STARships

Without each other and all of the hard work that has been done, from solving all of the tough problems to lay the foundation or set the groundwork required to proceed to the next steps, to building the first prototypes, to those sacrificing their lives to test such prototypes, to all those whom provide some level of support in bridging the gap in integration between all of the different systems. To those of whom who also provide some basic level of support & need to keep things running smoothly. Such as those transporting all of the equipment needed, to those who assemble said equipment, to the crews that clean, paint, provide food & drink, and so many more; All of these teams working in tandem, with their own specialized tasks & job set, in order to provide and complete the objective of a mission as a whole. When we are united under a powerful cause, nothing can stop the momentum in achieving what we seek to accomplish. For as long as we have the will to press on, no matter how difficult it may get, we will succeed.

I perceive these feats as something that is more than just involving rockets, probes and spacecraft alike; More than just vehicles sending payloads or passengers from Astronauts & Cosmonauts to low Earth orbit & beyond; I see these achievements as setting the precedence to the direction in which humanity is heading, or to where it can go if that progress continues, if we continue in striving with our efforts in rapidly expanding our development for space exploration beyond the edges of our solar system; To others near & far between. And with this continued development, many others will follow and strive to do the same, creating their own versions of rockets to send craft & crew to the outer edges of our planet initially. In that time, so much has been learned and we will continue to learn as we progress and advance.

This means more than just going to new planets, new moons or just living within the confines of a space ship traversing the solar system, or beyond in to interstellar space; It but represents where & how humanity progresses as a species in many different areas of life. Such as to how the refinements & improvements to existing technologies occur and the rate in which it occurs; Or how & what our current understanding in nearly all subjects of study will progress. Such as our knowledge of Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, Physics, Quantum Mechanics, and many, many different fields of Engineering. As well as the continued advancement of Computer Systems & artificial intelligence, Robotics, and beyond. Starships, providing the proverbial Starseeds to planets beyond our own. Essentially becoming the Johnny Appleseed for planetary insemination and then some. Giving life in general, besides ourselves, an opportunity to flourish beyond the pale Blue dot, we've come to know, evolve & live on, as Earth, Gaia, Terra, or Tellus.

This is more than just an opportunity to ensure the continued survival of our own species, but also to the survival of most forms of life that already thrive here on Earth. We shouldn't just give ourselves a chance to live on, but also for other forms of life as well. Besides, without other forms of life co-existing together with us here on Earth, we would cease to exist ourselves. Ensuring our survival requires consideration for others. Not just ourselves. Life is fragile, frail but at the same time is rather persistent. For this, I'd like to think that life is aware of this fact. Maybe not aware in the sense of our own understanding of what awareness means to us, but at its own level. Our understanding and our assumptions can blind us, or hold us back if we believe something is 100% true without ever allowing ourselves to asses and reassess this so called 'truth'. It can become just as detrimental or destructive to the constant battle to survive.

We seem to think we have a good understanding of how a many things work; That is, until something comes along which flips our understanding of whatever it is we're trying to learn about, upside down. It can catch us off guard, when we weren't even looking for it. But before the universe reveals itself to us further, in other different ways, it is important that we must first focus on how we can get there and how fast we can reach said goals to which these advancements can be made. Which is why an emphasis on reusability is extremely important for regular space exploration. 'Regular', meaning almost as regular as we regularly drive our cars to & from specific destinations. Either that be to work, to the doctors, to the movies, and so on.

Reusability is crucial to continued advancement in not only in seeking understanding, but how frequently we can get to a place where we can study it more in-depth. In the name of science for now, people would need to sacrifice their own lives to live on a distant planet or Moon with our current means of transportation; if long term missions on other planets such as Mars or the moons of Jupiter & Saturn were conducted. If every other means of transportation here on Earth today were single-use only and also costed an exorbitant or extremely high amount of money to obtain in today's economy, the rate of growth in development in every facet of society to which has been established today, would not have been achieved as vast & as integrated as it has now, in its current form.

What would our society look like today if this were the case? Would we still be reliant upon Horseback transportation for some nations and Mules & Camels for others as the primary means of getting us to where we need to go? It could very well be reminiscent of the medieval days or the early 18th century for some places. When it comes to how we would've advanced thus far, some would be more, and other nations less. But far less in general. In having this explosion in the human populace, alongside with having the means to regularly & frequently travel to & from places a short distance way using our cars, to locations afar by way of airplane, trains, boats or a combination of them all; has allowed people to travel to places specific to their interests, to grow their knowledge & experience for the fields they're pursuing to learn and contribute to. Much more than they would have, than being confined to a small area with limited knowledge of knowing where others whom share similar interests reside.

