Our Future in the Stars

A. Seetharaman, B. Lewis, Helen Yang
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Behind the walls of this facility in Houston, Texas, these astronauts-in-training submerge themselves in a massive swimming pool while in clunky space suits. They navigate in full-scale underwater mockups of their shuttle and familiarize themselves with the life-size replica of the International Space Station (ISS). \nAfter years of training, these space pioneers stand at the launch pad with 1000 jet aircraft pilot-in-command hours in their pockets, thoroughly acquainted with every module on the ISS. NASA statistics claim that the launch shuttle sends our astronauts hurling into space at 18,000 mph, a speed nine times faster than the average rifle bullet. In just six hours, they arrive at the actual ISS, which spans about the width of an American football field. The docking process is actually the most complicated component of their journey; the spacecraft cannot dock without entering the correct orbit at the correct time, and there is no room for a mistake that might send the spacecraft crashing into the ISS. \n \n \n \nWhen the astronauts finally do make it onboard the ISS, they’ll find themselves inside a leviathan weighing nearly one million pounds. The astronauts have more space than a six-bedroom house and are required to exercise in the station’s gymnasium. They might walk through the main central truss and look through the 360o bay window, and then visit laboratories where physicists attempt to detect dark matter and biologists study muscle atrophy in zebrafish. To prevent loss of muscle and bone mass, our astronauts engage in scheduled exercise and various spaceship repairs every day, leaving them only an hour or two of free time in the mornings. Control center staff back on Earth likewise cannot sit back and relax. Orbital debris presents a constant, imminent danger to the wellbeing of the ISS. Station-crew and on-ground staff must do all that they can to protect this $150 billion flying space station from large debris while simultaneously conducting research and repairing the ship. \n \nThe ISS is anything but permanent. Our astronauts’ toil will amount to nothing if we cannot raise the funds necessary to keep the station in orbit. Boeing predicts that the ISS’s parts can hold up through 2028, but the bigger issue is finding funding to keep the station alive. NASA and its partners in Russia, Japan, Canada, and other countries have committed to funding the station through 2020, but what its fate afterwards is uncertain. These countries are debating the question if the structure should be kept in orbit, allowing further research and providing a market for space transport companies like SpaceX and Sierra Nevada. Alternatively, they could choose to give up the mammoth, perhaps by letting it spiral down into the South Pacific for a watery death. \nFortunately for ardent ISS supporters, there is some solace for the immediate future; NASA and White House officials announced plans to keep the station running till at least 2024. Still, it is time to look beyond this station. As famous and celebrated as it may be, new avenues for exploration must be built after the ISS becomes dysfunctional. As our society has look into our future in space, we have expanded our ideas, including plans to construct space colonies –stations with Earth-like features that function as permanent settlements. If these colonies successfully sustain human life, there are plans to build a mega-station called ‘Elysium’ – based off the movie – which could house a large portion of the human population. 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This century marks the dawn of a new era in exploration, and if we can muster the manpower and financial support, humankind will advance further than we’ve ever been from our home planet. \n \n \n \n","PeriodicalId":339464,"journal":{"name":"Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal","volume":"21 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0000,"publicationDate":"2017-03-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Columbia Undergraduate Science Journal","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.52214/cusj.v9i.6365","RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":null,"ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"","JCRName":"","Score":null,"Total":0}
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Abstract

After years of hard physical and mental training, they take their first steps to the shuttle, waving goodbye to all the spectators and Earth. These astronauts, originally scientists, teachers, pilots, and engineers, each endured at least three years of rigorous professional training before even applying to an astronaut program. Earning a bachelor’s degree is the minimum requirement for NASA positions, and the astronauts train beyond the classroom by swimming laps in a space suit to experience zero-gravity. A day in an astronaut’s life might start by climbing aboard the “vomit comet,” an aircraft that flies a parabolic path to simulate microgravity conditions. Astronauts also accustom themselves to move and work in weightlessness at the Neutral Buoyancy Lab in NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC). Behind the walls of this facility in Houston, Texas, these astronauts-in-training submerge themselves in a massive swimming pool while in clunky space suits. They navigate in full-scale underwater mockups of their shuttle and familiarize themselves with the life-size replica of the International Space Station (ISS). After years of training, these space pioneers stand at the launch pad with 1000 jet aircraft pilot-in-command hours in their pockets, thoroughly acquainted with every module on the ISS. NASA statistics claim that the launch shuttle sends our astronauts hurling into space at 18,000 mph, a speed nine times faster than the average rifle bullet. In just six hours, they arrive at the actual ISS, which spans about the width of an American football field. The docking process is actually the most complicated component of their journey; the spacecraft cannot dock without entering the correct orbit at the correct time, and there is no room for a mistake that might send the spacecraft crashing into the ISS. When the astronauts finally do make it onboard the ISS, they’ll find themselves inside a leviathan weighing nearly one million pounds. The astronauts have more space than a six-bedroom house and are required to exercise in the station’s gymnasium. They might walk through the main central truss and look through the 360o bay window, and then visit laboratories where physicists attempt to detect dark matter and biologists study muscle atrophy in zebrafish. To prevent loss of muscle and bone mass, our astronauts engage in scheduled exercise and various spaceship repairs every day, leaving them only an hour or two of free time in the mornings. Control center staff back on Earth likewise cannot sit back and relax. Orbital debris presents a constant, imminent danger to the wellbeing of the ISS. Station-crew and on-ground staff must do all that they can to protect this $150 billion flying space station from large debris while simultaneously conducting research and repairing the ship. The ISS is anything but permanent. Our astronauts’ toil will amount to nothing if we cannot raise the funds necessary to keep the station in orbit. Boeing predicts that the ISS’s parts can hold up through 2028, but the bigger issue is finding funding to keep the station alive. NASA and its partners in Russia, Japan, Canada, and other countries have committed to funding the station through 2020, but what its fate afterwards is uncertain. These countries are debating the question if the structure should be kept in orbit, allowing further research and providing a market for space transport companies like SpaceX and Sierra Nevada. Alternatively, they could choose to give up the mammoth, perhaps by letting it spiral down into the South Pacific for a watery death. Fortunately for ardent ISS supporters, there is some solace for the immediate future; NASA and White House officials announced plans to keep the station running till at least 2024. Still, it is time to look beyond this station. As famous and celebrated as it may be, new avenues for exploration must be built after the ISS becomes dysfunctional. As our society has look into our future in space, we have expanded our ideas, including plans to construct space colonies –stations with Earth-like features that function as permanent settlements. If these colonies successfully sustain human life, there are plans to build a mega-station called ‘Elysium’ – based off the movie – which could house a large portion of the human population. Such stations might very well be essential to mankind’s future in the stars. There are also plans to construct a new NASA vehicle, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), specifically for deep space exploration. Expected to meet the constantly growing needs of human space exploration programs, Orion may eventually carry astronauts to worlds far beyond Earth’s orbit which no man has ever seen or set foot on. This century marks the dawn of a new era in exploration, and if we can muster the manpower and financial support, humankind will advance further than we’ve ever been from our home planet.
