Preparing the first space colonizers for life off of planet Earth

With private space engineers making huge breakthroughs seemingly every day, it’s only a matter of time until the average person can explore space. But when that day arrives, will the average person be ready?

Rick Tumlinson is, and he wants the rest of us to be, too.

That’s why the two-decade veteran of the private space industry hosts a special gathering every year for people who are thinking about how to live off Earth.

At the New Worlds Institute, would-be space explorers swap ideas and hone their plans for growing crops on the moon and settling Mars. But the goal of the conference transcends preparation. Proponents of gatherings like New Worlds claim they are necessary to share the space exploration gospel. As Daniel Faber, one of Tumlinson’s colleagues puts it, space explorers will need the same wide social acceptance to work in space that they need to work on Earth.  

“This is the future you can grasp. These are the things that space exploration will improve. Now, do you mind if we go and take some resources from a few of the millions of asteroids that are out there?” -Daniel Faber

The goal of New Worlds is to make a case to all humans that space exploration is worth it. Or as Faber likes to say when he meets with non-space nerds: “This is the future you can grasp. These are the things that space exploration will improve. Now, do you mind if we go and take some resources from a few of the millions of asteroids that are out there?”

Related
Life on Mars, together
Researchers spent two weeks at the Mars Desert Research Station conducting an analog mission for potential future trips to Mars.
NASA hopes private space companies can rescue its $11 billion Mars rock mission
If this ambitious NASA mission unraveled, scientists would lose their chance to learn much more about the red planet.
Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft was set to launch on May 6 — but was delayed again
Boeing’s Starliner launch – delayed again – will be an important milestone for commercial spaceflight if it can manage to launch.
Persistent “hiccups” in a far-off galaxy draw astronomers to new black hole behavior
Scientists have found a large black hole that “hiccups,” giving off plumes of gas, revealing another black hole.
Astronomers spot 18 black holes gobbling up nearby stars
Scientists have identified 18 new tidal disruption events (TDEs) — when a nearby star is tidally drawn into a black hole and ripped apart.
Up Next
Exit mobile version