This allowing countless others to do the same and mingle with those who share the same interests. These are but just some examples for here on Earth. With the inception of the internet, nations across the world can grow, evolve and flourish their world with the instant availability of knowledge at their fingertips. From a smartphone, laptop, tablet, desktop and other methods in which this information can be accessed. We still need to get to other planets physically. And that requires us to get there via some form of transportation. While yes, spaceflight is expensive and out of the budget of most people and companies, as we continue to develop additional means of transportation in to space, as well as continually developing existing technologies to being better than it once was, becoming more reliable, efficient and cheaper. The cost for space travel will eventually become affordable to most. For as long as we continue our efforts in expanding & innovating.

The same could easily be extended for space-capable vehicles. Think of the progress that has been made from when the Wright brothers first took off from the ground, as Orville Wright flew the Wright Flyer aircraft with his brother signalling to him, on December 17th, 1903. That aircraft would be considered unsafe and dangerous for human flight. Much like our earlier rocket prototypes, but we at some point, were able to affix a capsule on top of them and launch ourselves in to low Earth orbit for the first time. They were pioneers of the time and were harshly criticized by rivals & others. Some people of which thought that it would be impossible. Now we have aircraft like the North American X-15, which can fly 7 times faster than the speed of sound (4,520 MPH) at over 67 miles in altitude.

Sure, we can send robots to the Moon & Mars for now, to which we have done so already, for the past several decades, to explore and examine the regolith on its surfaces for signs of life, Water & other elements. But to program and instruct such robots to begin the development of a livable habitat or colony without us needing to be there in the beginning, would still require the Human touch. Or the Human element to which some would say. Companies such as Boston Dynamics have demonstrated the continued evolution of Robotics technologies in terms of how well they would be able to stand, walk, run, balance, stabilize & correct themselves if they should fall. This coupled with the continued advancement of Artificial Intelligence, together, can better facilitate robots that could one day analyze, adjust & adapt to the environment they're placed in all on their own without having to be instructed to do so by a human element from afar. To do so in various different environments as well.

Whether that being on the Moon with near-zero gravitational forces and to which there is no atmosphere, while being subjected & exposed to the harsh environment that is the vacuum of space, being bombarded by intense cosmic radiation from not only the Sun, nearby stars & the Galaxy, but also from beyond our galaxy, to also where temperatures range from -232 degrees Celsius (-385.6F) on the dark side of the Moon, up to 127 Celsius (260F) on the light side; To the surface of Mars, with just over a third of the gravity & atmosphere less than 1% the density as compared to Earth. Where also is home to the largest dust storms in the solar system which consume the Red, Rusty planet in its entirety, making visibility a challenge if Robotics were solely reliant upon visual aids through camera lens'; For such a specific challenge, LIDAR or light detection and ranging, which could be utilized as an alternative in such conditions in order to retain visibility of the environment around it.

We are not quite there yet with robotics. For now, they're incapable of repairing themselves in situations where something devastating happens to them to which it cripples them beyond their capability to repair themselves singularly, to which we haven't anticipated or have the capability to provide them the ability to repair that specific issue. An example can be a hardware failure in which said hardware is crucial to the overall operation & functionality of the robot. While redundancy can compensate, software is still key to proper functionality of said systems. Certain systems can be prioritized over others of less importance, yes, to continue and sustain basic functionality of said computer system or robot.

We would need a system of which, where a robot can adapt dynamically with whatever issue should arise in its own systems, as well as externally within the environment around them while it has the basic, fundamental knowledge needed to understand itself and the environment it's in. This would require an advanced form of artificial intelligence that would have to be developed much farther along than what currently has been developed today. Maybe we could teach it, by way of neural implant via chip, or a series of chip implants placed within various different locations of the human brain, so as to better understand how each region of the brain responds, to different forms of stimuli, observing & analyzing these responses within the brain; Albeit reactionary via motor reflex, or by pure cognition in observation of a mind to a specific situation. It can be a combination of both as well.

All this by merely learning the synaptic responses from a brain, or several brains for comparison, to find any similarities in responses between them, but under different scenarios or situations to which there is no relation as to the how & why these responses were triggered. Any similarities found between them, in these test cases, the AI can then attempt to process & convert the responses to integrate within its system, as a type of algorithm it'll understand. A kind of algorithm which is different, or atypical from traditional algorithms used today. One can think of it as viewing the source code of an image, where the data seen viewing the source, would look like complete gibberish and make no immediate sense to an ordinary person. To the AI, it would be a crucial element to how it responds to the aforementioned. Just like how we can observe our own response to a situation and adapt if similar were to happen again.

