To The Stars: Part 1 of 2
Ad Astra: To The Stars
Part 1 of 2
Contents
Roman Locomotives
The Strategy
Eurekas & Creative Bursts
Warp Factor 9
The Reality Facing Us
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What say we do a 2-part post?
And what say we meander with it a bit? Talk about a few different things, leading to an overall discussion of humanity’s long-term push for the stars?
Sadly there’s no feedback mechanism as we type this opening segment, so we’ll assume the answer to the above is, more or less:
Yes. Let’s do it.
Your decision to read on (or not ) will either confirm (or deny) your own agreement with that answer.
Here we go.
Roman Locomotives
What would a Roman Locomotive have looked like? We’ll never know for sure. But they could’ve been built.
Yes, even though we suggested talking about “different things”, that’s still a sharp segue.
Hear us out.
From the simple to the complex, new inventions routinely come to market. We’re often surprised when we see something no one ever thought of, that yet didn’t technically require anything new.
Take the Weed Eater, for example.
No new technologies were involved, and suddenly we had an amazing, effective new tool. Until someone thought to combine those few basic, existing components in a novel way, we didn’t have weed eaters.
Putting little wheels on luggage is another, incredibly simple example. Anyone recall lugging suitcases before wheels?
In each case the pieces are often not that innovative; the results, however, can be quite groundbreaking.
Similarly with the locomotive. The ancient Romans had the various bits of tech that would’ve been needed to lay tracks and build steam engines, hitch cars and have a great new way to move armies quickly, take trips, haul cargo and so on.
(Small bit of irony; modern track widths are based on the gauge used with old coal wagons in England, which were in turn based on the width of rutted roads marked by chariot wheels dating from the ancient Roman Empire.)
No one saw that final product, and it was never invented.
Brand new discoveries are vital, but so are new ways of applying what we already know.
Both are key to progress.
The Strategy
And so part of the Forty Suns objective is the idea that, with enough interest in and focus on the fields of engineering and science, new tools, along with new applications of existing technology, might be realized.
Not only are we fans of the bleeding edge, the latest new tech, we’re also looking for better ways to use what we have.
In our past the Dark Ages slowed and, in some cases, reversed progress. It’s vital, therefore, not only that we safeguard our gains, but that we promote the steady progress of existing knowledge.
If we’re on the lookout for the next Roman Locomotive, we just might discover a whole new way of doing things.
Eurekas & Creative Bursts
At times groundbreaking invention comes in just that way, a burst of insight, a Eureka! moment. At other times ideas come together fast in a relatively short span of time; not an instant of insight, but a rapid, cascading convergence of creativity that yields a fantastic result.
The famous SR-71 “Blackbird” is such an example.
Heard of that world-legend airplane?
Dreamed up and brought to life in 1962, with a first flight in ’64 and an official introduction in ’66, this plane was so ahead of its time it still holds the world speed record, which it set in 1976, as the fastest air-breathing manned aircraft.
The inspiration for the advanced technologies that made that possible came together in a singular moment of exceptional engineering and design (historically speaking) that delivered us one of the most amazing aircraft of this era.
In fact, at this stage of our human existence the SR-71 is actually closer on the timeline of manned flight to the invention of aircraft than it is to us.
Hard to believe.
But if you do the math, you’ll see. The first flight of an aircraft, in North Carolina by the Wright brothers, was in 1903—60 years before the SR-71. Now here we are 60+ years after that (as of this writing), and by that key metric—speed—we have yet to go beyond it.
The Wright Flyer went about 30 mph.
The SR-71 had a Mach 3.5 moment.
That’s creeping up on ninety times the speed of the Flyer.
Do we have an SR-71 breakthrough looming in our near future?
A convergence of ideas that yields a fantastic result?
If we keep pushing the envelope like we are, that seems quite likely.
Warp Factor 9
On the subject, here’s a question.
Did you know there have been proposals for how an actual warp drive might work?
It’s not a case of “Roman Locomotive”, where the technologies exist and are just waiting for someone to figure out how to put them together, rather, this is an actual new thing. This incredible concept is based on sound science, and with several (steep) hurdles overcome we could pull it off.
The theory is called the Alcubierre drive. A method by which space could be warped in order to travel faster than light, the idea being that space, unlike the matter in it, doesn’t have a speed limit.
Lots of stuff online about it, if you know to look.
Only a theory, it has inspired many follow-on efforts which continue today. It might not even be the best solution. Likely as not it isn’t. More likely we’ll discover better answers along the way.
The point is we’re imagining possibilities.
You can watch a cool video showcasing a similar concept here:
It’s about 4 minutes long.
The Alcubierre warp drive theory, more than anything, demonstrates that inquisitive, confident, moonshot thinking. The very thing that, throughout history, has propelled humanity toward its most incredible advances.
In this case Miguel Alcubierre had an idea—inspired by science fiction, of course; where we do much of our future-imagining—took the physics he knew and turned it into a hypothetical for something that could actually do that amazing, impossible thing:
Cover distance faster than light can travel.
Yes, Roman Locomotives and warp drives are fairly esoteric topics. (If nothing else they’ll give you great conversation points for Happy Hour.)
But such data gets us thinking with—and supporting—the things that will get us there. It raises awareness, and drives participation in the conversation.
Imagine if more people had talked about Leonardo da Vinci’s crazy helicopter idea. Would that have gotten us to flight faster?
It will take exactly that, the wide sharing of information and ideas—along with their open discussion—to accomplish our goals.
The cooler, the more interesting, intriguing, fascinating that information the better.
The Reality Facing Us
One of our goals with Forty Suns is to shine a light on humanity’s need to push the envelope. There’s value in pausing to frame that objective.
Earth is vulnerable, and not, primarily, because of us. The planet couldn’t really care less what we do. We’re pretty insignificant.
The Earth is vulnerable in a cosmic sense; a problem because we don’t yet have other options.
“Other Options” is precisely what Forty Suns is about. Until we get there we have a bit of a situation which, whether we like it or not, creates two major—if seemingly in conflict—mandates when it comes to our current world.
We must:
Take care of it.
Find ways off of it.
Not to escape; Earth is great. Merely to have that choice. Your home town is probably great too, but you’d hate never being able to leave. Especially if a hurricane was on the way.
Whether you yourself ultimately ever go to space isn’t at the root of it. You may not even want to. But in the same way not everyone went to sea back in the day, it was important they supported and encouraged those who did (or at least didn’t try to stop them).
The promise of those journeys were what set us free.
The same will be true with space.
See you in Part 2.
Want to hear from us Friday mornings?
Every Friday our chief correspondent, Tai Rade (you’ll love her take on things), sends a recap of the week in space.
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