Dan Gillmor on the Columbia

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Tim O'Reilly
Feb. 02, 2003 09:48 AM
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URL: http://weblog.siliconvalley.com/column/dangillmor/archives/000768.shtml#000...

Dan Gillmor said it perfectly: "We would dishonor the memory of the astronauts, and take away from our own future, if we let this tragedy turn us away from the heavens. Space is humanity's destiny, if it has one. We are an exploring, expansionist race. We must go on.Space is humanity's destiny, if it has one. We are an exploring, expansionist race. We must go on."

Tim O'Reilly is the founder and CEO of O'Reilly Media, Inc., thought by many to be the best computer book publisher in the world. O'Reilly Media also hosts conferences on technology topics, including the Web 2.0 Summit, the Web 2.0 Expo, the O'Reilly Open Source Convention, and the O'Reilly Emerging Technology Conference. Tim's blog, the O'Reilly Radar, "watches the alpha geeks" to determine emerging technology trends, and serves as a platform for advocacy about issues of importance to the technical community. Tim is an activist for open source and open standards, and an opponent of software patents and other incursions of new intellectual property laws into the public domain. Tim's long-term vision for his company is to change the world by spreading the knowledge of innovators. For everything Tim, see tim.oreilly.com.

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Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

re-engineering space flight
2003-02-07 01:44:45 anonymous2 [Reply | View]

Well as it stands at the moment every mission has around a 1% chance of catastrophic failure. To my way of thinking those are inhuman odds for any peacetime, voluntary activity.

The logical engineering route to get us to the planets and, hopefully one day, to the stars is to get the robotics right and then get the energy and materials processing right all the while improving the flight systems. It would seem reasonable to want a space taxi that's as safe as an airliner before we put people in it.

Can anyone honestly point to work on the ISS that needs doing and couldn't be done at a fraction of the cost without the people.

I don't wish to detract from the courage and the spirit of the shuttle and ISS crews but this whole business of chucking people into low Earth orbit and praying that they get back in one piece is becoming a bit grisly.

Festina Lente!

Space
2003-02-06 16:22:24 anonymous2 [Reply | View]

Well, certainly, there is no reason to turn away from space exploration, but there is a need to question how we go into space and for what. Do we continue a shuttle program which has been largely a waste of money and resources or do we turn towards more efficient ways to conduct experiments and deliver objects to orbit and turn our attention toward more ambitious goals such as a journey to Mars? I'm of the opinion that the Shuttle is a bloated bus and the Space Station a diversion from far greater goals. End both programs now, strip NASA down to a lean core of committed engineers and turn attention toward the future - planetary exploration. We have not come very far since the moon landings of the '70's; it is time to take a giant leap forward.

Space
2003-02-06 21:14:27 Tim O'Reilly | [Reply | View]

Amen.

Showing messages 1 through 3 of 3.

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