Week 9: Space + Art

Week 9: Space + Art

Even though I am not really that into space exploration (simply because I would be too scared to travel in a rocket) this lecture really opened my eyes and made me realize that space exploration is the future of our generation. Just like the internet was discovered, peaked around 1994, and changed human life, this is what is happening with space projects and exploration. 

Satellites flying across the space

Something that really struck me was how Professor Vesna mentioned that the “space race” started because of America and Russia’s ongoing competition during the Cold War. Because there was so much competition between both countries, they both developed incredible spacecrafts that eventually took the first men to space and to the moon. Now, like she mentioned, in the long-term this space race changed everything about everybody, it changed the way humans saw and learned about space. Most importantly, it brought space into pop culture, portraying it in big shows like “Planet Stories, The Jetsons, Lost in Space, and Star Trek.” Just like this was a competition between two countries, the X Prize Foundation was also a competition that pressured nongovernmental organizations to develop the newest spacecrafts and space technology - it granted a $10 million dollar price to the winner. Their main objective was to develop competitions that would encourage technological innovations that could benefit mankind. We now have SpaceX, and I am sure this organization will eventually be the head of all space exploration, just like NASA was in the 1960’s. 

NASA during Apollo 11 mission, 1969. Houston, Texas. 

Now, my roommate is an astrophysics major and her biggest dream is to travel to space. While I was listening to this lecture, I stopped and asked her several questions about her interest in becoming an astronaut. Something that she said was that "It is very impressive that astronauts are taught to be professionals of every single field of study." She said that prior to traveling to space, an astronaut must know how to be a surgeon, an engineer, a general doctor, an artist, and even a good communicator. The reason behind it being that in any case of an emergency, they must know how to react since they will have no human population around them. On a similar note, while reading the article on “The Leonardo Space Art Project Working Group,” I noticed some of the creators mentioned very similar things when talking about their project. For example, Roger Malina said that “The space age was possible because for centuries the cultural imagination was fed by artists, writers, and musicians who dreamed of human activities in space.” Basically, they believe that it was artists who inspired all of these creations related to space. It is amazing how nowadays every single profession is needed in order to advance humanity and keep discovering the future of our planet. 

Last but not least, I wanted to tie this lecture to what I learned from nanotechnology. As of today, there are many things that humans have not been able to decipher, for example, the cure to cancer. In this case, nanotechnology professionals are currently discovering alternative treatments using nano particles that can detect and target the specific cancerous cells. Similarly, I believe a lot of problems of humanity will be solved by discoveries from space. For example, the lack of natural resources is a very big problem, but if we could only travel to space and take “One kilometer diameter asteroid” it “would contain 30 million tons of nickel, 1.5 million of metal cobalt, and 7500 tons of platinum.” Only the platinum is worth 150 billion dollars in prices of today.  All in all, Neil Armstrong was right when he said that walking on the moon was “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” 

Neil Armstrong: First man to walk on the moon, 1969

Sources: 

Biederman, Matthew. "ARCTIC PERSPECTIVE INITIATIVE." ARCTIC PERSPECTIVE INITIATIVE. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 June 2017.

Holmes, Brian. "CODED UTOPIA." Continental Drift. N.p., 18 May 2009. Web. 01 June 2017.

Jevtic, Aleksandar. "7 Most Advanced Countries in Space Technology." Insider Monkey. Koala Guide, n.d. Web. 01 June 2017.

Giphy. "Movies GIF - Find & Share on GIPHY." GIPHY. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 June 2017.

"One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." What a Timeline. Facebook Timelines, 25 Aug. 2012. Web. 31 May 2017.

"The Leonardo Space Art Project Working Group." Leonardo Space Art Project Visioneers. Guy Levrier, n.d. Web. 01 June 2017.