Macon-Bacon

How can I make the biggest possible contribution to human space exploration?

I’ve been looking into this for quite some time now, trying to get a big-picture view, so I can hone in on areas where I can make the biggest impact. I have the temperament and drive to be an astronaut or a SpaceX employee, but both of those areas are already flooded with applicants. The Mars Society has done some fantastic research, but most of their work is preliminary proof-of-concept stuff, and not equipment that could actually be taken to Mars. Robert Bigelow took an even more indirect approach, and spent his life earning as much money as he could, so that he could afford to fund space exploration. It’s arguable that Sci-Fi authors inspire more real scientific work than they could ever have hoped to research themselves. What’s the best approach? What areas of research are the most critical?

It looks like he’s answered a similar question here, but I’ll answer you. There's a tremendous amount of stuff to learn, and I've only just scratched the surface. That said, here’s the impression I’ve gotten so far:

• NASA is good for broadly pursuing a little bit of everything, but hasn't had the political drive to concentrate on any one goal since the Apollo program. The budget gets stretched pretty thin, so advancement is extremely slow.

• Private companies are results driven, and so are much better at honing in on an objective. SpaceX is single mindedly pursuing rockets to Mars, and Biggelow Aerospace has already developed inflatable orbital habitats, but doesn’t have funds to launch any full sized ones yet. It seems highly likely that these two companies will put a habitat on Mars.

• That's not enough for a permanent colony, though. An occupied habitat would consume oxygen and food. After a couple years, they'd reach their lifetime radiation exposure limits. They can't have supplies and shielding constantly brought from earth. For this reason, I suspect that in-situ resource utilization is one of the most critical elements. This requires lots of energy, and although there have been many nuclear powered satellites, it's unlikely that Earthly laws regarding military technology will let the colonists bring even a small generator. This means lots and lots of solar panels, many of which would have to be manufactured on Mars.

Almost all of this is well outside of my area of expertise, but you might be interested in my current project. I'm working to compile a page on the SpaceX subreddit's wiki to give an overview of what research needs to be done. You may find some interesting tidbits tucked away there.

Please take everything you find there with a grain of salt, since it's a work in progress. In particular, what I've listed as the current status of each of these fields of research is only my current understanding, and is likely to change as I learn more. Feel free to take a look, but keep in mind that the page is very much under construction. I’m adapting and expanding it from a post, so the last part is still in the original format and hasn’t been tabulated.

Why isn't your logo Creative Commons licensed? I can understand having a trademark on it, but copyrighting the logo seems overly restrictive. I gather that you fund the site in part by t-shirt sales and whatnot, and a trademark on your logo lets you keep others from passing off fake items as yours. But that’s what trademarks are for, not copyright.

Just curious. :)

I was going to say that the logo is Creative Commons licensed, and step one might not be necessary. But then I went to fact check my assumption before posting, and apparently it isn't CC.

I'm asking why on the main thread of this AMA.

EDIT: Looks like a false alarm. [szczys] is looking into why that particular version of the logo is listed as copyrighted.

Awesome, thanks! I was surprised to see the logo listed as copyrighted, and I'm glad to hear that the claim was seems to be erroneous. :)