Today, instead of a new post, I'll refer you to my recent article on the Baen Books website in which I describe how we can use space technology to help solve the very real energy and environmental problems we face here on Earth. The subtitle, "Why Space Advocates and Environmentalists Should Work Together" should be a wake up call to those who believe that high tech space development is somehow not compatible with being a good steward of planet Earth. On the contrary - the two are not only synergistic, they are intertwined. I firmly believe that in order to protect and preserve our home planet we have to embrace space development -- sooner, rather than later.
Read on... http://www.baen.com/Using_Outer_Space.asp
Thursday, November 20, 2014
Monday, May 26, 2014
I think Evelyn Beatrice Hall Would Approve (and Voltaire too!)
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the
death your right to say it" - Evelyn Beatrice Hall*
As I celebrate and contemplate this Memorial Day, I believe we
seem to have forgotten what used to be this truism in American culture. Personally, I value the opinions of those who
have views on issues that differ from my own.
My wife and I host a monthly discussion group that embodies the spirit
of Evelyn Hall; members of the group disagree more often than they agree on
many issues yet we still manage to eat pizza together after many a spirited
debate/disagreement. Some members are
liberal, some conservative. We’ve had
members who are Christian, atheist, and Hindu.
Views are expressed that some find offensive, and they say so – but they
still come back each week to discuss issues and seek to understand the
viewpoints of those with whom they vociferously disagree. These
are my friends and they define by example what it means to be tolerant -- I think
Hall (and Voltaire) would approve.
*(this quote is often incorrectly attributed to
Voltaire)
Les Johnson
Tuesday, April 1, 2014
The Future Is In Good Hands
Last week, I had the privilege of providing a colloquium at
The University of Kansas (the other UK, or as they write it, KU) in the Aerospace
Engineering Department. The topic of was
solar sails and how they will not only benefit exploration and science within
the solar system but also, potentially, take us to the stars.
I was there because of the initiative of one young man –
Brooks Pierson. I met him at the Icarus
Interstellar Congress last summer where he invited me to come to KU to talk
about interstellar travel using solar sails.
Brooks single handedly made all the necessary arrangements for my travel
and even had a gift bag containing chocolates and cookies waiting for my wife
and me when we arrived. The day went
like clockwork and included a lecture to a graduate-level aerospace engineering
class, lunch with students, meetings with the Dean and a former NASA astronaut
now on faculty at the university, and concluded with my departmental colloquium.
The response was tremendous.
Unlike when I’ve spoken at some other universities, the room was packed;
no one appeared to be sleeping, and afterward I was mobbed with students asking
thoughtful, intelligent questions. Carol
and I then went to dinner with a select group of students where the discussion
continued until much later in the evening.
It reminded me of being in college – back in the day.
Thank you, Brooks, for your interest and initiative. You will go far.
Upon my return, I received this email:
-----------------------------
Hello, Mr. Johnson.
My name is John Doe (yes, I changed his name – I don’t have
his permission to reprint the letter), and I'm a junior in Aerospace at the
University of Kansas, and an AFROTC cadet. I would just like to thank you for
coming and speaking at the University of Kansas' aerospace colloquium. Your
presentation was honestly the most engaging and interesting one that I've seen
in my 3 years of taking the class. I wanted to say this in person, but you had
a small army of fans in line and I had a meeting shortly after class.
I found your lecture so fascinating because the sole reason
I am in aerospace is to contribute to furthering deep space exploration. As you
highlighted in your lecture, not only would this reap an unfathomable
scientific and exploratory benefit, but the economic and environmental
prosperity would be massive.
…
Thank you very much for your time.
-----------------------------
The passion for space and space exploration is alive and
well at The University of Kansas and, I suspect, at colleges all across the USA
and around the world. The future is in
good hands, indeed.
Tuesday, November 12, 2013
The Perils of Being an Optimist
I admit it. I'm an
optimist. I believe that the future can
and will be better than today. I'm also
drawn to ‘end of the world’ type movies – but only ones where the good people
prevail and the evil (leader, country, monster, alien, virus, sentient computer,
whatever) is thoroughly trounced. And
yet…
I still like to watch the movies where the bad guys
sometimes win. I'm haunted by them and I
replay them in my mind while envisioning the many other ways the good people
could have won if only… if only they'd done this or that differently. And that
both troubles me and piques my interest at the same time.
Les Johnson - editor of "Going Interstellar" and co-author of "Back to the Moon"
Personal Homepage - http://www.lesjohnsonauthor.com/
Linked In - http://www.linkedin.com/in/lesjohnson1
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LesJohnsonAuthor
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
We Need To Dream Again
My parents’ generation dreamed big and accomplished
much. They were members of what has been
called, “The Greatest Generation.” My
father was born in the second decade of the 20th Century in a country
that had just entered the world stage during World War 1. During his lifetime, he
- saw the Great Depression begin and end.
- fought in World War II (North Africa).
- witnessed aviation progress from Charles Lindbergh’s historic flight across the Atlantic to daily non-stop jet service to and from nearly every major city on the planet.
