Abstract
We will close the book with a look at things on large scales. The first part of this chapter is a spatial “outlook” from Earth to the stars. It has long been tempting to imagine mankind leaving the smallish and grubby confines of Earth to float amongst the stars, settle new planets, and maybe even interact with alien species. Is this a fantasy or an eventual certainty? What about the more modest proposal of putting a colony on Mars? It’s easy to imagine this colony, but is it practical or a death sentence?
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves, that we are underlings.”
— Shakespeare
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- 1.
It would be possible to transport miniature nuclear reactors to Mars. These are currently used to power submarines and development of small commercial units is underway. The smallest reactor that I am aware of powered the experimental naval submarine NR-1 (“Nerwin”). I estimate it weighed 50 t and produced 25 MW of power.
- 2.
Source: A.-L. Paul et al., Hypobaric Biology: Arabidopsis Gene Expression at Low Atmospheric Pressure, Plant Physio. 134, 215 (2004).
- 3.
Source: W.J. Borucki et al., Kepler-62: A Five-Planet System with Planets of 1.4 and 1.6 Earth Radii in the Habitable Zone, Science 340, 587 (2013).
- 4.
This means the ship must be moving very close to the speed of light. How plausible this is will be discussed shortly.
- 5.
D = 100 ly, ε = 0. 5, \(R = L = P_{0} = 2\) kt, ρ R = 1 GW.
- 6.
In a telling chronology, slavery was only abolished 2 years earlier in England. It would be another 12 years before it was abolished in Pennsylvania, 30 years in the United States, 53 years in Brazil, and 127 years in Saudi Arabia.
- 7.
I refer to the famed Homestead Strike of 1892.
- 8.
A catalyst is a substance that can increase the rate of a chemical reaction without undergoing any change itself.
- 9.
The explanation involved large scale atmospheric currents and catalysis precipitated by airborne ice crystals.
- 10.
I am happy to report that the satellite was launched in 2015 after twelve years in storage.
- 11.
Recall that each additional 10 \(\upmu\) g/m2 of PM2.5 shortens life spans by 7 months.
- 12.
The educational level of women is known to be strongly negatively correlated with family size. Of course, a robust affordable health care system also reduces pressure on reproduction rates.
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© 2016 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
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Swanson, E.S. (2016). Outlook. In: Science and Society. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21987-5_10
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-21987-5_10
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-21986-8
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