Monthly Archives: October 2012

A Genuine Intellectual with Integrity, John Lewis on Asteroid Mining and Mars Settlement

“Our first goal is not to settle space, but to make space so economically attractive that it will settle itself.”

 

“Pass carbon dioxide in the atmosphere through electrolysis with what is essentially a ceramic membrane and split it into carbon monoxide and oxygen. Liquify the carbon monoxide and oxygen and you have rocket fuel and rocket oxidizer. The performance of a carbon monoxide/oxygen engine is inferior to that of cryogenic propellants because you’re already using carbon that’s half burned. But – it’s sufficient to get off of Mars. With a single stage.”

"Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, Nothing is going to get better. It’s not."

Dr Seuss: Rhymes and Reasons (2003 documentary) Part 1 of 9
Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
by Dr. Seuss
Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!
You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.
You’re on your own. And you know what you know. 
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.
You’ll look up and down streets. 
Look’em over with care. 
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.” 
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet, 
you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.
And you may not find any you’ll want to go down. 
In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town. 
It’s opener there in the wide open air.
Out there things can happen and frequently do 
to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry. 
Don’t stew. Just go right along. 
You’ll start happening too.
Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.
You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed. 
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead. 
Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best. 
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.
Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.
I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true that Bang-ups 
and Hang-ups can happen to you.
You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch. 
And your gang will fly on. You’ll be left in a Lurch.
You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump. 
And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.
And when you’re in a Slump, you’re not in for much fun. 
Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.
You will come to a place where the streets are not marked. 
Some windows are lighted. But mostly they’re darker. 
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin! 
Do you dare to stay out? Do you dare to go in? 
How much can you lose? How much can you win?
And if you go in, should you turn left or right…
or right-and-three-quarters? 
Or, maybe, not quite? 
Or go around back and sneak in from behind? 
Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find, 
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.
You can get so confused that you’ll start in 
to race down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace 
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, 
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.
The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.
Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, 
or a plane to go or the mail to come, 
or the rain to go or the phone to ring, 
or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No 
or waiting for their hair to grow. 
Everyone is just waiting.
Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite 
or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, 
for their Uncle Jake or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls, 
or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, 
or Another Chance. 
Everyone is just waiting.
No! That’s not for you!
Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying. 
You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing. 
With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high! 
Ready for anything under the sky. 
Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!
Oh, the places you’ll go! 
There is fun to be done! 
There are points to be scored. 
There are games to be won. 
And the magical things you can do with that ball 
will make you the winning-est winner of all. 
Fame! You’ll be famous as famous can be, 
with the whole wide world watching you win on TV.
Except when they don’t. Because, sometimes, they won’t.
I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too. 
Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.
All Alone!
Whether you like it or not, 
Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.
And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance you’ll 
meet things that scare you right out of your pants. 
There are some, down the road between hither and yon, 
that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.
But on you will go though the weather be foul. 
On you will go though your enemies prowl. 
On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl. 
Onward up many a frightening creek, 
though your arms may get sore and your sneakers may leak. 
On and on you will hike. 
And I know you’ll hike far 
and face up to your problems whatever they are.
You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know. 
You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go. 
So be sure when you step. 
Step with care and great tact 
and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act. 
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. 
And never mix up your right foot with your left.
And will you succeed?
Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)
Kid, you’ll move mountains!
So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby 
or Bray or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea, 
you’re off to Great Places!
Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.
So…get on your way!

Richard Branson Interviewed on Business Advice and Virgin Galactic

Ill-informed Moderator: “It’s a wonderful buzz, it’s wonderfully exciting. But…ah…space travel costs billions…ah, how real is it…as a business model?” 

Richard Branson: “Well, once again I never thought of it as a business model. 1990 I’d been waiting for NASA which is run by governments to offer space travel to myself and you know to thousands of other people who would love to go up into space. And it soon became apparent that a government run business had no interest in you or I or anybody in this audience going into space. So, you know, so I formed the – Virgin Galactic Airways – I love the name – formed the company at __’s house, then set out on flights around the world looking for engineers or technicians who maybe had the genius to build a reusable spaceship. I was fortunate enough to come across Burt Rutan who is the, the genius. And working with him we won the X Prize. […] So, it wasn’t for a number of years before thinking, you know, is this – are we – going to pay the bills. The important thing – which is always the important thing when creating a business – is, once again, are we going to make a real difference in people’s lives – and, by being, you know, the first company in the world to offer people hopefully a return ticket into space […] we will make it – we will make a dramatic difference in people’s lives. Any who’s been to space, you know, it is the most enthralling thing that can happen to anybody. So we managed to bring the cost down from, you know, it’s going to cost 50 million dollars to go on a Russian spaceship, it will  cost 200 thousand dollars to go up on a Virgin spaceship, but, over the next ten years we’ll be able to consistently bring that price down, so that, hopefully you know, one day hundreds of thousands will have the chance to go into space. By just trying these things, and experimenting like this, you know, there are things we discover which is something we didn’t set out to do – you know, we’re going to put satellites into space – and that means that schools or universities are going to be able to have their own satellites. And perhaps most excitingly of all – we think one day we’ll be able to do point to point, you know, I’m going to Australia tonight – I’d love to be able to go there in two or three hours, you know, through Virgin Galactic. One day to be able to get on a plane in London and arrive in Australia two or three hours later. So just popping people out of the atmosphere and then back down again.