Failure™ Magazine

Spatially Challenged

The fall of NASA and the prospects for a new Space Age.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under Science & Technology

If space tourism became a reality do you think that would inspire a new Space Age?
I think it would, because what got people excited about space travel back in the fifties and sixties were two different ideas. One was that space exploration was going to be the next phase of grand exploratory adventures. So people were excited about that—this idea of the final frontier. But the other thing that was a great motivator was this idea that everybody would eventually get to be a space traveler. You might not get to go to the Moon, you might not get to go to Mars, but maybe you’d get to go into orbit and get a perspective on your life and home planet that you wouldn’t otherwise have. This was something that was a very strong motivator. During the sixties in particular it was very much in the culture and in the media coverage of space travel. I think that aspect of space interest got lost very quickly when after Apollo it became clear to people that NASA and its partners were going to do nothing to get the average person into space. That’s what has been lost in terms of interest in space travel. It’s really a demonstration sport. If you started to see a popular space tourism industry you might actually revitalize broader-ranging exploration because people would say, “This has some relevance to my life.”

Would you explain what SETI does?
SETI uses large radios and telescopes connected to high-powered computers to scan distant star systems to see if there is any evidence of communications technology that might be similar to what we’ve produced on earth. It’s a long distance way of trying to detect whether there are other civilizations in the galaxy.

In the book you argue that SETI is misunderstood. Why?
I think it’s because SETI is about discovering extra-terrestrial life, and in pop culture that is a very charged idea. You can think of everything from E.T. to Independence Day. Because SETI was originally funded via NASA and Congress, there were some congressmen who found it a very easy target for cost cutting. They said, “Why are we paying for a search for little green men?” It really wasn’t that sort of thing and it was fairly low-cost, as well. But back in the early nineties when things were a little tight budget-wise Congress said, “Yeah, let’s just cut this program.” Ever since—even though SETI has been revived by private funding—it has had to fight the perception that it’s a hunt for little green men. Really, it’s solidly based in astrophysics and computer science.

What exactly has SETI found?
Nothing yet. But it’s a big galaxy. And it’s a fairly slow search process. SETI scientists will admit that they may never find anything or that it may take decades, if not longer. But if you’re going to be a scientist you have to be patient. These scientists are the most patient I have ever met. 

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