Space Ruminations

I don’t know about the rest of the class, but at least for me our essay topic really got me thinking about our future in space. Staring off into space (no pun intended) pondering the International Relations theoretical implications of a space program, mind slid off tangentially into considering whether we would discover other inhabitable planets, what would space colonization look like, and how might the whole alien confrontation go? Hmmm…wonderful questions to move the imagination, but not so great for writing an essay. From the science fiction I’ve read, which is not extensive, I have come to believe that to make space exploration really viable, i.e. being able to send missions that don’t take years to reach the destination, requires a major technological breakthrough. At the very least we need to be able to travel faster than the speed of light. If we could manage that, then humanity is in for a new era like never before. An era I try to picture and reason out, but of course have no way of ascertaining. In my paper I argued that the United States should support the space program. I think that the initial space research and technological breakthrough will come from whatever hegemonic power is in the world, however, I think that eventually the cost of space missions and exploration will mean the reins get handed over to an international organization. Would a global space program lead to a single world government? Will space colonization be done by independent nations? Will colonized planets ever gain independence as planets or will Earth form an intergalactic empire? What new intergalactic theories will arise to challenge college students? 