Isaac Asimov: Science, Technology and Space

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And it's just possible that there might be sufficient pride in the undertaking to allow people to think of themselves as citizens of Earth rather than as members of this or that subsection. We live in an era when there is a great deal to be ashamed of and a great deal to be angry about, but not much to be proud of. It strikes me that the effort to truly develop space could give all people—and all nations—an opportunity to earn a little self-pride.

PLOWBOY: Trying to industrialize space would be a massive undertaking. What possible gains—other than pride and unity—could justify such an effort?

ASIMOV: Well, if people become sufficiently afraid of nuclear fission, and if coal turns out to be just as dangerous in a differ ent way, and if oil begins to disappear, and if we don't manage to develop nuclear fusion or it doesn't turn out to be a cure-all, and if other forms of energy are just insufficient for our needs . . . then people may turn to solar energy. But in order to run our industrial world, we'd have to produce solar electricity on a huge scale, and my feeling is that this cannot be accomplished on the surface of the Earth. For one thing, the development of terrestrial solar power would associate energy with geography, because certain areas get more sunshine than do others.

However, we could collect solar energy in nearby space. A wide bank of solar cells placed in synchronous orbit above Earth's equator could collect much more energy—and do so much more efficiently—than could collectors located on the planetary surface. The electricity formed in such space sta tions would then be converted to microwave radiation, beamed down to receiving stations, and reconverted to electricity. Such energy would ideally belong to the entire population of Earth . . . instead of becoming the territorial possession of any one nation.

We could also set up orbiting industrial plants to make use of the vacuum, zero gravity, and high- and low-temperature characteristics of space. Risky work with hard radiation and genetics could be carried out "off planet", and we could spill pollution—such pollution as we can't avoid producing—into space . . . where the solar wind would sweep it beyond the asteroids.

There's yet another advantage to developing space. In order to get the job done—and to achieve global stability—we'd have to tax the richer nations more than they would get back and the poorer nations less than they would get back. Such an arrangement would correct a historical injustice, because the wealthy nations have—for along time now—been running international corporations in such a way that the richer lands benefit at the expense of the poorer ones.

PLOWBOY: So your solution to our present problems is based on humankind's continuing to expand its territories?

ASIMOV: Always, always. All through history, humanity has stretched its range, and it's still doing so today. One of our problems now, however, is that the rate of population increase has—at least temporarily—outpaced our possible range expansion. In fact, it's very easy to calculate that in a few thousand years—at our present rate of procreation—the weight of human flesh and blood would be equal to that of the entire universe!

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