Every generation has its space fantasy, and if you think about it, most of us have lived to see science fiction become reality!
Image: Cloud cities on an alien landscape
Source: Pixabay
So why should things like space colonists, flying cars and cloud cities be outside our reach?
Today here at Ever Widening Circles (EWC) we dream big, with some of the biggest dreamers: Jules Verne (1850’s), Ray Bradbury (1950’s). Arthur C. Clarke (1960’s). They are a few of the most famous Science Fiction writers who imagined humans colonizing another world.
Funny thing is, many of their imaginings have come to pass!
Spaceships were nothing more than wild fantasies in the 1940’s, and yet we rocketed a chimpanzee into Earth’s orbit in 1959. In the 1950’s it would have seemed delusional to look up at the moon and imagine humans driving something like a dune buggy around the surface, and yet we did that in 1971.
Image: Astronaut from Apollo 17 driving the lunar rover vehicle
Source: NASA // Wikimedia
And an interactive, all-knowing artificial intelligence named “Hal” (from the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey) is strangely familiar in a female voice we’ve come to know as Siri.
In the 1970’s, the technologies used in SciFi televisions series like Star Trek and the movie Star Wars impressed us all with the stuff of dreams, and yet here we are with cell phones, driver-less cars, and wearable computers on our wrists.
Image: Scifi wonders like Cloud cities and Star Trek Tricorders
Source: Davidbspalding // Wikimedia, NBC Television // Wikimedia
So where does all that history leave us when we begin to imagine actually colonizing another planet, such as Mars? People in high places are speculating that we could be making such a mission around 2030.
And come to think of it, why are we moving forward as if Mars is our best option when Venus is much closer?
There are some fascinating facts to consider, so when we came across this interesting look at the now, very real possibilities, we thought this piece was brilliant.
And why the references to “Cloud Cities”? You’ll enjoy watching this amazing explanation to find out:
Via: PBS Space Time 1
Fabulous work there from the Ever Widening Circles thought-leaders to the PBS Studios YouTube channel focusing on space!
If you are interested in seeing more carefully researched videos from the creators of today’s piece, take a hard look at the YouTube channel we featured today at PBS Space Time.
These are extremely credible sources for insights and inspiration. Just look at the credentials for the host on this YouTube channel:
“Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth with our astrophysicist host: Matthew O’Dowd.
Matt O’Dowd spends his time studying the universe, especially really far-away things like quasars, super-massive black holes, and evolving galaxies. He uses telescopes in space to do it. Matt completed his Ph.D. at NASA’s Space Telescope Science Institute, followed by work at the University of Melbourne and Columbia University. He’s now a professor at the City University of New York’s Lehman College and an Associate at the American Museum of Natural History’s Hayden Planetarium.” 2
That’s the kind of resume and therefore credibility that you’ll find from all the thought-leaders we feature here on EWC.
Image: Source of a riverSource: Mate(j Bat(ha // Wikimedia
Credibility is a problem we’d like to tackle here at Ever Widening Circles.
Are we getting far too many “facts” from people who do not have the expertise to offer learned opinions? We encourage you to look for – no, demand – credibility from all the places you get information from on the web. Do your sources cite their sources? Are their sources people with years of in-depth experience in the areas they are speculating about?
You can count on us here!
You can follow every link in this website without fear winding up somewhere you regret.
If you’d like to see a few more articles here on EWC that point to a positive future, scroll down through our categories for technology or innovation.
Meanwhile, we’ll see you again tomorrow for another article that reminds us all it is still an amazing world!
Stay open, curious and optimistic.
~ Dr. Lynda
More reasons to celebrate a better future!
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NOTES:
“Should We Colonize Venus Instead of Mars? | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios.” YouTube. PBS Space Time, 04 Mar. 2015. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJ5KV3rzuag. ↩
“PBS Space Time About.” YouTube. PBS Space Time, n.d. Web. 09 Apr. 2017. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7_gcs09iThXybpVgjHZ_7g/about. ↩
Lynda Ulrich
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Dr. Lynda is a dentist, artist, global traveler, and philanthropist who looks for potential and shares it with the world.
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Image: Colored map of the Mars landscape around a crater taken from Curiosity Driven Science
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Source: https://everwideningcircles.com/2017/04/10/going-to-venus-before-mars-think-actual-cloud-cities/
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