‘Space exploration’ has its own charm. Perhaps it’s an area where class
and creed does not matter and ‘Humanity’ gets counted as a single entity. Or
maybe it is a big money game, not for the poor of Third world who are still
struggling for sustenance.
Anyway, it has ample scope of imagination… From science fiction to real science, there
are many ideas which resonate and get realized… because of actual or perceived need.
Two of these had an insignificant presence in the back page of an
Indian newspaper recently. Amid the more appealing headlines of ‘Radhe Ma’ and ‘Indo-Pak
tension’, they were nowhere in the mainstream electronic media. Yet, they may
have profound impact on our future generations.
Incidentally both are being pursued by NASA.
For a poor nation like ours, such costly ventures maybe beyond our
means, especially when we are still unable to address farmers’ suicide and malnutrition.
But I feel jealous to know that someone on the same planet has the means to
venture into such unknown territories.
The
first one is about food:
Astronauts
in ‘International Space Station’ ate the vegetables sown in space.
[Link:
http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/10/nasa-astronauts-lettuce-vegetables-grown-space
]
Someone
remarked – ‘It was one small bite for man, one giant meal for
mankind.’ Whether it turns out to be a giant leap or not - is yet to be seen.
The
harvest was sown in space earlier also, but at that time it was brought back to
earth to test it for food safety regulation. I wonder if we can have such
process for all our food items sold in Indian retail market and streets. How
many of them would be able to pass the rigorous food regulatory test of NASA.
Maggi fiasco is just the tip of iceberg and most of us are aware of how
contaminating our food is!
Well… ‘Space-produce’ passed the test and this time astronauts
devoured it. Now what is so important in it?
The main objective is to get the fresh food [not the preserved one] for human on Mars mission. But who knows we may need such ‘Space-produce’ in our everyday life.
Because this earth is eventually going to be so polluted that crop
sown here would definitely be contaminated. Pesticides in the soil are only one
side of this problem. Environmentalist and soil experts can elaborate but yes,
it’s a very real threat and agriculture in space can be a solution.
With the private commercial ventures vying for the futuristic
space pie, maybe a startup would soon offer such special space-grown vegetables on
your doorstep through drone couriers.
Second insignificant news story is about the ‘Drones’ to be sent
to Mars.
NASA Designers have made a prototype of small drones which would
dig the steep valleys of Martian surface, where the Rover can’t go.
[Link: http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/drone360/2015/08/03/nasa-wants-to-put-drones-to-work-on-mars/
]
Drones will be sent as detachable payloads on a rover that will
act as base station for them.
Perhaps we may then find the aliens hiding inside a cave or an
underground world connected through an opening on a ridge where the drone would
hover.
Before a human foot finds that distant world, we should know about
every inch of that planet – Yes, that is the obvious idea behind this design.
Perhaps such little drones would be required for each space flight
beyond our friendly universe that is mostly up to ‘International Space Station’.
In the asteroids, where we are looking
for minerals, in many moons like Titan where we suspect of an alien life, or
maybe for a mission to Kepler 186f in distant future, and so on – there are
ample possibilities where this nascent idea would become a matter of life and
death.
I don’t know if this earth is going to survive for another
thousand years or not. But for the human race, ‘Space’ is going to be a refuge
for sure. Little drones – not just for surveillance or as couriers – but to
smell the unknown territory before landing up there – will definitely be the
force multiplier.
And of course, without Space-Agriculture there would be no
survival.
Maybe then we would have a tale of a lady farmer on a space-station and a gentleman miner on an asteroid...
Maybe then we would have a tale of a lady farmer on a space-station and a gentleman miner on an asteroid...
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