ISU SSP 5: Panels and Departments

Note: Because we have finished Phase I of the SSP, things will start to get a lot more intense as we move into the departments and team project focus. Because the culture shock, interesting side trips, and assimilations are over, updates from here on out will be much shorter, less frequent, and less detailed. I’ll have one more update, hopefully by the end of the week, on the trip to the Great Wall and the Ming Tomb. Once it’s all over, I get back to Orlando, and I have time to write up more details on things I left out (meaning never), I’ll have another real update.

Seeing as everyone told me to expect to constantly have the runs while I was here, I’d like to point out a very apparent fact: everyone recommended that I bring along some Imodium AD, yet not one person recommended that I bring several cases of Exlax or fiber pills. I don’t want to say that the time between bowel movements is at a record high, but I would like to say thank goodness that the plumbing system hasn’t given me any grief yet. Thankfully, they put a plunger in every bathroom just in case.

I’d like to clear up another misconception as well. To everyone who has told me over the years that I need to go to Asia because I would feel tall there – guess what, you were wrong. Granted, I’m probably slightly taller than average, and I have not met a native woman who is taller than me, yet I am far from towering over anyone. What’s even worse is that one of the ISU volunteers who lives at Beihang University complained to me that he was too short to attract women – and he was exactly my height.

One part of our academic program I have failed to mention so far has been the evening panels that are held once a week. Every week experts in a particular topic come in, and the lecture hall is opened up to the public, free of charge, to listen in on the presentations and following discussion. So far we have had panels on the commercial side of space, an astronaut panel, and one on the Chinese space program (ok, that one was more of a lecture with a long question session because only one person presented).

The commercial space panel was interesting because one of the panelists (who happened to be an astronaut) showed us a video on one of the new commercial space tourism companies. This one, unlike Virgin Galactic, will actually take passengers into orbit. The price is about an order of magnitude greater, but why spend 5 minutes in space (if you can even call it that) on a sub-orbital flight when you can spend far more time actually going around the earth? As much as I pushed for Virgin’s success, including the shaking on a $1,000 bet that Stephen Hawking will go into space before June 30^th, 2010, you should save your money and opt for this trip. Another presenter, Charles Chafer (who I had seen at ISDC but didn’t really pay attention to because he wasn’t nearly as cool as Rick Tumlinson, another panelist that night) talked about his Memorial Space Flight program and the people whose ashes he had launched into space. One flight laid many space enthusiasts to rest on the surface of the moon, including the world-renowned scientist Dr. Eugene Shoemaker. If you want to go to space, and you’re dead, talk to this guy. Or maybe write it in your will.

The astronaut panel was obviously my favorite. Five astronauts, all from different countries (Jeff Hoffman from the USA, Chiaki Mukai from Japan, Robert Thirsk from Canada, Michel Tognini from France, and Yáng Lìwěi from China) came together under one roof to talk about their experiences in space. They all had something to say about the “Overview Effect,” first described by astronaut Frank White, where a person sees the Earth as one tiny, fragile world completely devoid of politics and human impact and realizes just how valuable it is and how we must protect it at all costs.

During the questioning period I asked their opinions of commercial space flight, and how the term “astronaut” has held such a high meaning that only a select few deserved to have the title, and what they thought people who pay money for a ticket into space should be called. Instantly their was a stir among them as they tried to think of a response, but Michel was quick to mention Dennis Tito and the other space tourists that have paid for flights to the ISS and actually performed scientific experiments and carried out missions. He said he was at first apprehensive, as were the other astronauts living with Tito on the ISS, but they have come to realize that afterwards these people have promoted space flight because it has touched them just as much as it has touched the astronauts. He said the ESA uses the term “space flight participant” for those that pay their way.

Now, the reason I asked that question had nothing to do with those who have spent time on the ISS. It had everything to do with the people that will soon be spending 5 minutes maximum above the 100km line unofficially called “space” and whether or not those people would be called “astronauts.” Specifically, I wanted to know if a certain ho-tel heiress who will remain unnamed would hold the title of “astronaut” before I ever had a chance. From the response, I think not, which made me happy. I’m glad Rick Tumlinson hates her even more than I do.

The last panel we had was a talk by the President of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, Dr. Zhang Qingwei. He talked about China’s space program, past present and future, including plans for a satellite navigation constellation like the US GPS system, more manned flights, and finally a lunar landing program.

I just now found out more people were supposed to speak according to the preliminary schedule from two months ago, but I guess they had to make some changes, so only one person spoke. This was probably for the better however, because even though Dr. Zhang is an ISU SSP graduate, he doesn’t speak English (any more). We were in the same room as the Opening Ceremonies, so we had to use the UN-style radio translation devices. It made it pretty boring, but at least no one fell asleep.

Side note: whenever someone falls asleep in class (or anywhere), someone usually sees it and takes a picture. These pictures are put onto the “Sleeper” folder on the shared drive as a way of shaming the victim into not sleeping during an ISU activity again. I took a rather nice one this morning. Had I been holding the sign, it would have said something far more obscene, more than likely a certain phrase used on a written sign in the movie Clerks. It’s even funnier looking at the repeat sleepers who have been caught several times.