我们在星星上的未来
经过多年艰苦的身心训练,他们向航天飞机迈出了第一步,向所有观众和地球挥手告别。这些宇航员最初是科学家、教师、飞行员和工程师,在申请宇航员计划之前,他们每个人都至少接受了三年严格的专业训练。获得学士学位是美国宇航局职位的最低要求,宇航员们在教室之外进行训练,穿着宇航服游泳,体验零重力。宇航员的一天可能会从登上“呕吐彗星”开始,这是一种沿着抛物线飞行以模拟微重力条件的飞机。在美国宇航局约翰逊航天中心(JSC)的中性浮力实验室里,宇航员也习惯了在失重状态下移动和工作。在德克萨斯州休斯顿的这个设施的墙后面,这些训练中的宇航员穿着笨重的太空服,把自己淹没在一个巨大的游泳池里。他们在全尺寸的水下航天飞机模型中航行,并熟悉实物大小的国际空间站(ISS)复制品。经过多年的训练,这些太空先驱们站在发射台上,口袋里装着1000架喷气式飞机的机长,对国际空间站上的每一个模块都了如指掌。美国国家航空航天局的统计数据显示,航天飞机将我们的宇航员以每小时18000英里的速度送入太空,比普通步枪子弹的速度快9倍。在短短六个小时内,他们就到达了真正的国际空间站,它的宽度大约是一个美式橄榄球场的宽度。对接过程实际上是他们旅程中最复杂的部分;如果没有在正确的时间进入正确的轨道,宇宙飞船就无法对接,而且不允许出现可能导致宇宙飞船撞向国际空间站的错误。当宇航员最终登上国际空间站时,他们会发现自己身处一个重达近100万磅的庞然大物中。宇航员的空间比一个有六个卧室的房子还大,他们被要求在空间站的健身房锻炼。他们可能会穿过主要的中央桁架,透过360度的凸窗向外看,然后参观物理学家试图探测暗物质的实验室,以及生物学家研究斑马鱼肌肉萎缩的实验室。为了防止肌肉和骨量的流失,我们的宇航员每天都要进行预定的锻炼和各种各样的宇宙飞船维修,早上只有一两个小时的空闲时间。地球上的控制中心工作人员同样不能坐下来放松。轨道碎片对国际空间站的健康构成了持续的、迫在眉睫的危险。空间站的工作人员和地面工作人员必须尽其所能保护这个价值1500亿美元的飞行空间站免受大型碎片的伤害,同时进行研究和修理飞船。国际空间站绝不是永久的。如果我们不能筹集到维持空间站在轨道上运行所必需的资金,我们宇航员的辛劳将毫无意义。波音公司预测,国际空间站的部件可以维持到2028年,但更大的问题是寻找资金来维持空间站的运转。美国国家航空航天局及其在俄罗斯、日本、加拿大和其他国家的合作伙伴已承诺为空间站提供资金,直到2020年,但之后的命运尚不确定。这些国家正在讨论是否应该将该结构保留在轨道上,以便进行进一步的研究,并为SpaceX和Sierra Nevada等太空运输公司提供市场。或者,他们可以选择放弃猛犸象,也许让它螺旋沉入南太平洋,在水中死亡。幸运的是,对于热心的国际空间站支持者来说,在不久的将来会有一些安慰;美国宇航局和白宫官员宣布计划让空间站至少运行到2024年。不过,是时候把眼光放远了。尽管国际空间站很有名,但在它功能失调后,必须建立新的探索途径。随着我们的社会展望我们在太空中的未来,我们已经扩展了我们的想法,包括建造太空殖民地的计划——具有类似地球特征的空间站,作为永久定居点。如果这些殖民地成功地维持了人类的生命,他们计划建造一个名为“极乐空间”的巨型空间站,该空间站以电影为原型,可以容纳大部分人口。这样的空间站很可能对人类在星际的未来至关重要。还有计划建造一种新的NASA飞行器,猎户座多用途乘员飞行器(MPCV),专门用于深空探测。为了满足人类太空探索项目不断增长的需求,“猎户座”最终可能会把宇航员带到地球轨道之外的世界,那里没有人见过或踏上过。这个世纪标志着探索新时代的曙光,如果我们能筹集到人力和财力支持,人类将比我们从地球上走得更远。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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