- experienced the birth of nuclear energy -- both nuclear weapons and commercial nuclear power.
- benefitted from the development of antibiotics, the near-eradication of polio, and the end of smallpox.
- saw rockets progress from being Robert Goddard’s curious ‘invention’ to taking people to the Moon and the launch of Voyager.
- rode in the family Model T and later the family’s air conditioned Buick on the nation’s interstate highway system.
- listened to a crystal radio as a boy and watched color television as an adult.
- the list goes on, and on, and on...
I’m not saying that we aren't inventing new things today or
that even the pace of innovation has slowed, which I don’t believe it has. I am
saying that we don’t seem to be doing the BIG things anymore. Yes, the internet and cell phones are
revolutionary, but they pale in comparison to the quality of life improvements
made by the previous generation.
Many seem to think that our best days are behind us and that
we should therefore diminish our expectations. After all, our industrial base is declining,
the middle class is shrinking and we are in so much debt that all we can do is
maintain our social programs – ambitious projects are just not affordable
anymore. To this I say, “nuts!” These problems are miniscule compared to
those facing the country when my father was a young man and look at what he and
his generation accomplished!
The future can be better than today, and it is up to us to
make that happen. Now is not the time to diminish our
expectations. Rather, now is the time to
dream big, tackle BIG and ambitious new projects, and make tomorrow better than
today.
Les Johnson - editor of "Going Interstellar" and co-author of "Back to the Moon"
Personal Homepage - http://www.lesjohnsonauthor.com/
Linked In - http://www.linkedin.com/in/lesjohnson1
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LesJohnsonAuthor
Thursday, October 10, 2013
Farewell Scott Carpenter
Today we mourn the loss of Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter. Carpenter orbited the Earth when I was about
2 months old and helped usher in the Space Age.
He and the other pioneers of the early space program were a brave group. They took risks that we wouldn't dream of
taking today – flying on rockets that tended to explode; into an environment that we weren't yet sure would
be hospitable, or at least tolerable to human life; and then back to Earth in
fiery descents that took them into the deep ocean for rescue.
Without Carpenter, Shepard, Grissom, Glenn, Schirra, Cooper
and Slayton, we couldn't have gone to the Moon, built Skylab and Space Station
or today be thinking of voyages beyond.
The combination of the right people (think Wernher Von Braun and John F.
Kennedy), at the right time (The Cold War and the emerging technical capability
suitable for space travel), and in the right country (with the money to fund
the effort and the know-how to support it) make this generation admirable, and many
argue, unique in human history.
Some say that significant historical events happen because “it
is the right time.” I say that these
events are often totally dependent upon the people who make them happen. Ideas are important; the tide of history cannot
be ignored; but without the people to act, some events will simply not occur.
Scott Carpenter and his generation are passing. They will be sorely missed.
Les Johnson - editor of "Going Interstellar" and co-author of "Back to the Moon"
Personal Homepage - http://www.lesjohnsonauthor.com/
Linked In - http://www.linkedin.com/in/lesjohnson1
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LesJohnsonAuthor
Thursday, October 3, 2013
What we need is a blackout
Last week I visited my daughter in Kentucky where she is
beginning her first year of college. My
wife and I stayed nearby with a cousin who lives in a rural area of the state
not far from her school. Arriving at my
cousin’s home at 11:00 pm after visiting the college campus, I was stunned by
the sky view that greeted me. It was a
cool, dry fall evening with no clouds and the majesty of the stars, including a
clearly visible Milky Way, all but shouted to me from above. I stood on the driveway looked skyward for as
long as I could before I had to come inside, lest I be rude to my host.
I live in an urban area and the last time I could see the
Milky Way from my house was after the tornado swarm in 2011 left the entire
county without power. It was a deadly
event, and a disaster for the hundreds who lost their homes, but for the rest
of us it afforded an opportunity to gaze skyward and see the stars. For some, this was the first time in their
lives to see so many stars.
Now, it’s not hard to get sky views like this – but it
requires planning. Many people just need
to drive an hour or so from their homes to reach a rural area without as much
light pollution and voila, the beauty of the universe awaits. We love to go camping and star gazing is an
integral part of each trip.
When people see the stars, they cannot help but ask the
fundamental questions that we otherwise tend to ignore in our ‘busyness.’ Questions like:
·
What’s out there?
·
Is there anyone out there looking back at us?
·
Why am I here?
Modern life with its many distractions doesn't give the
average person much time, or much of a prompt (like the stars ‘shouting’ at me)
to think about these topics. With our
televisions, computer screens, lighted homes and streetlights, we are mostly
isolated from being confronted with questions about our place in the universe.
I suspect that if there were a nationwide blackout, one
where no one was injured and no lives or property were at risk (not likely, I
know), but if there were such an event, then people would see the stars and
begin to ask these big questions.
I bet public support for space exploration would
dramatically increase.
Les Johnson
personal homepage - http://www.lesjohnsonauthor.com/
Linked In - http://www.linkedin.com/in/lesjohnson1
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/LesJohnsonAuthor
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