Are we in the brink of future?

“Science fiction is no longer considered fiction now.” 

        Yes, present events in our globe suggest that this assertion is correct. Science fiction is based on imagined future scientific or technological advancements such as the development of Strong AI to an extent where it includes human-like robots, brain chip implants, time travel, and futuristic space innovations, among other things that were once considered impossible for humans to achieve. What we do now, in particular, is a precursor to all such advancements. You  probably have seen a lot of sci-fi movies and wondered when that futuristic utopia would arrive in our reality. But now, we don’t have to wait long as some of the recent space inventions have made revolutionary steps towards making of this dream come true... 

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWSP):                 

       Numerous space telescopes were sent to low earth orbit by the late 20th century in order to overcome the shortcomings of land telescopes. As a result, we are now able to have a deeper insight into cosmos and the galaxies that we weren’t able to achieve previously with primitive land telescopes. They have made a significant impact on our comprehension towards our galaxy and stars, with their adorable space images and various useful information. 

        

         But this wasn’t enough for the 6 sensed organisms to feed their mind. To know more about the exoplanets, the mysterious dark matter, Big bang and beyond, NASA with a collaboration with ESA( European space agency ) and the Canadian space agency created the most expensive space telescope called the James Webb named after NASA administrator James.E.Webb with a price tag of 10 billion dollars. After a lot of modifications, major redesign and budget overrun it was finally launched on 25th December 2021.

           

       Our universe is expanding at a rate that even exceeds the speed of light, and hence the light we receive from distant galaxies and stars expands itself as Infrared Rays (IR). This requires a space telescope capable of reading Infrared rays and that is what JWST does. It comprises 18 hexagonal segments of gold-plated beryllium metal which reflect the IR to Webb’s sensitive instruments (Gold was used because it is highly reflective to IR). JWST research into anti-matter, Big bang, black holes, Exoplanets, especially the TRAPPIST-1, among others, would be a prelude to our current inventions putting our human civilisation to the next level. 

Reusable rockets: 

        The success of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket was one of the biggest breakthroughs ever in the history of space astronomy. The vertical landing of the boosters after the jettison made Falcon 9, the first ever reusable rockets. 

         Elon Musk’s long-term dream of sending humans to Mars would become possible on a large scale only when the manufacturing cost gets economical, and the only way to make it attainable is by achieving the concept of reusability in rocket making. As a result, SpaceX developed the first ever completely reusable rocket, named “The Starship.” It comprises two parts, namely The Starship Spacecraft and The booster, and is designated as the tallest rocket ever created. 

         When it reaches Earth's upper atmosphere, the booster gets jettisoned and returns to Earth. That is followed by a vertical landing. But the Starship Spacecraft would continue its journey to Mars with the people or cargo that it is carrying. The Starship voyage isn’t restricted only for Mars, it is even designed for other interplanetary and deep space missions and Dear Moon(Private lunar tourism) is one such example. As the rocket is yet to commence a full fledged mission, recently SpaceX has achieved the vertical landing with the Star ship’s prototype leaving us a brink of its future success. This in future may help us to stop the further accumulation of space debris solving one of the biggest threat to all organisms on earth. 

Asteroid mining and Asteroid deflection:

         Asteroid mining is yet in its hypothesis, but JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) is perfecting it. HAYABUSA-1 and HAYABUSA-2 were the successful missions by JAXA that bought material samples from Itokawa (asteroid name) and Ryugu (asteroid name), respectively, and capped themselves as the first ever successful missions to ever land on an asteroid and get material samples. This pioneering may help us to thrive our knowledge of our solar system and may even be the beginning of asteroid mining. 

The DART (Double Asteroid Redirection Test) mission: 

        DART is a mission directed by NASA with the intention of testing the newly developed technology that could change the course of an asteroid’s movement. This spacecraft is targeted at a moonlet of an asteroid called Didymos, and the moonlet’s name is Dimorphos (targeted asteroid). They are located 11 million km away from Earth and aren’t any life-threatening asteroid. The spacecraft would crash on the moonlet, resulting in a change of its revolution around Didymos at a speed of 6.6 km/sec. We may soon know the result by late 2022. If it is successful in its mission, it will aid us in the future in protecting our planet from potentially life-threatening asteroid collisions. 

White line- Existing path
Red line- Anticipated change in path

Space Tourism:

       As our knowledge about cosmos flourish space tourism is a giant leap towards making space a commercial tourist spot. 

        ( To know more about space tourism check out our main article. Click above) 

          These are some of the very few things that affirm our above statement to be true. We have accomplished many things as a species, such as creating new technological innovations, exploring space, and even revealing various mysterious things, and we will never stop discovering new things. Hence all these prove that we are on the brink of the future. 

     

   

 *The gates for the future is always open, we have to just find them.*