Once the question and answer session started, I had a good one. Dr. Zhang called on me and I said the following. “Hi, I’m Ben Corbin and I’m from Fort Walton Beach Florida in the United States. Is it true that one of China’s main goals for going to the moon is to mine the isotope Helium-3 for nuclear fusion power generation, and if so, will China be willing to share this power generation system with the rest of the world?”

Ok Mom, so maybe you had a bad dream that one night for a reason. Had I asked that question several years ago, I probably would have been arrested for revealing state secrets or threatening national security. Thankfully China has changed. The reason I asked is because I had heard from a UCF professor that this was the main reason for China’s efforts to beef up its space program. However, this little fact was not mentioned in Dr. Zhang’s entire hour-long presentation.

As soon as I asked the question, the ISU students began to stir and whispers went through the crowd. The translator then asked the question in Chinese and the other 60% of the room stirred and moaned as if to say “Uh uuhh, No he di-int!” Well, I guess Chinese people don’t talk like that, but that was the impression that I got.

The answer I got was surprisingly transparent. He took several translated steps to answer the question (as opposed to making the translator remember it all and regurgitate it once he was done, because at this point we were no longer using the radios for real-time communication), but made it clear that his scientists had told him that a vast abundance of material that is perfect for nuclear fusion power is on the moon. This answer shocked the audience because it was delivered so directly and with minimal hesitation to give an answer. However, he failed to answer the second and most important part.

Now, the reason why the US doesn’t seem to be in a hurry to get to the moon and harvest this stuff is because of one major problem: robust designs for fusion power reactors that are energy efficient are at least 50 years away from being developed, and they have been stuck 50 years in the future for the last 50 years. Unless China knows how to make a fusion reactor that does more than blast a few megatons of energy around (aka a hydrogen bomb), Helium-3 will be useless to them. The question now is, do they? Unfortunately, I was only allowed one question. If China does get its hands on a working nuclear fusion design, not only will they put the entire Middle East out of the power generation business, they will become the new Middle East. Countries will pay slightly less for the cleanest, greenest power possible (with the exception of antimatter), making China far richer than it already is. Only time will tell. My guess is they will become the new superpower weather the US stops destroying itself from within or not.

Afterwards, my colleagues commended me for asking such a wonderful question. However, it was only at most the second most controversial question I could have asked, and I can’t decide whether it was an unfortunate mistake or a good coincidence that I forgot the most pressing question that has been on the minds of the space industry since January, and that question is this: why the hell did China blow up a satellite? There is no non-military application for destroying a satellite with a kinetic impactor, and because of the impact the amount of space debris in low-earth orbit has doubled. This topic has been COMPLETELY taboo since we’ve been here, and whenever it is mentioned there is not a Chinese person around. All of us really wished someone had asked what was up with that.

I need to work on transitions. So, in Phase II of the SSP, the primary concentration is on the Department Activities. As I mentioned before, the Departments are designed to develop a student’s skills and knowledge in another area of the space theater besides the one they hold a lot of skill in. I chose the Life Sciences Department. Here’s the list of reasons why:

1) Life Sciences had the BEST introductory workshop. Each department had the chance to influence the students’ decisions by having one workshop. In my opinion, a lot of them were pretty dull. However, in the Life Sciences workshop, we dissected a pig heart. How cool is that.

2) Life Sciences is the compromise between the Business and Management Department and the Space and Society Department. One very useful but very dull, and the other is very interesting but probably won’t advance my career at all. Life Sciences combines the utility and the fun aspects in a way that I look forward to.

3) Life Sciences offers the chance to write a proposal for a Zero-G research flight sponsored by ESA as well as advice for submitting proposals to research flights stateside. I can obviously benefit from it, and so can SEDS. Enough said.

4) The final department project sounds a lot more interesting than the others. We basically give a 10 minutes presentation on something we’ll research or an experiment we will conduct. I think I’ll be doing mine on Mars Analog Exploration. Hello IAC paper that I haven’t written yet and need to decide whether or not I actually will.

Hopefully it will be fun. Here’s another awkward topic transition.

English movies come out a little later in China than they do in the states, meaning I had to wait an extra week to see it. However, the Chinese theater we went to had the movie in English with Chinese subtitles (as opposed to the dubbed version) in a private VIP screening room. The overall cost for the movie was double what I would pay in the states, but the seats we had were definitely worth the extra cost. Each seat was as big as a La-Z-Boy and had electric reclining controls. Free snacks and drinks also came with the deal. If you haven’t seen Transformers yet, I won’t ruin it for you, but I put my journalistic credibility on the line when I say that it absolutely ruled. (In case you’re wondering, I have no journalistic credibility) I tried to write a song called "Transformers Ruled" sung to the tune of "Pearl Harbor" from the Team American soundtrack, but I got writer's block.

Our second lecture this morning was done by the Life Science department chairs with a Blues Brothers theme. They dressed up as Jake and Elwood and played the Shake Your Tail Feather clip from the movie at the halfway point. I’m glad some people in the space industry have a sense of humor, because if they didn’t, it would be a sad place to work.