THE PROGRESSION OF SPACE TECH AND AMBITION
Space… when we ponder on this word, we think of a vast expanse of nothingness. Dark vacuum with splashes of unreachable stars in galaxies far far away. But wait, is it really?
Is space really nothingness? Are those stars really unreachable? Is Earth really all mankind has for itself?
The answer? Not really. As we continue to develop, as more people continue making technological developments, discoveries and whatnot, we pave a path for our voyage into the space age. Observing the pattern of current problems like overpopulation and global warming affecting the present world, it is only plausible that we start making or at least thinking of creating provisions to extend our comforts to the vast reaches of space to make sure all of humankind can continue to grow and flourish.
The Journey
The path to take is one we already have been walking through since the beginning of our kind.
To understand, let’s take a stroll through the pages of history, back to the times of early man. Man first lived life like an animal. He fought for survival, hunting, living in constant fear of the dangers surrounding him while trying to get a footing for control over all that threatened his continuance. He invented tools; tools that were constantly developed and made more effective and efficient in the long run.
With the appearance of the first families came the thought and plan for settlements. These settlements slowly became more and more permanent and in the advancing years, these settlements grew to villages, towns, cities, then into kingdoms controlled and monitored by a system, to organize life as we know it. Man burgeoned from hunting, to gathering, to agriculture that defined his place in nature. Soon, kingdoms widened and colonies were created.
Long, cumbersome voyages were made to foreign lands to understand the ways of their land. Resources were exchanged, or captured. If a journey led to the discovery of uninhabited land, this land was claimed and adequate resources were sent from the mainland to set a base which could be used to experiment and develop a self sustaining system in the claimed land, which could help in further conquer or control, or aid in satisfying the resource requirements of the mainland or other colonies.
This may sound odd, but following exactly what we did in the past can help in our space expeditions. The road to becoming an interplanetary species begins with establishing an efficient system of bases to act as pit stops for long journeys and resource gathering. Right now, we are at the rudimentary stage of settlement in terms of space expedition. To reach the “Kingdom” stage, Earth, with all its countries, should be able to mature into one big Global community with shared resources and a completely efficient system of functioning, at which point we, as a race can focus on the smooth functioning of our extraterrestrial colonies.
The Grand Scheme
In the grand scheme of things, we need to begin with the fabrication of an efficient transportation system and an elementary extraterrestrial base.
For a base, the most eligible candidate we can adopt is our very own natural satellite, the Moon.
On the contrary though, considering the present conditions on Earth, multiple disputes and all the political complications among countries, it is almost not possible to focus enough attention to creating this technological marvel. This is why it is important to first construct a Global Democracy, if we could call it that. This will permit the moon base to be most efficient, with all of our planet’s resources available to it as required.
This base will have to satisfy certain parameters to be rendered safe for human establishment. Predominantly, the structures should be properly insulated from the radiation incident on the lunar surface so that our bodies can function comfortably under long exposure to these conditions.
To begin with, an expert crew of scientists and engineers can start the construction of the base and soon, with ample experimenting and ideation, the moon can become a self-sustaining base. Water, ice and some other materials found in craters can even be used as reserve fuels, life support or insulation of the base.
Nonetheless, it is important to note that, to stay economically and resource efficient, the Moon should not be overburdened with population. It should not be much more than a pit stop for further voyages.
After building a base successfully, man can gaze into a future with interplanetary communities. Once we are able to harness the resources of our solar system, we can move on to other parts of our Galaxy and eventually into other galaxies too. After the Lunar base, almost every other planet in our solar system can be doubled as a place for a section of our population and can work as a more energy efficient base.
Each planet, each moon, each colony will obviously have its own complications for safe establishment, but with more experimenting and progressing technology from the other growing colonies, it becomes easier to set up bases and to configure more effective travel networks.
All of this is only a fraction, or a very basic “floor plan” for our ultimate goal of becoming an interplanetary species
The Kardashev Scale
The Kardashev scale is an energy based scale that can be used as a material to decide the chronology of our progression to becoming an intergalactic species.
Scale 1 civilization : A civilization at this scale will have completely harnessed and learned to safely and effectively implement all the energy available on the home planet. At this point, that civilization is the dominant species on that planet.
Scale 2 civilization : A civilization on the second scale of the Kardashev scale is one that can harness and use all the energy of its home star. This is obviously a very resource and technology expensive project and will require the fabrication and use of all kinds of gizmos. So, for a civilization to be able to approach this scale, it should be interplanetary. This stellar Energy can be captured using many different kinds of structures. One such interesting energy harnessing structure is the Dyson sphere.
Reaching this stage of civilization unlocks the potential to start conquering the rest of the galaxy
Scale 3 civilization : A stage 3 civilization is one that can utilize all the energy provided by its home galaxy, and eventually grows to become an intergalactic species.
Presently, our planet is at 0.7 in the Kardashev scale, with humans working our way up to becoming the dominant species on this planet. Safely using nuclear power and elimination of international warfare could make us a stage 1 civilization.
So as we can see, space exploration is filled with its perils, and ambiguities, but these doubts and ambiguities are what keeps us going, what keeps space exploration and expansion a topic of interest no matter how intimidating it seems. So, let’s start the journey to the future and live that Star Wars fantasy!
