Two more cents
Exploration is one of the many wonderful aspects of Science fiction. Today we're still more focused on studying our tiny planet than the vastness of space. Granted it is the easiest place to explore because we're already here. But that is like humanity discovering the uses for fire and then promptly dousing the flames and deciding that living in the cold is best. We don’t know what it is like on Venus. We have taken measurements and even have sent probes but a few minutes of footage is nothing. Sure it is a harsh environment, so is Antarctica, it doesn’t mean we aren’t studying it.
This was my initial attraction to SG-1. Every week we could step through the gate and discover a whole new world. Discovery lies at the very core of human potential. We watched as Sam discovered how to make our very own naquada generator. We all got to know the many types of people living in space. And the lure of exploration was intricate to the plot. Hell even SG-1 had a probe that went with them everywhere they went. Probes are great tools! But using only one tool in your toolbox to fix an engine problem is ludicrous if you have an assortment of tools that help you achieve the job in less time. Are probes great for exploring Mars? YES. Are they the only tool we should be using? I think you know the answer. It was the SG team that made the discoveries not the MALP.
Where am I going with this? You have every right to ask.
I read a trilogy of books by Ben Bova that hooked me and turned me into a space enthusiast. Rock Rats, The Silent War and The Precipice hooked me on the possibilities of space and the many wonders it had to offer. Soon after I read these books I had a class in astronomy which only furthered my interests in space. Combine these experiences with the sci fi that you all know I watch, and you get a person that would be willing to risk the trip to mars for the opportunity to try to live on Mars. If offered tomorrow I would immediately jump at the opportunity.
Here on earth it isn’t the supercomputers and the robots that are making groundbreaking discoveries. It is the hard work and long nights of the scientists, engineers and researchers that are working at keeping us in the technology race that ultimately betters all our lives. I want to live sci fi in the real world. I want space rockets that can carry us to mars several years ago not still waiting for them eighty years down the road.
Even though I didn’t watch it when it was on I believe that Defying Gravity is something I should invest my money in just to say, “I spent money on a show that inadvertently supports the ideas of space exploration.”
If any of you haven’t read, “The Asteroid Wars” trilogy I recommend them as well. We need to return to an age where we actually do great things with the knowledge we acquire. We need to go to Mars, we need to exploit space to get there, we need to mine hydrogen from Jupiter to combine it with oxygen that is extracted from CO2 to make water on Mars, we need to put boots on Venus and Mars and in two or three generations have these planets terraformed. As a species we will die out if we stagnate. As a people we deserve to die out if we deny the adventure that lies before us if we would but reach out and grasp it with all the might that we possess.
May the sci fi genre at some point in your lives inspire you to do great things.
