I stare at the distant hill; a restlessness brews just below conscious thought. The effort is made to concentrate at the task at hand, but the eyes keep returning to the distant hill. Soon, almost of their own volition, the feet begin a journey to the hill. Four hours later I stand on top of the hill. What is it about this hilltop? What lies beyond it that draws this human to expend time and energy to gaze from atop it? Just another valley, and more hills… but I still stare in wonder at my newly discovered world.
One of the many things I annoy my wife with is my desire to “explore”. Be it in a car, or on foot, if there is a side road, an obscure path, or a hill to climb (especially a hill to climb), I’m urging we embark on a journey of discovery. I imagine the same urge resulted in mankind currently occupying nearly all areas of this tiny globe. With the possible exception of people sitting in their darkened basements playing computer games or living out a virtual life, a second life, if you will, on some virtual world, pretty much everyone has felt the desire to have a walk about. And, to be fair, even those darkened basement dweller are engaged in a form of exploration. I don’t know they will necessarily advance the human condition, but if one day humanity should need scouts and guides to negotiate a treacherous virtual world, there’s an army ready to serve.
Still, many argue the urge, the yearning to explore, the spirit of discovery, has long since died off and has been replaced with complacency, and a desire to watch overpaid felons play at some sport or other. The question “Is the pioneering spirit dead?” was raised on the Ben Bova interview. Their answer, and mine, is: no. I agree it is something innate that cannot be eradicated. But…
That hill I climbed in the opening paragraph? The explorer in me urged me to the top, but the elation I feel upon reaching it is dulled as I gaze on the remnants of a beer bottle, or a candy wrapper. I may experience something close to spiritual standing on Artist’s Point in Yellowstone’s Canyon, but I am not the first person to gaze upon the sight. I don’t feel what the first human must have felt; in fact, I cannot even imagine what it’s like to have been the first human to chance upon the site. It can be argued no matter where I go, not only I’ll see evidence others have been there, but there’s even a likely chance I’ll see someone milling about. Not my definition of a frontier.
So, while the pioneering spirit may urge us on, there is no frontier to run to. Speaking for myself, but echoing the feelings of at least a few others, I postulate this lack of a frontier is the cause of some of humankind current malaise; we have nowhere to escape to. If you find your environment stifling, if the figurative and sometimes literal rubbing of elbows with other humans drives you up the wall, you are left with very few choices. None really, because even in remote areas chances are you are subject to constraints dictated by some social, national, or global group.
Well… there is one frontier, but it’s impractical for the average Joe to tackle. Space. The final frontier. To boldly go where no man has gone before. In my opinion that last phrase embodies the soul of the pioneering spirit. No, not the desire to find some scantily clad undulating green lady; rather, the desire to go and stake out your own little piece of the world, to shape it, to change it, and to have it shape and change you. Certainly the pioneering spirit manifests itself in other ways; in the business world, for example, there are countless success stories of people starting from nothing and building empires. But it is not quite the same; for the most part they worked within the boundaries of fiscal and societal rules. But space… space offers the tantalizing notion of limitless potential. The early part of the last century was rife with science fiction stories of people building their own space craft, and going out to find adventure, fame, and love. I have copies of Analogs going back to the forties, and some to the thirties (then called Astounding Science Fiction), and you can almost taste the spirit in each story. More recently Captain Reynolds understood the inherent value to keeping clear of structured, regimented, rules-ridden living; to keep flying.
But in modern man that same spirit has suffered a blow, and ironically, it was dealt by science. As pioneers and explorers we have always looked to the available science and technology to facilitate our quest to explore. At first our feet and a sharp stick were enough to get us exploring, then more sophisticated engineering came into play to ever expand our range. Now our level of science is the obstacle. With regards to space we now know what can and cannot be done. We know how big space is. We know how unforgiving an environment it is. Science has made tremendous advances that allow us to know more about the universe than was dreamed possible even fifty years ago. And I think that knowledge has dashed the hopes of many. For all the wonder we see, for all the understanding we gain, we also learn something else; we now know there is no chance an engineer in some back yard will invent a copper engine that will carry him to the stars. And we are a long, long, long way away from the Star Trek scenario.