The AI can observe its own reaction to a specific situation and can then adjust its own algorithm dynamically afterwards, performing a system of checks, weighing what was last known and/or experienced within its memory, to then utilize such data as part of the response & change it needs to make on its own to that unpredicted event. There are just too many situations that can occur that would take up a lot of storage or memory within its system, where it'll likely never be utilized. Instead, it should be taught only what is likely to occur for the environment it is going to be used in, as well as what could happen to it in such an environment. It would be like an Astronaut educating me on what to do if there should be a sudden depressurization within a module of the International Space Station. However, what won't be taught, is anything that hadn't been anticipated to happen, as the likelihood of such specific event occurring, is either extremely small or wasn't anticipated. And that is what we need to try & teach an AI system to do in those specific, unknowing situations, where the parameters aren’t preset with a predetermined response. This so it can adapt dynamically based on whatever the outcome that came from such. A sort of logic based system where the variables are more physical, occurring as the result from the environment around it, or even itself.

Alas, there is still much needed to be done in the 'now'. This will be a continual process that should not end until we've firmly established ourselves in being capable of living autonomously off of our home world, with little to no reliance upon physical materials from Earth. This endeavor will take many tolls on us. It will challenge us at every level. Emotions will run high at times; and we may feel compelled to lash out at one another or at a problem we're seeking to overcome. Patience is key. We still have time. But we should not take that time for granted either. Our world could easily be turned upside down at any time. But we must not rush too fast in tackling the current challenges we're actively looking to overcome. Rushing will ultimately create an increased likelihood for something to happen negatively as a result of such. A variable may not be considered or some key detail could be neglected or overshadowed as part of a process which may provide to be pivotal in ensuring safety or stability in some key discovery. Contingencies would also be required.

We have the benefit of numbers with our current density in population. There's literally no shortage of minds that we could add or contribute in solving a complex problem. The more minds set on something, the increased odds of a difficult problem or task being solved, as opposed to a few. The internet now is a beautiful way for us to connect with others from around the world, so we don't technically need to have a physical presence in most scenarios. However, in terms of constructing something physically; that's a different story. Yes, we need a physical presence to build whatever it is that will provide some sort of support. Such as developing living quarters, building engines or components as part of a station, habitat, housing, etc. Regardless, this can still be accomplished from more remote means and with numerous others building the same. As progress continues, feedback, tips, guides, etc. will be provided to those others developing the same & vice-versa.

Rolling back to the benefits of the internet, we must firmly establish a permanent network beyond our planet, so that we can access crucial information nearly as freely as it is now, here on Earth, but on to other worlds or Moons. We can then effectively bridge them together, so as to create a rather seamless network to access information to & from worlds. Any discoveries made from the Moon, Earth, Mars or other planets, could easily be communicated to the different networks. For now, such sending & receiving of said information would likely be dependant upon laser-link communications, using lasers to transmit or send data over vast distances. We would need satellites placed within various fixed orbits around the Sun & between planets to act as a relay or bridge in sending data to & from host locations. Doing so can prevent loss of data from occurring. We would need a lot of satellites to do so. Placing them at specific locations & distances from each other so as to minimize the loss of data. Certain communications will be critical and would need to be accurate and reliable. SpaceX's Starlink satellites are a perfect example of how we can manage this problem.

While current systems suit our needs here on Earth, it's an entirely different endeavor with it's own set of variables & challenges that'll need to be tackled so that these said specialized satellites can be capable of handling the harsher environment of orbiting the Sun at vast distances from Earth. Such as to protect from Solar radiation and even micrometeorites. I would imagine that these specialised satellites would be near the size of our Hubble Space telescope. If we're looking to only place a few hundred of them out there. The reasoning for why I say such, is the fact that these satellites will need to have ample ability to generate power (If not nuclear powered) from the Sun with Solar arrays whilst also being built solid enough to handle some impacts of micrometeorites without affecting their operability by much. Perhaps there can be some power gain in the receiving of these laster link signals, so as to create a netzero loss of power for that specific operation.

We must also take advantage of using robots in helping to explore, analyze & establish suitable locations for us before we make a plight into a inhospitable environment. AI & AGI robots will help to pave the way for us. And with the current path & developments that are being made in such, we are on our way to accomplishing these goals at some point in the near future. Such robots like those from Boston Dynamics & robots being developed by Tesla, which first prototypes are to be revealed soon (Late 2022 in to 2023). Of which will use many of Tesla's current AI functions & DOJO, but modified to take in to consideration of its now humanoid form. Needing the ability to navigate the environment as well as we can, or better.