9 March - Exploring Space
Jeffrey Hoffman
NASA Paris
"Exploration" means expanding the realm of human experiences.
We have explored our own planet Earth mostly by physically
traveling to new places. Space exploration, by contrast, is carried
out mainly by machines, which can carry human awareness far
away from our home planet. The vast majority of space can be
explored passively, by telescopes. Probes can give us a more
close-up view of objects within our solar system, and we can even
place robotic landers on planetary surfaces, giving us the ability to
interact, even in a limited fashion, with these new environments.
The degree to which machines can project human consciousness
depends largely on the links between the probes' sensors and our
own senses -- the more high-fidelity, virtual-reality feedback we can
incorporate into our probes, the more we can feel that we are
actually "exploring" a new environment. I will discuss the
projection of human consciousness into space by different kinds of
machines and will also consider the constraints imposed by the
speed of light on our ability to interact with remote environments.
Human consciousness can also be carried into space inside
human bodies, of course, allowing us to experience new
environments in ways fundamentally different than what can be
transmitted by remote probes. Human presence brings a
dimension to exploration that goes beyond scientific investigation.
Part of this lecture will be devoted to trying to share some of the
human dimension of space flight, which I have been fortunate
enough to experience as an astronaut who has flown five times on
the Space Shuttle.
Many people have expressed a desire to explore space for
themselves, and no matter how good our virtual-reality capabilities
become, it is hard to imagine recreating the experience of
weightlessness on the surface of the Earth. I will talk about what
developments are necessary to allow large numbers of people to
travel safely and economically into space.
This lecture will start at 5.30 p.m. in The Lady Mitchell Hall,
Sidgwick Avenue. An adjacent overflow theatre is provided with live TV
coverage. Each lecture is typically attended by 600 people, and it is advisable
to arrive around half an hour early to ensure a place.
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