💾 Archived View for juliette.zone › gemlog › space-thoughts.gmi captured on 2024-12-17 at 09:35:02. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
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Posted on 2024-11-19
I thought about titling this "Stellar Ideas", but am not proposing anything nor talking about stars, so "Space Thoughts" it is.
I was listening the November 18, 2024 episode of Techtonic, which featured an interview with Samantha Lawler, an astronomer at University of Regina, about SpaceX's space junk problem.
WMFU Archive: Techtonic with Mark Hurst from 11/18/2024
The episode reminded me of the growing sense of disappointment I've felt with space exploration and research since I was a kid. Growing up, I was very interested in Scienceâ„¢ in the way that leads to watching a lot of PBS and Discovery. Shocking nobody, little Juliette found space extremely interesting. Most everything is space, what's not to like!
The space shuttle program especially was an object of focus. It felt magical to see these crafts leaving the atmosphere on a rocket or re-entering like an airplane. I obviously didn't have a sophisticated understanding of what public programs were, but I had the sense that the shuttles and NASA's activities more broadly belonged to and were being used for everyone. That felt right to me.
I think I learned that the program was going to be retired not so long after the Columbia disaster. The Constellation program and Ares crafts were scheduled to follow, so I naively expected that things would continue as before with what would essentially be "new space shuttles". It's not like the government could lie after all. The cancellation of that program and the increasing reliance on private corporations was a disillusioning series of moments for me. Apparently few serious people actually wanted this work to be public.
More recent events haven't surprised me, but I still feel disappointed at how the entire space program is plainly a dick measuring context between a few billionaires. With SpaceX as the clear winner since another one of Boeing's little "oopsies", perhaps it would be better to say that the space program is a vanity project of the world's most insecure man.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boeing_Crew_Flight_Test
It depresses me to hear that there is no accountability for space junk falling in unexpected places and that Kessler syndrome, or a similar phenomenon on a shorter timescale, are real possibilities.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kessler_syndrome
That all said, my deepest respect to anyone still trying to do good science and engineering in space in the public interest. It's heartening that some people are trying to bring us onto a different path, and it's nice to be able to feel excitement about space every now and again.