This past Friday evening, Dr. Steve Danford (UUC-G) addressed the Greensboro Astronomy Club regarding the future of America's space program. Steve's always a good presenter, and he can even make sense out of the chaos we call NASA.
He shared a graphic from Dr. Harry Shipman (University of Deleware) that puts the major issues before us and guides us to logical conclusion.
If I read this correctly, if we find that some things are best made in space ("space industrialization") AND we find celestial resources to live independently of Earth ("Extraterrestrial Resources to Support Humans") we will see, sooner or later, full human settlement of outer space, with a thriving space station or two and some colonies on the Moon, Mars, and other locales.
If, on the extreme other hand, we find neither things to make in outer space, nor resources on which to live, we will have a future with robotic explorers and telescopes.
What do you think? Does this approach make sense?
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