Khan Noonien Singh could not kill Captain Kirk and Jeff Bezos also failed. Captain Kirk, William Shatner, has safely returned from a trip to suborbit on a Blue Origin rocket.
Congratulations to William Shatner and Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin.
As Captain Kirk says, risk is our business:
They used to say if man could fly, he’d have wings. But he did fly. He discovered he had to. Do you wish that the first Apollo mission hadn’t reached the moon, or that we hadn’t gone on to Mars and then to the nearest star? That’s like saying you wish that you still operated with scalpels and sewed your patients up with catgut like your great-great-great-great-grandfather used to. I’m in command. I could order this. But I’m not because, Doctor McCoy is right in pointing out the enormous danger potential in any contact with life and intelligence as fantastically advanced as this. But I must point out that the possibilities, the potential for knowledge and advancement is equally great. Risk. Risk is our business. That’s what the starship is all about. That’s why we’re aboard her. You may dissent without prejudice. Do I hear a negative vote?
Kahn and Kirk Talk from Star Trek 2:
Kirk : Khan, you bloodsucker! You’re going to have to do your own dirty work now! Do you hear me? Do you?
Khan : Kirk? Kirk, you’re still alive, my old friend?
Kirk : Still, “old friend”! You’ve managed to kill just about everyone else, but like a poor marksman, you keep missing the target!
Khan : Perhaps I no longer need to try, Admiral.
David Marcus : Oh, no! Let go! He can’t take it…!
[Khan beams the Genesis device away]
Kirk : Khan… Khan, you’ve got Genesis, but you don’t have me. You were going to kill me, Khan. You’re going to have to come down here. You’re going to have to come down here!
Khan : I’ve done far worse than kill you. I’ve hurt you. And I wish to go on hurting you. I shall leave you as you left me, as you left her; marooned for all eternity in the center of a dead planet… buried alive! Buried alive…!
Kirk : KHAAANNNN!
[echo]
Kirk : KHAAANNNN!
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
A frequent speaker at corporations, he has been a TEDx speaker, a Singularity University speaker and guest at numerous interviews for radio and podcasts. He is open to public speaking and advising engagements.
Maybe it's his age, but some of his words were both inspiring and haunting. The blackness of space being like death might be a turnoff for some people.
I heard him talk about millions living in Space and moving heavy industry and polluting stuff there, but so far no reports that I have seen quote that part of his post flight talk. Too radical? Not enuf Mars?
Brian supports heating with nukes, a viable plan.
Agree. *Simply* building nukes is a great idea! Tell me when you get it working. MIGMA? Helion? In the mean time, it costs more to boil the water for electricity than Earth solar, with power beaming. After you have read "The High Frontier" by Gerard K. O'Neill, and understand that Space Solar is just the cash cow to save the planet by leaving it, and understand the improved Criswell Lunar Solar Power plan, see the searchanddiscovery link, then you can explain to me how I do harm talking about real alternatives to the mess we are in. Until then, feel free to make a further fool of yourself.
Jane Fonda is the one person who did the most to destroy our precious Earth,nowadays that job falls to Greta,while the one person who advocates for advanced nuclear is our very own Brian Wang.
Shatner is 90 no way he lives to 115.
Simply building nuclear plants would reduce global warming more than any space based system,just as solar energy has not done anything to reduce warming, talk of space based systems does just as much harm.
Indeed! Thanx for checking things out. Yes, LSP has dramatically large apertures. They are only continuous as seen from Earth or near, as the radar panels overlap visually from *here* but are actually scattered around. "Quite reasonable receiver size. Maybe 2× to 2.5x (300 to 400 m)" This is easy to build, but NOT big enuf! "driven by beam power density limits", which is 20% (or even could work at 2%) solar (insolation), gives a 200 MWe *power plant* (rectenna) at 1 km dia. This seems to be *the* size, but feel free to change things! This decision in turn makes a needed transmitter aperture size, given the proposed distance. But, the beam density limit at the transmitter is also a factor. It is my understanding that the LSP design has more than one station-pair because the diffraction need is met before the load need. Which is the main thing to remember, any plan less than 10 TWe is pointless. 20-200 TWe is the Criswell plan. Of course, this load based argument means that LSP and L5 or even further distance out is no extra cost!