Much of our knowledge of the Universe amounts to data that is hard to get a handle on even by those in the field, let alone the general public. For example, the Hubble Ultra Deep Field image (2004) spans an area of the sky equivalent to about 1/10th of the area covered by a full moon. That’s a number most people can understand. Within that small patch of the sky we see an estimated 10,000 galaxies… roughly twelve billion light years away. Those numbers are incomprehensible to most any person, and at first glance it seems that is the very definition of a frontier, with practically limitless destinations, and only a mere 12,000,000,000 x 5,900,000,000,000 miles away!!!
But wait, you say… one step at a time. How about we look to revisiting the Moon, and then keep right on going and visit Mars, and then the rest of the planets. OK, but current thinking is to go to the Moon, and then maybe Mars, no sooner than fifteen to twenty years from now. Realistically, even these notions are mere speculations and paper plans. Even as we speak the new President elect is suggesting budget cuts to NASA. NASA? Pshaw! What has NASA ever done? Oh yeah…
And this is the part where I respectfully disagree with Mr. Bova. The suggestion was made our best bet, our most likely path to the stars, is through private industry. Give them free reign to go out and conquer space, and then stand back. But current private industry efforts are aimed primarily at sub-orbital flights. And most of the impetus is toward more efficient rocket engines. While it is “rocket science”, it’s still at heart a controlled explosion. How much more efficient can we make it? Gravity is not changing, and mass is not changing. Aren’t we reaching the limit of rocket development?
Plus, private industry with deep enough pockets is not really private. It has stockholders to answer to. This comes with a whole host of associated problems, ranging from risk aversion to time lines for return on investments. Some individuals with deep pockets are mounting what are essentially privately funded efforts, but they too are starting with tried and true methods, and trying to improve upon them. In contrast to the days of the expansion into the U.S. Western frontier, the first “pioneers” will be people with lots of disposable income. They will not be going up there to blazon a path for others; they are going for a thrill ride. We speak of hotels in space, hotels on the Moon, and possibly luxury ships cruising the near solar system. Lofty ideas, and lofty dreams, but not addressing the basic problem we have today… we strap ourselves, along with some cargo, onto a bomb, and try to make it explode slowly, but still fast enough to lift us into orbit. That to me does not seem to be a system catering to the pioneering spirit. It seems quite the opposite; it points to space exploration remaining the realm of a select and highly specialized few.
So, how do we feed our desire to explore? What is the plan to tackle the final frontier? And where does that leave us as far as pioneering spirit? Like I said… I think there are sufficient numbers whose spirit is willing, but now what?
I don’t have definitive answers, but in reading various other sources, I feel I can add my views without appearing any wackier. Barring a chance visit from a space-faring species, there is nothing in the immediate horizon that hints to any future ability for humans to get off this rock in any great numbers. I can postulate some things that make sense to me, but I hold no advisory capacity with anyone; quite the opposite, many people seem more than willing to tell me where to go, and what to do when I get there. Still, here goes…
There are many interesting ideas as to how we might be able to easily get to space, and do so cheaply. The key, the main enabler for possible space exploration is being able to move lots of mass into orbit as cheaply as possible. To that end I like the idea of space elevators , but there are other ideas just as fantastic, and just as costly. The thing is almost all are beyond the capacity of single nations to implement. In my opinion, if humanity really wants a path to the stars, it begins with nearly every country committing to that goal, funding it, and keep on funding it until we succeed. If the goal is to fire up the pioneering spirit in a large part of Earth’s population, show a commitment to opening up that last frontier. At the very least we should commit to building and launching the ‘B’ Ark.
Sandy Mabery says
There is still a vast amount of the ocean yet to be discovered, so strap on some scuba gear. 🙂
ejdalise says
My first draft had two frontiers, but this was a continuation of pieces dealing with what was covered in the Ben Bova interview, and that interview concentrated specifically on space.
However, while it is technically a frontier, it still faces similar problems to those we faced with space. Namely, it is not a friendly environment to human life . . . at least until we pull a Costner and grow some gills.
And it’s still not a place you can just go out and settle. Living in the ocean (as opposed to on top, as on a boat) still requires a fair amount of technology to execute. Not something the average pioneer would have at their disposal.
Besides, you’re not really leaving, and most likely you would still be tied to surface supplies . . . no way I’m giving up Netflix.
margie says
i think people need to know we are no different than a herd of animals. when theregets to be to many what happens? sickness develops, and many die off.but there is always some left to carry on. we all have our dreams of what we think should be, but if your fellow man is torn between many places and they all want the word power, how can anyones dreams be fullfilled? i think our spaces for survival are running out. i have watched this build up. people are scared and i think they should be.our pioneer days have become a survival kit.