74 INNOVATION & TECH TODAY | SUMMER 2019
tech
zone NASA
- InJanuary,ChinalandeditsChang’e4 lander
nearthelunarSouthPole– thefirstsoftlanding
everonthefarside.Lastyear,it wasverifiedthat
between10,000andonemilliongallonsof
waterlieattheSouthPole;difficulttoextract,
butit’sthere. - Earlierthisyear,NASAreportedgreat
successatexploringunexpectedasteroid
environmentsfromOSIRIS-REx,theprobethat
landedontheasteroidBennu;andHayabasa2,
a Japaneseprobe. - Ouranticipationfora Marsmissionison
overdrive,withshowslikeNatGeoChannel’s
Mars, themovieTheMartian, Stephan
Petranek’sbookofthesamename,the
passionateadvocacyofNeildeGrasseTyson’s
Cosmosreboot,thecurriculumatU.S.Space
Camp,andconsiderabletechnologicalworkat
NASAandprivatecontractorspointinginone
direction:we’regoing. - Nolessthan 20 nationsnowhavea space
program.In1969,therewerejustthreenations - theU.S.,USSR ,andChina.
- For the first time in 20 years, money is being
poured into NASA and commercial space
interests rather than draining from it.
Like his fellow astronauts, Aldrin was
chagrined when NASA ended the moon
exploration program in 1972, following Eugene
Cernan’s final walk on Apollo 17. Their anxiety
and concern was evident in 1993, when our
space program was at a low point. Apollo 17
commander Gene Cernan, the last man to walk
on the moon (and who died in 2017), put it
succinctly: “I think I will remain the last man to
have left his footprints on the moon for
probably another generation, and that’s a sad
commentary.”
Make that two generations – and counting.
Further, we’d lost Challenger six years prior,
our nation was in a recession, the Cold War (and
reason for having a space program) was over,
incoming President Clinton promised to cut
NASA funds, and our focus was on two new
objects in near-earth orbit – the International
Space Station and Hubble Telescope, which
unlocked the observable universe to us.
A few of their concerns and predictions:
Aldrin: “For a better future, we must
relinquish present greed for future greatness. To
do that, you first have to have a strategic plan,
which we don’t.” (Now, happily, we do).
Apollo 11’s Michael Collins: “Some day in the
future, going into space will be extremely
important and will definitely change the face of
the Earth.”
Apollo 14’s Alan Shepard, also the first
American in space in 1961: “Basic research is
too abstract for the American public. It’s
difficult to specify gain because one thing
generates another, but by and large we all
benefit from space research. But only the
excitement of exploration will turn on the
average individual.”Apollo 12 commander Pete Conrad, the third
man to walk on the Moon: “You have to show
the public that they are getting some return on
their investment. The space program and
programs like it are creative programs because
they create not only new technology, which alsocreates new materials, devices, and industries...
The space program is like drilling for oil. You
might hit a number of dry holes but when
you’ve hit, you’ve got a gusher.”
Conrad, who died in 1999, worked
passionately toward deeper-space missions. He
flew twice on Gemini, commanded Apollo 12,
and was our first Skylab commander. He was
working on commercial manned launch vehicles
at the time of his death, and rumored to be en
route to Earth orbit as the second “legacy”
astronaut NASA would send for a “thank you”
ride ( John Glenn being the first, in 1998).
Conrad’s commitment to developing space
program technology was fierce, and also pointed
to the greatest benefit the program has given us -
innovations and tech breakthroughs (see story
on page 76), medical and Earth science, and
materials development and engineering design.
We will see how far we’ve come when we start
extruding materials from the moon, asteroids,
and Mars to sustain habitation and to refuel
missions – beginning with how we treat those
native environments.Photo: Space XPhoto: Virgin GalacticThe New Space Race