One Of These Days Humans Will Fly To The Stars!!

      I will confess to all of you that since I was a teenager, I have been fascinated with the prospect of sending humans on a spacecraft at the speed of light to colonize a new world orbiting a faraway star. In eighth grade, I took a drafting course. I started to draw plans for a manned starship that would take 100 colonists to a new world far away. The spacecraft would be powered by a photon engine. I kept refining the plans. They became more intricate. I called the spacecraft "Project Dream." Let us fast forward 60 years to now. I still believe that in the next 100 years, humans will achieve a propulsion system capable of propelling a spacecraft at the speed of light. Suspended animation will become a reality. We will be able to send colonists to an exoplanet far away.

    A famous scientist and well-known science fiction writer disagrees with me. His name is Kim Stanley Robinson. He has written many incredible science fiction books talking about the human colonization of Mars, etc. When the subject of interstellar travel comes up, he gets quite pessimistic. He does not believe that it will ever happen. He wrote a book on the subject titled "Aurora." It is a sad and dreary book. The spacecraft that he envisages can only attain 10% of the speed of light. All sorts of things go wrong on the way to another star system. The spacecraft is forced to turn back.

     Two days ago, I made the discovery of a television science-fiction story that debunks Dr. Robinson’s pessimism. The show is titled "The Ark." In the US it can be found on the Peacock Channel. It should be available on cable television systems in other countries. For those curious here is a link:

 

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt17371078/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0_tt_8_nm_0_q_The%2520Ark

          This is a television series and not a big-budget movie. Despite the monetary constraints, the producers have created a brilliant program with superb special effects, excellent cinematography, great writing, and unknown actors who turn in brilliant performances.

    In the storyline, an advanced starship is en route at the speed of light to another star system to deliver over 150 colonists to an exoplanet. All human passengers are soundly sleeping in suspended animation.  The ship is struck either by a very large meteor or a small asteroid. There is serious damage. All the senior management and older professionals are killed as their sleeping pods are hit by falling metal. When the survivors awaken what is left are people between the age of 19 and 33 years of age. A 33-year-old woman becomes the ship's commander.

       There are all sorts of problems including a failing life support system, no food, and no water. Despite all the challenges the surviving settlers refuse to give up. They solve all the problems including getting the life support system back online, growing their own food, and tapping a comet to get a lot of water to fill the water tanks.

    This is great entertainment for those who love science fiction. It is verification that one day the human race will leave our solar system and go to other star systems.