Previous post discussed mining asteroids to get raw materials for space exploration.
Ponder the idea of private space travel and tie that to mining asteroids for some really wild possibilities for change in the future.
This video from Reason.TV is a bit smart alack, but makes a number of points about the future of private space travel:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXkW8W0-Noc&feature=player_embedded#t=5s]
It’s a short video talking about the final shuttle being retired and moved to DC where it will reside at the Air and Space Museum. Check it out. Here are some of my favorite lines:
This is
bringing to an end three decades of fruitless and tragic exploration of low-earth orbiting patterns…
After going to the moon, we have retreated to low-earth orbit for three decades. Not much of a stretch after reaching the moon in less than a decade from a standing start.
The good news is that amateur hour is over and the private space race has begun…
…The future of space is in the hands of guys behind Amazon, Paypal, and Virgin…
…no more talking about how the space program brought us Tang and tempermatic mattresses. We’re going to Mars, baby! Business class. …
…The international space station will continue operating…, but the ships carrying supplies there will be operating at an expected 90% discount.
The private sector will launch supply shots at a fraction of the government cost.
…Nobody knows exactly how private space exploration and entrepreneurship will play out, but it’s a lock the next 30 years won’t resemble our government run space program’s decades long failure to launch anything more inspiring that Josie and the Pussycats into outer space. …
My previous posts on point:
- Private sector rocket launches will resupply space station – linked above.
- Space shuttle as illustration of opportunity cost and cul-de-sac – Repeatedly doing the same thing without expanding knowledge, experience, or pushing the boundary is a prime example of a cul-de-sac – something that is going to do the same thing over and over. It’s not going anywhere new, different, or exciting.
- What are Cliffs, Cul-de-sacs, and Dips? The Dip, by Seth Godin – This describes the need to identify when you are on the path that is merely a dip before something great happens, the next step before taking you over the edge of a cliff, or a cul-de-sac that doesn’t take you anywhere. The problem with cul-de-sacs is what you could have done instead, the opportunity cost.
Private space exploration, and the competition firing up these guys to get ahead of the others, will take us far beyond low-earth orbit.
Mining asteroids will be just one step.
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