YSM Issue 86.3

AERONAUTICS
space exploration through the years
a TIMELINE of MAJOR
ACHIEVEMENTS
1972: apollo 16 moon landing
1984: space shuttle discovery’s maiden launch
2000: international space station first occupied
investment in space technology, as the success
of commercial entities “will lead to businesses,
job growth, and wealth in sectors from biology,
to materials science, to mining and resource
utilization.” Google’s Lunar XPRIZE aims
to breach the frontier beyond Earth’s orbit
repeatedly and at low cost. To achieve this, Hall
prioritizes further developments in lunar orbit
communications and navigation networks,
the establishment of refueling depots at
strategic points in space, and the expansion
of communications networks on earth that
receive signals from space. Commenting on
the impact of the rise of space exploration
industry, Hall noted that “moving the R&D
from just being governments, to including the
commercial sector means that everything from
the amount of risk that we’re willing to take,
to the legal and regulatory infrastructures will
be challenged. All for the good.”
Creativity in the Pursuit of Space
Inventive approaches to space exploration
hardly end with the X PRIZE Foundation.
Planetary Resources, a company dedicated to
asteroid mining, has stated that “harnessing
valuable minerals from a practically infinite
source will provide stability on Earth, increase
humanity’s prosperity, and help establish and
maintain human presence in space.” With
influential industry backers (Google’s Larry
Page, Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson, X
PRIZE’s Peter Diamandis, and James Cameron
among others) and an expert team of technical
talent, Planetary Resources is surprisingly
well-placed to tackle what would have been an
outlandish sci-fi mission just a few years earlier.
Building up to their asteroid ambitions, they
recently completed their successful ARKYD
Kickstarter campaign, raising over $1.5 million
in the first crowdsourced funding venture
to offer public access to an advanced space
telescope. Space exploration crowdsourcing
is taking off in its own right as the CubeSat
Project, “an international collaboration of
over 40 universities, high schools, and private
firms developing picosatellites containing
scientific, private, and government payloads”
gives everyday individuals the chance to send
small-scale modular projects into space. With
a crowdsourced funding model, the cost is
shared among all the participating members
of a particular cube’s launch.
The Pressure and Promise of Globalization
Complicating this dynamic network of
governmental, academic, industrial, and
now crowdsourced interests within the U.S.,
several other nations have taken steps to
pursue space exploration. China’s proposals
for a new International Space Station by
2020 and a Chinese moon colony soon
thereafter force us to grapple with the political
implications of space technology. Hall stated,
“as space exploration matures, I believe we
will increasingly see the role of governments
and consortia of nations in building out
infrastructure at each new frontier.” Prochaska
concurred, noting that space exploration is a
“phenomenally complicated puzzle and we’re
working internationally with other Government
space agencies” to put the pieces together.
These multinational efforts stand to
incentivize competition, galvanize space
exploration, and advance humanity’s prospects
for the future. As we look to the final frontier,
a diverse fellowship between corporate and
government interests, small-scale and largescale
projects, and research will take us there.
The future of space exploration is bright, and
2009: butterfly nebula from hubble space telescope
About the Author
Ariel Ekblaw is a senior Physics and Math-Philosophy double major in Pierson
College. Currently working with Yale Professor Eric Dufresne on a biophysics soft
matter project, she flew in zero gravity with the Yale Drop Team in 2012. She hopes
to pursue a career in bioengineering for space or astrobiology.
Acknowledgements
The author would like to thank Frank Prochaska, Priya Natarajan, and Alexandra Hall
for their time and thoughtful contributions to the article.
Further Reading
• Yale Astronomy labs web site. www.astro.yale.edu
2012: curiosity rover lands on mars
14 Yale Scientific Magazine | November 2013 www.yalescientific.org