Yah. I really think the 'gotcha' is a combination of baseline and wavelength, and the (physics irreducible) minima on the product of transmitter and receiver apertures.
If you recall from our many prior discussions:
diffraction (rad) = 1.22 λ / D
λ = wavelength of emission (m); D = diameter (m) of transmitter. One can multiply that by the baseline, to get the 'spot size' at a receiver:
spot (m) = baseline (m) • diffraction (rad)
Let us use S as the spot, B as baseline, λ as wavelength and D as diameter of transmitter:
S = 1.22 λ B / D
Which conveniently rearranges to
S D = 1.22 λ B (the gotcha, above)
Moon (Luna) as baseline gives
S D = 1.22 × 400,000,000 × λ ≈ 500,000,000 λ
On Luna, there is a LOT of area. So ideally one might set up a rather large D so as to make for much smaller S down here on planet Dirt (Terra). Say 10s of kilometers? 100? Sure, why not.
S × 100,000 m = 500,000,000 λ … rearranging
S = 5,000 λ
I choose λ = 3 cm, since it is a 'clear window' thru the atmosphere and isn't H₂O vapor limited.
S = 5000 × 0.030
S = 150 m
There you are!
Quite reasonable receiver size.
Maybe 2× to 2.5x (300 to 400 m) … given aberrations and 'skirt safety'.
⋅-⋅-⋅ Just saying, ⋅-⋅-⋅
⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅
The original Star Trek series from the 60s was cheesy … but I loved it. Kirk and Spock have endured as legendary characters to this day. Thank you Gene Roddenberry for bringing a hopeful vision of the future to the small and large screens.
To bring one of your prior comment into the current realm, moving polluting stuff into Space as *Kirk* indicates, from 9/28 "Coal and Gas Prices. . .", responding to topic of power beaming, Earth to Earth:
" So, to get power between here (where made) and there (where needed),
seems to require a WHOLE LOT of synthetic aperture transmitters and even
more receivers."
I am starting with the Criswell "redirector" pg 10 of you know where, which shows quite high orbits. This is to bounce a beam from the Moon. *If* that works, I can be led to believe Earth to Earth would also, using that equipment, and the overabundance of the intermittent electricity supply at times is too good to pass up. Not to mention Space Solar soon avail. At 200 MWe per rectenna, 20 TWe system, Criswell seems to want 20,000,000,000,000/200,000,000 or 100,000 rectenna. To power the "World", small as it is. Yep, "a WHOLE LOT". This is driven by beam power density limits all the way thru, btw, I'm pretty sure. The overall load size makes the size and number of apetures required for that *already* good for cislunar or closer without further cost. Indeed, higher orbit makes fewer problems overall.
PR for O'Neill. "Kirk" talks about moving polluting (energy) and heavy industry off planet, out of the fragile atmos. Forget Mars.
90-years-old, huh? I wonder if his body could survive a SpaceX orbital mission?
Kudos to Blue Origin for a great PR mission. Slimy as Bezos is, I'll give him props for this.
Now, if Musk can just get Jane Fonda to wear a miniskirt while in orbit…
heil captain James T. Kirk!! legend!! thanks Brian for fixing the comments.
A good practice warmup for when he really goes into Space aboard a SpaceX ship.
Better Yet: Nichelle Nichols! (Uhura)
C O M M E N T S ! ! ! ! !
Thank you Dear Leader, for restoring the ability to pen down all nature of blather and tripe! May the Farce be With You! Live Long and Perspire!
William Shatner went as a private citizen. No script, no prepared words.
I find his grasping for the words to be human and inspiring.
Musk has only one move left to counter this onslaught of relentless suborbital hops: Patrick Stewart should go up on the next Crew Dragon!
Even if this is just a suborbital hop, it feels just right for it to happen.
The road to the stars is long, we are merely at the beginning.
Also, good to see the comments back.