Courtesy Aljazeera Amazonification of space - New York Times .. |
The world's richest person Jeff Bezos of Amazon too has returned from space on 21 July after a 14 minute ride to an altitude of almost 114 kms. The rocket had a perfect landing back on earth, without any damage. The capsule which had the 4 astronauts also had a smooth landing a couple of minutes later, the capsule landed on a parachute.
Nowlet us try to understand what are the benefits to mankind now that two humans who have not had any heavy training in space travel and by virtue of being rich enough to own space exp[l;oration companies had the good fortune to go to space and return.
Richard Branson from UK did it in a plane VSS Unity that was taken to a high altitude which got detached from the mother vehicle and drifted to space like any ordinary plane. It did a smooth landing in the New Mexico desert as did the mother plane. US based Jeff Bezoz instead took the rocket route, his rocket New Shepard, taking the capsule which housed the astranauts to a 12 mile higher altitude, upto 62 miles altitide before releasing it. As I mentioned before, the rocket made an excellent landing back on earth, as did the capsule a few minutes later.
Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos now have demonstrated to the world that even space is within human being's reach. Click here for my earlier writing when Branson hit it to space a week back.
How does private space flight benefit humanity ?
- Space Tourism is opened up for humans.
- Humans can now think of having private human settlements in space like the International Space Station.
- Manufacturing organisations can now think of expanding their manufacturing bases to space too which can bring more accurate manufacturing processes like casting and 3D printing.
- Biotech companies can think of preparing food in space aboard space stations
- Pharma companies can research into how pharma molecules can be prepared in weighlessness
- Patients with incurable diseases can be taken to space to find how these patients would respond to treatment under weightlessness
- to understand how long time exposure to space conditions can affect our body, bones. brains, nervous system, natural immunity etc and how it affects other animals too.
The learning is great and can immensely benefit humanity. Let us hope we share the spoils of this space race with every living being on earth.
George..
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