There's something exciting that's been in the works for some time now, but no one else seems to be nearly as into it as I am--nor do people realize what it all can mean. Well, now that Star Trek has had a favorable reception (trekkies and trekkers rejoice!) I'm sure many of you out there on teh internets will be open to the idea of
SPACE TRAVEL
as a viable and realistic endeavor. Of course, in many respects space travel already is. But soon it can be cheaper, and more things can be done with it. How, you might say, and with the U.S. economy's slow and alarming death? two words, folks. Capitalist environmentalists. (If you're going to limit the length of you sentences, I say go for the ten-dollar words)
What's one big environmentalist problem in the world today? High-level nuclear waste. Yes, yes, some nuclear waste deteriorates fairly quickly in a safe and stable matter. But talk to any US citizen living in certain western areas about the safe and secure methods we have of nuclear waste disposal, and you're likely to get into a heated argument. You see, the kind of nuclear waste buried in parts of the states needs thousands of years to decompose, and we have no real assurance that it'll be undisturbed (and un-targeted by terrorists).
Since 1970, the idea of disposing nuclear waste in space has been looked at by scientists, and the result is always the same: good idea, but it'll cost too much/ what if the shuttlecraft miscarries?
Well, what if nuclear power plants---privately owned, so the only the best of the best are likely to be hired by the world governments---moved shop into space? First, they would produce the energy in space, where it could be more easily disposed, then, as technology became more and more advanced, the nuclear waste still on earth could be disposed of in space as well. In the meantime, the US companies would recycle nuclear power (like countries such as France and England) so that there was less that needed to be disposed.
But however will we get nuclear power plants into space? I'm all for space stations that are easily accessible via the forthcoming
SPACE ELEVATOR::trumpet fanfare::
Maybe I'm over-optimistic and excitable, but the possibility of such a thing could revolutionize space exploration and lead to colonization. Which could lead to new jobs in an untold number of areas, simply because we have more space for the world population. Of course, this is all far, far far in the future.
More later;
~Captain Aean
Comments (1)
oh, i am so excited for space. you have no idea.