Andrew Ridd

PHYS 1040
Prof. Tamara Young
30 April 2014
A Conversation on Astronomy
There are few things I love more in this world that to sit down and talk about space and
astronomy. I am a complete space geek, most of my time browsing the Internet is dedicated to
either learning about what is out there or looking into the latest missions we have exploring
space. So needless to say when we were assigned to get together with others and have a
discussion on astronomy, I was rather excited. I got together with three classmates whom I had
gotten to know over the first few weeks of class, Bethany, Carlos, and Meghin. We were able to
meet up at a coffee shop in the waning hours of what was a warm, sunny March 7
th
. I could think
of nothing better than to cap off a great day than to grab a cup of coffee with some great people
and talk astronomy.
Previous to us meeting up for out discussion we had asked each other to bring a couple
topics that interests them and to also bring questions that they have about the universe. We
started off by discussing Saturns moon Titan and we began discussing the possibility that it may
harbor life. We went on to discuss the environment of Titan[1] and what we had learned from the
Cassini-Huygens mission[2] and just began admiring the pictures sent back from the Huygens
probe. We remained on the topic of life on other moons by discussing Europa. I brought up the
fact that the new NASA budget proposal had called for evaluating a mission to Europa[3]. We
turned our attention to the vast ocean that is thought to be underneath the icy surface and how we
may one day reach it. I mentioned the Russian expedition to Lake Vostok[4] in Antarctica. This
crew drilled through over two miles of ice to reach Lake Vostok underneath and found that the
lake teeming with life[5]. We drew the parallels between this expedition and a hypothetical
drilling mission to Europa. Was there life to be found under the ice of Europa as there was in
Lake Vostok? We let this question linger and began describing what sort of life we thought
would be hiding under the ice. We all agreed that if any life was to be found on Europa it would
be in the form of microbes and other microscopic life such as bacteria, but that there could very
well be some sort of fish-like life as well. Life on Earth did begin in the ocean after all, so there
is no reason it cant on Europa.
Our topic of discussion remained on life outside of Earth, but took a large turn to the
future. We began discussing a very exciting topic, the Kardashev Scale[6], and where we are on
it currently. The Kardashev Scale is a way of measuring a civilizations technological level based
on the amount and source of energy it is able to utilize. We discovered that in a more defined
scale we are currently a Type 0 civilization approaching a Type I. In a Type 0 a civilization is
one that utilizes its planets raw materials for energy. This lead to a discussion on renewable
energy and how it would help us in the long run towards ascending to Type I civilization. We
then began discussing how we imagined humanity ascending to these various levels of
civilizations, or if we ever would. Bethany made the joke that we have a very long way to go to
get to Star Wars level.
From this topic of future exploration of space we began to bring the discussion to current
time and near future plans. We talked about NASAs new rocket that is currently in
development, the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion crew capsule, and what plans it had
in place for exploration. We watched a video on how NASA plans to capture an asteroid, bring it
into an orbit around the Moon, and send asteroids to a mission to collect samples, etc. All four of
us didnt really seem too excited by a mission like this, and felt that sending humans to a
captured asteroid to collect samples was a bit overkill. We then found a competitor to this
mission that would send astronauts on a Mars fly-by mission. We watched another video that
showed the route astronauts would take to Mars, and became excited when we learned that it
included a gravity-assist fly-by of Venus. We all found this to be a much more exciting mission
than the asteroid capture. We want to journey into the solar system, and this would be a huge
step in that process. While we may not land on a planet or other body, we would learn so much
from interplanetary travel such as how to protect our astronauts from radiation, dealing with
muscle atrophy, and what such travels can do to the mental stability of these explorers. Better yet
for those of us following this trip, we would get some impressive pictures in the process. We
joked about astronauts taking selfies with Venus and Mars in the background. We then turned
our attention to the Mars One company that plans to send humans to Mars by 2025. We were all
very skeptical at this venture to the point that we even thought that it may be a scam.
This brought out discussion to the topic of politics of space travel. Many questions arose
as to the geopolitical impacts interplanetary travel and eventual settlements would bring. When
we do finally send humans to Mars and begin to colonize, who would govern these colonies?
Would there be land rights? Would they start their own government of Mars? We then read from
the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 that states that no nation may own a celestial body. But when we
settle a colony on Mars, this colony would have to self-govern. Not only due to laws all ready in
place here on Earth, but due to the fact that all transmissions between our two planets would take
seven minutes to reach one another. We all scoffed at the thought that a back and forth
transmission would take 14 minutes at the soonest. So while it may be the United States, Russia,
or even China who settles Mars, we all agreed that there would be some sort of Martian
government in the future.
As our hour came to a close all four of us had places to be so we had to cut it short. We
all learned some valuable information and had a very fun time. We all agreed that this needed to
happen again and that it would be nice to bring others along from outside of class to share in the
joy of discussing space and astronomy.































References:

[1] Titan: Overview. Solar System Exploration. NASA. 5 March 2014. Web. 7 March 2014.

[2] "ESA Science & Technology: Cassini-Huygens." ESA Science & Technology: Cassini-
Huygens. n.d. Web. 7 March 2014.

[3] Mann, Adam. "Europa Mission Gets Boost From Presidents New NASA Budget | Science |
WIRED." Wired.com. 2 March 2014. 7 March 2014.

[4] Oskin, Becky. "What Is Lake Vostok?" LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 02 Aug. 2013.
Web. 7 Mar. 2014.

[5] Rincon, Paul. Antarctic Lake Vostok yields 'new bacterial life BBC News. 7 March 2013
Web. 7 March 2014.

[6] Kardashev Scale Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia Wikipedia Foundation, Inc. 7 March
2014. Web. 7 March 2014.

[7] United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs Outer Space Treaty. n.d. Web. 7 March 2014