Editorial: The Second Age of Space | Opinion

This is not a party, of course, but we will take this opportunity to look up from our daily concerns and look into the heavens.

Nearly half a century after Neil Armstrong walked for the first time on the moon, humans can not go further in space than in a low Earth orbit. Our explorations of the lunar surface lasted only four years before we lost interest. The last three Apollo missions have been canceled. the material for what would have been Apollo 20 was simply scrapped.

All this would have been a big surprise to those who were sitting in trance in front of their televisions on July 20, 1969. At the present time, we were supposed to have entire space colonies. The day Apollo 11 took off for the moon, Vice President Spiro Agnew declared – like Kennedy – that we should aim for Mars at the turn of the century. It was now almost two decades ago and we do not even have the equipment needed to bring humans back to the moon, let alone on Mars. What happened?

Well, with space, you always have to keep in mind the big picture, so here is: In hindsight, none of this should surprise. Columbus struck the islands off North America in 1492; it was not until 1565 before its Spanish sponsors ended up planting a colony in what is today St. Augustine, Florida. It was a period of 73 years. By this measure, we are still 24 years old trying to colonize the moon. The point being: history does not always move in a straight line. Here is another view of this big picture: It may seem that the space age is behind us, but we are currently on the verge of a second one. Let's look at why:

• The first space race took place between governments;

The most important space event of the past year – perhaps even longer – took place on February 6, when the Elon Musk Falcon Heavy took off from the Cape Canaveral launching pad. This was a test flight that simply threw the Musk Tesla Roadster in space, but it marked a milestone in many ways. The Heavy Falcon is the most powerful rocket that exists today, and the fourth most powerful in history (behind the only Saturn V that sent astronauts on the moon and two rockets from the planet). Soviet era). It is also entirely financed by private funds.

Musk may be a problematic individual, but his society is a striking example of the power of the free market over the economies run by the government. SpaceX has completely disrupted existing models for rocket construction and reduced the costs of access to space. Government contractors built single-use rockets. For Musk, it was the equivalent of throwing a car simply because it lacked gasoline. SpaceX has developed reusable rockets. The most amazing thing about Musk's Falcon rockets may not be that they launch objects into space, but that they return to the launch pad and () usually) land vertically. This has drastically reduced the introductory price of things in the space, and put the SpaceX start-up in a position to start winning government contracts for NASA launches. SpaceX and Boeing are now engaged in a competition to develop a spacecraft to transport crews to the International Space Station. At present, the only way for US astronauts to get to the space station is to use a Russian Soyuz rocket – a situation that would completely disorient the space observers of 1969. [19659003] Other private space companies have different goals. Blue Origin (funded by Jeff Bezos of Amazon) and Virgin Galactic (funded by Sir Richard Branson) are both testing vehicles that would put tourists in orbit. An Israeli company recently announced that it was hoping to land a robotic explorer on the moon next year, which would make it the first private company to make a lunar landing. And then there is OneWeb, a Virginia-based company that hopes to launch later this year the first 10 planned "constellations" of 900 satellites to connect high-speed Internet to rural areas. None of this is happening on the taxpayers' account.

SpaceX insists that its ultimate goal is to send people to Mars. There are three entities that make plans (even if slowly) for human missions to Mars, and only one of them is a government agency – NASA. The others are SpaceX and the Mars One based in the Netherlands. At the present time, we have had a lot of commercial satellite launches, but no private launches of crewed vehicles. Can a private company really do a crewed mission until March (and back)? It's debatable, but the fact that it's now even a reasonable question is an important step.

• The first Martians are already here. Getting to Mars (and back) is difficult, but not impossible. It's a three-day flight to the moon. a seven-month trip to Mars. Apollo 11 was launched on July 16, 1969 and was back home a little over a week later, July 24. A return flight to Mars is a two-year event. It's a very different order of magnitude – and risk. Technologically, however, we are aiming to achieve it. To get to the moon, we had to find some of the most basic concepts of spaceflight. To get to Mars, we already know how the rendezvous and docking works; we simply need to build the material. SpaceX is talking boldly about sending crews to Mars by 2024. This seems completely unrealistic, as no vehicles exist to be tested. NASA is talking about the 2030s It seems more reasonable. If this happens, congratulate President Trump, who last year ordered NASA to make the Mars mission an official goal in 2033.

Suppose this happens. Armstrong was 38 when he walked on the moon. Buzz Aldrin was 39 years old. If our first Martian astronauts in 2033 have similar ages, it means that they were born in 1994 or 1995 – and now they are 23 or 24, probably already in college or university . Other future Martian explorers are probably already in high school.

So what does all this mean for us? It's hard to say. It's not like we have a big aerospace industry in this part of Virginia. On the other hand, we did not fly either in the 60s and today there is a Kraft Drive in Blacksburg – named after Chris Kraft, a Virginia Tech graduate who became the first flight director of NASA. Go out tonight and at 9:30 pm you will see Mars getting up to the east. Or, if you prefer, you can think this way: Somewhere tonight, a future Martian could be with you.