This past weekend, experts from fields including Industrial Design, Aerospace Engineering, Theology and Planetary Science gathered with students in Hazeltine Commons. There, the 12th annual Space Horizons conference convened to contemplate how future journeys to space could help humanity save Earth.
鈥淚 started the conference out of frustration that the space business was being too conservative,鈥� said Adjunct Associate Professor of Engineering and co-organizer of the event Rick Fleeter 鈥�76 PhD 鈥�81. Space enterprises, like NASA, were limiting their scope to focus on the things that they considered doable or achievable, he said. But, Fleeter recalled science writer Arthur Clarke鈥檚 notion that 鈥渢he only way to really learn anything is just by trying to do the impossible,鈥� Fleeter said.
This idea of defying the achievable and considering the impossible听 gave birth to the Space Horizons conference. 鈥淲e input impossible questions and then we find 鈥� these people who work on them and then we find out that it鈥檚 actually possible,鈥� Fleeter said.
Space Horizons diverged from the usual conference format by avoiding podium style lectures.听 Instead, students were able to approach a set of three tables, each with experts available to answer questions. This style sparked interesting dialogue, as participants were听 exposed to different ideas and new ways of thinking, said Michael Lye, a senior critic and NASA coordinator at the Rhode Island School of Design. 鈥淭here is something really different in having the opportunity to go meet someone face to face and talk to them and get the conversation going,鈥� he said.
The event included multiple forums such as 鈥淥ff Planet Manufacturing,鈥� 鈥淚nvesting in Human Habitats in Space鈥� and 鈥淩isks of Replicating Earth Mistakes in Space.鈥�
Phil Metzger, a planetary scientist at the University of Central Florida and a former NASA employee, presented the idea of transforming Earth through space technology. 鈥淭echnologies that we develop for exploration missions are the same technologies that could support settlement beyond Earth, or establish industry on Earth in order to benefit Earth,鈥� Metzger said. He explained that humans must look for solutions to their problems beyond their planet.
While Metzger mentioned that the 鈥渓ong-term vision鈥� would be to create machines that would operate in space to benefit Earth, he acknowledged that there are many intermediary steps that must be taken before that vision can be reached. He listed these 鈥渟tepping stones鈥� as 鈥渦sing mining equipment to extract water and (using) that water as rocket fuel for space companies,鈥� as well as extracting metals that could be manufactured to produce technologies such as giant antennas which could provide much higher data speeds. The potential of space also includes utilizing the unique properties of space 鈥� such as the lack of gravity 鈥� for manufacturing. But, technologies that operate more easily in space have to produce tangible value for them to be economically viable, he said.
The idea of using space technologies for different fields on Earth was a topic that also appeared in the keynote speech of Kimberly Arcand, visualization and emerging technology lead for NASA鈥檚 Chandra X-ray Observatory. She mentioned that her job is to 鈥渧isualize the high energy universe such as exploding stars (and) black holes 鈥� (and) take data of the universe, visualize it and tell a story with that image.鈥� These images may include a 鈥�2D image, 3D model, virtual reality application or a 3D print.鈥� She also highlighted how the technologies used in telescopes like the Chandra Observatory have been 鈥渞ecycled鈥� for use on Earth; whether it be in environmental monitoring, medicine or other domains 鈥� exemplifying how space technology is already serving an unexpected but necessary purpose on Earth.
Another topic of discussion was the long-duration human exploration missions and settlements beyond Earth. While the technical challenges of such missions and settlements are well known, experts mentioned that the psychological challenges of long-term space travel play a significant role in the viability of such missions.听 鈥淎 lot (of the) challenges to design for space (are) psychological. We might have to just stay in a habitat for a very long time. We have to see what happens in such situations,鈥� Lye said. NASA has previously and is currently running simulations, such as the HI-SEAS Dome experiment on Earth, to test such scenarios, he added.
Jessica Newman, crewed spaceflight operations and training instructor at NASA, mentioned that the 鈥渢echnical鈥� part of听 training for space travel is the easy part. Newman has witnessed how it takes astronauts a longer time to become accustomed to the unique set of soft skills, referred to as 鈥淪pace Flight Resource Management,鈥� which are needed to be successful in space. These skills include team interaction and reactions under pressure, skills which are key in missions.
With its wide array of offerings, the Space Horizons conference brought experts of many perspectives to one place 鈥� an experience Lye compared to browsing a library. 鈥淚f I know exactly what I鈥檓 looking for and I pull that book out 鈥� I only get that information that I鈥檓 looking at. If I look around, I鈥檒l see things. It鈥檚 the same with people here,鈥� Lye said.
These kinds of events present opportunities for space researchers to 鈥渂e influential (and) promote making life better for humans,鈥� Newman said.
