What was I
doing in 1972 apart from wondering if it was possible to book a weekend on The
Moon sometime? Essentially work, family and a very limited range of other
things although a holiday by Biarritz was managed. Many people thought that
this was an extreme of travel but with men on the moon it did not seem so much.
Now President
Trump has signed a document telling the US agencies involved that it is time to
go back there with humans and then on to the planet Mars. These trips are
unlikely to tell us much more than we already know, in recent years AI plus
advanced technology have done wonders.
His action may
related to the big cigar shaped thing up there very far away which is causing
speculation as to what it is, why and where is it heading for. Will it be
crewed by aliens looking for the space equivalent of motorway services? Or will
it be run by robots who will emerge crying "exterminate"?
The bean
counters and cost mongers of Earth will try to point out that all the expense
and trouble of launching man into space are likely to be in vain and can have
no economic benefit at all. Nor is there any hope of packing off all our
surplus humans off to do something useful.
Transportation
may have worked up to a point in the past on Earth for the various empires that
existed but to do so into outer space is one of those nice ideas which are just
not going to work. In any case the omens are not good.
Germany for
long has had the reputation of being a supreme example of how to do railway
systems. The Bundesbahn was the envy of the world. But the new Berlin to Munich
railway is having real problems. The Stuttgart station project has gone from
seven to eight billion euros and will go a lot further.
Us humans seem
to have lost the plot. Going out there means not only will we lose the money
but what is meant to be a national triumph will all too likely be a major
disaster.
Watch this
space.
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