assortment of aerospace parts and structures (before prototyping even begins). The NASA Structural Analysis Program is now used to design everything from Cadillacs to roller coasters.
Refrigerated Internet-Connected Wall Ovens – Everything on the International Space Station is monitored and controlled via the Internet, even the oven named “ConnectIo.” ConnectIo is unique as it enables a “user to simply enter the dinner time, and the oven automatically switches from refrigeration to the cooking cycle,” so the meal is ready when the astronaut (or Earth-bound human) is at the table.
Industrial Productivity
Powdered Lubricants – NASA developed a solid lubricant coating material originally for its aeropropulsion engines, refrigeration compressors, turbochargers, and hybrid electrical turbogenerators. This technology is now saving industrial companies millions of dollars by improving efficiency, lowering friction, and reducing emissions in widespread industrial equipment.
Improved Mine Safety – “An ultrasonic bolt elongation monitor developed by a NASA scientist for testing tension and high-pressure loads on bolts” is now used for a plethora of applications from the evaluation of railroad ties to groundwater analysis to radiation dosimetry to medical testing for intracranial pressure.
Food Safety Systems – “Faced with the problem of how and what to feed an astronaut in a sealed capsule under weightless conditions while planning for human space flight, NASA enlisted the aid of The Pillsbury Company to address two principal concerns: eliminating crumbs of food that might contaminate the spacecraft’s atmosphere and sensitive instruments, and assuring absolute freedom from potentially catastrophic disease-producing bacteria and toxins.” Today HACCP is utilized by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the handling of seafood, juice, and dairy products.
“Nearly every man who develops an idea works it up to the point where it looks impossible, and then he gets discouraged. That's not the place to become discouraged.” Thomas A. Edison
Escaping the troubles mankind brought upon itself by colonizing another planet may occur in some future time. However the majority of us will not be alive to see it occur. So, rather than dream of fleeing the problems we humans created, we should look for ways to correct them.
Like NASA, let us look into space to advance and benefit ourselves here on Earth. As NASA and other space oriented organizations study colonizing Mars, they are considering Terraforming. Terraforming is the process of transforming a hostile, extra-terrestrial environment into one suitable for human life. If life was indeed once present on Mars, then scientists might be able to gather key insights and clues that could explain how the planet become so cold and lifeless as we know it today. Armed with this knowledge, there are practical solutions that can be applied in a reverse step process to revert the planet back to life.
However, realistically, a Mars terraforming mission could not start earlier than a couple of decades into the future or perhaps a century. By then, we will either have ruined any chance of living in peace and prosperity on this planet or we will have become advanced and wise enough, both technologically and socially, to make a planetary leap and finally shoot for the stars. However, even if things go horribly wrong on this planet because of runaway global warming, attempts at terraforming on Mars will teach scientists to do the reverse back here on Earth, possibly making up for damage in pollution and deforestation. Thus, considering terraforming for Mars may be the salvation of Earth.
Was the “Planet Earth Self Destruct” button pressed a long time ago? Do we still have time to save Earth or is relocation to another planet our only option?
Be optimistic – time kills all fools.
Years ago, I interviewed a salty, seventy-five year old lady on the one year anniversary of her election as Mayor of the west Texas town of Balmorhea. The day she was elected Mayor, Balmorhea was dying. Businesses were closing. People were leaving. In her first year as Mayor Balmorhea had expanded and progressed far more than it had in previous decades.
“What is your secret?” I asked, “How have you been able to improve Balmorhea so much in one year?”
“Well…” she drawled, “…enough old people finally died and got out of our way, so we could try some new ideas and make some progress.”
Although I cannot remember her name, I must agree with the Mayor of Balmorhea. Except I will change her words to, “Enough old ideas must die and get out of our way, so we can try some new ideas and make the progress we need to save Earth.” Science is the solution. Science is our salvation. Superstition shall destroy us.
“More than any other time in history, mankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness. The other, to total extinction. Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.” Woody Allen, comedian and writer.
We still have time, but only because some scientists and inventors are tossing out the old and outdated methods, which are no longer effective and working on providing new solutions to the major problems threatening mankind. For this discussion, I will consider the Earth’s growing shortage of drinking water.
Water is our life source. No plant or animal can exist without water, so combining the world’s increasing population with a decrease in drinkable water is creating a major crisis. Currently, more than seventy percent of the world's population already lives without sufficient access to fresh water for at least one month of the year. Half of those suffering from water scarcity are in the world's two most populous countries of India and China. But, high-scarcity levels are also widespread in areas with significant irrigated agriculture, such as the Great Plains in the United States or low natural availability of fresh water, like the Arabian Desert, where populations are also relatively dense. Similar patterns exist in the south and western United States.
Once again, cities are employing cutting edge science to take the lead in creating alternative methods of keeping Urbanites supplied with water. As populations in cities grow, it is inevitable that water consumption in urban areas grows as well. The term "smart water" points to water and wastewater infrastructure that ensures this precious resource, and the energy used to transport it, is managed effectively. In addition, cities are developing methods and materials for capturing rain water and funnelling it into storage, systems for recycling waste water and equipment for sucking water out of the humidity in dry air.
Two thirst taming technologies. Technologies for reusing wastewater more intelligently are emerging quickly. One example is the EcoVolt, which uses a bioelectric process to simultaneously treat water and generate biogas energy. Each reactor unit is the size of a shipping container, handling about 20,000 gallons daily.
Researchers at Lima’s University of Engineering and Technology have come up with a billboard with a difference. Using a system of condensers and filters, it traps the humidity in the air and extracts the water vapour to produce around ninety-six litres of drinking water a day. The public can help themselves to it for free.
But when a shortage of water exists, why waste existing water, just because it is dirty? Engineers at the Washington University in St. Louis have responded to that problem by developing graphene-based biofoam sheets that can be laid on dirty or salty dams and ponds to produce clean drinking water, using the power of the sun. This new technique could be a cheap and simple way to help provide fresh water in countries where large areas of water are contaminated with suspended particles of dirt and other floating matter.
The biofilm is created as a two-layered structure consisting of two nanocellulose layers produced by bacteria. The lower layer contains pristine cellulose, while the top layer also contains graphene oxide, which absorbs sunlight and produces heat. The system works by drawing up
water from underneath like a sponge where it then evaporates in the topmost layer, leaving behind any suspended particulates or salts. Fresh water then condenses on the top, where it can be drawn off and used.
“It is paradoxical, yet true, to say, that the more we know, the more ignorant we become in the absolute sense, for it is only through enlightenment that we become conscious of our limitations. Precisely one of the most gratifying results of intellectual evolution is the continuous opening up of new and greater prospects.” Nikola Tesla
So, although the prospect of keeping the Earth livable appears difficult, it is not impossible. One of mankind’s strongest traits is self-preservation. Mankind does not give up easily. So, instead of declaring ourselves doomed due to a shortage of drinkable water and a prevalence of polluted water, the thinkers and innovators of humanity say, “We accept this challenge and we shall defeat it.” Therefore, despite the many climate change challenges and hazards facing mankind now and in the future, mankind will in some way persevere and in some form survive.
Many authors have considered what our climate might be like in the future. J G Ballard proposed a tropical world that was mainly covered in water in The Drowned World. What are your predictions for the climate?
Hotter, colder, wetter and drier – Earth’s environmental extremes will become the norm. Alone, melting ice in the Arctic and Antarctic will not raise the seas along Earth’s shores enough to flood many coastal lands and low areas of some cities. It is the melting of Earth’s glaciers that will kill us. For example, Canada's melting glaciers have become a major contributor to the globe's rising sea levels.