Recently, while reading The New York Times, I came acrossyet another mournful paean to the last space-shuttle flight.Despite my better judgment, I read it and gagged on mybottled water. Here's what made me gag: In the letter to theeditor, the writer stated that "the mysteries we uncover inouter space will … give us a better sense of our purpose inthis vast and largely empty universe." The letter writer then turned to theusual nice fallback of why we should stop making scopes for weapons andstart making telescopes instead (Reference 1). Does anyone really believeour sense of purpose will come from out there? I don't. It lies right here.
Now, don't get me wrong. As atechie, I can think of few more inspiringachievements than the first moonwalkand am well-aware of the many advancesthat were by-products of that greatadventure. I've got my autographedBuzz Aldrin books, and I've been toevery space museum I can find. Just lastweek, on a clear night, my son and I layback and just looked at the stars in sheeramazement and wonder.
However, I also recently readanother article, from which I learnedthat President Obama is walking outof meetings just as the United States,with more than $14 trillion of debt, isabout to default on its loans (Reference2). Just before reading these articles, Ihad taken a cab to the San FranciscoInternational Airport. During the ride,the driver talked about the fact thatonly 60% of students in Oakland, CA,graduate from high school and thatmost of those students have only aneighth-grade-level education. I knowit's anecdotal, but don't tell me thatour education system isn't in trouble.There's currently a furor over the PISA(Programme for International StudentAssessment), which evaluates 15-year-oldsworldwide. Among the 65 countries that participated in the study, theUnited States ranked 15th in reading,23rd in science, and 31st in math. So,although I grew up on dreams of spacetravel, moon landings, and the engineerswho got us there, I'm now moreconcerned about projects here on earth.A few months ago, I gave theElectronic Products product-of-the-yearaward to an engineer from TexasInstruments who invented an IC thatcould help in the design of mobile medicaldevices. When I spoke with him, Icould almost hear the emotion in hisvoice when he discussed how mobileelectrocardiograms in villages throughoutIndia and elsewhere could benefitfrom his product. And, in SiliconValley, I recently heard about studentswho banded together to build roboticlegs for a fellow student who had losthis own.
I see Japan calling for the move awayfrom nuclear power—without a substituteto fill its energy needs. And the samescenario applies to the United States: Isnuclear fusion even an option? Can it bea goal? Is it worth pursuing? Some say itis, within magnetically controlled million-degree-Celsius containment fields,but I wonder. Is it still a pipe dream? But so was the moon, at one time.
So, with all that's going on with theeconomy and all that ails us here onearth, how would you split $10 of yourR&D money? Would you put mannedspace at the top or the bottom of a listthat includes education, energy, medical,and military? What would you addto the list? I believe that the shuttleprogram has run its course, though I'mall for unmanned space exploration. It'sa lot cheaper and keeps us in the game,but it would go at the bottom of thepreceding list.
This issue is contentious, and I'mprobably going to get a lot of flak, butseriously, what do you think should beour next "moon shot"? I can think ofmany others, besides landing on thenext rock.
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Contact me at patrick.mannion@ubm.com.
The shuttle program is over: What's next?
