If your radar picks up Richard Branson, Professor Behrokh Koshnevis, Lady Gaga, India's cost-saving ideas, and the Olympic torch, you may have noticed a pattern. For those who are still lost, I'll throw in President Kennedy.
That's correct: the obvious conclusion is that we'll be starting an off-world colony soon. No, I'm not suggesting we have the money, intelligence, man-power, and motivation to abandon Earth to escape pop music. You can just turn off the radio.
However, Richard Branson's "spaceline" Virgin Galactic is scheduled to lauch it's first commercial flight in 2014. You can join him for $250,000. That may sound like a lot of money until you consider that no collection of resources in human history could get someone off the planet until the 1960's. On top of that, a ticket gives you access to a lot of other perks like spending time with Richard Branson. Book a ticket here!Meanwhile, Dr. Behrokh Koshnevis, a professor of Industrial Systems Engineering and Civil Environment Engineering (his website) has been pushing more conventional boundaries. He has developed 3D printing technology that can print full-size buildings. See his Ted talk here for a more complete explanation. The short version is that his technology can print a 2,500 square foot house in about 20 hours. No labor, better materials. Though it might cost as little as $250,000 to send a single contractor up to the moon, it would be a lot safer and cheaper to send up a machine that could handle whatever construction you need (including wiring, plumbing, whatever you like) without needing food or atmosphere.
If, however, you actually were hoping to escape modern pop, you'd better go now and enjoy what little time you've got alone. In 2015, you'll have to share the vacuum with
Lady Gaga is set to perform a single in outer space (courtesy of Virgin Galactic) as part of the Zero G Colony music festival. You can get info here. Not all hope is lost for space though. First of all, plenty of people like Lady Gaga and/or her music. Second, it's pretty big. You can go somewhere else if you need to. More to the point, we're sending something a little more inspirational to space for the first time. Though, it's been there before.
Since Prometheus first stole the fire thousands of years ago as Greek myth goes, we've come closer than ever to returning it to Apollo (the Sun god) as just yesterday the Olympic Torch was brought onto the International Space Station. This article from BBC news reports that tomorrow it will be taken for an historic spacewalk (it won't be lit).At the end of the day, however, even in the face of all this space traffic, the cost of travel is still prohibitive except to governments and people with a spare $250,000. There may not be enough of them to warrant a colony.
My grandmother has been to all 7 continents and I don't know how many countries. When I asked, she told me she wasn't interested in going to the Moon. Why? "There are no 5-star hotels on the moon." Don't worry, Nanny. Once we get basic Moon travel on the consumer market, luxury Moon travel won't be far behind. The problem is, how can we manage that? The answer for anyone willing to put in the effort: How can we not?
India just launched a mission to Mars that cost about $73 million (source). The US mission MAVEN's budget is $485 million (source). That's less than one sixth the cost to India. According that NBC article, their payload cost is about one tenth that of the US. India can send up 10 of Dr. Koshnevis's 3D printers for the price of one to the US. That's 40 houses on the Moon less than 2 days after landing. Alternatively, they could probably construct Lady Gaga's Moon Palace in short order as well.The point is, as we perfect these technologies and keep pumping money and interest into space travel, it's going to get more and more practical. India is already poised to make a killing on cost-effective space technology. At this point, if you're not thinking of your industry in terms of space application, you're being short-sighted.
