A topic presentation for the 2011-2012 policy debate season.
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Transcript of A topic presentation for the 2011-2012 policy debate season.
![Page 1: A topic presentation for the 2011-2012 policy debate season.](https://reader036.fdocuments.in/reader036/viewer/2022062716/56649e0b5503460f94af32e2/html5/thumbnails/1.jpg)
A topic presentation for the 2011-2012 policy debate season
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The Topic
Resolved: The United States federal government should substantially increase
its exploration and/or development of space beyond the Earth’s mesosphere.
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Conceptualizing the Topic
• One way to look at the debate: – Leaving the Planet (External)
• Technology, Resource, Exploration, & “Salvation” Advantages • Colonization/Frontierism, “Salvation,” and Technology criticisms
– Aiding the Planet (Internal)• Geopolitical, Energy, Economic, Military, & Environmental
Advantages • Militarization and Technology criticisms
– Things that affect both:• Spending/Economic concerns• Politics• Tradeoffs with other programs• Private v. Public sector funding (especially with the end of the US
shuttle program
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The Status Quo
• End of the Shuttle Program: 30 year program intended to service space station, deliver and retrieve payloads from space, and perform service missions in orbit
• Obama’s Space Policy: – Utilize commercial and Soyuz rockets for launches
(discussed later)
– Develop Heavy Lift Vehicle to lower cost of delivering payloads to space
– Transition Orion capsule from crewed flights to emergency vehicle for ISS
• Imaging: the Hubble, Spitzer, and Webb Space Telescopes
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Leaving the Planet:Externally Focused Affirmatives
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Colonization• Most likely candidates for colonization include orbital
colonies, the Moon, Mars, and NEAs (Near Earth Asteroids)
• Less ideal possibilities exist on the poles of Mercury, atmosphere of Venus, main-belt asteroids and other planets’ moons
• Advantages: Human diversification, technological advancement
• Disadvantages: Highly expensive, technology doesn’t currently exist, “salvation” problem devalues Earth-based life
• Requires “bootstrapping,” the development of a sustainable biosphere
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In-Situ Resource Utilization (ISRU): “How do we survive once we’re there?”
• Solar power to propel and sustain space vehicles
• Producing Oxygen: The Sabatier Reaction
heat & pressure with nickel catalyst
CO2 + 4H2 → CH4 + 2H2O ↑ ↑ ↑ ↑
Martian Atmosphere Brought Methane Oxygen released by (96% CO2) from Earth (fuel) electrolysis, hydrogen
recycled
• Just add food, shelter, and momma’s love, and you too can survive on Mars!
• Mining: minerals and metals found on planets and asteroids for construction and repair
• National Space Society (NSS): “Returning to the Moon to stay” (LCROSS impacts encourage this conclusion)
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Asteroid mining
• Asteroids are rich in valuable and useful metals such as iron, nickel, gold, titanium, platinum, manganese, and other heavy metals
• Many of these are essential to ISRU processes
• Others could eventually be returned to Earth for a profit, although doing so would decrease their value on earth
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Terraforming: Planetary Engineering
• Atmospheric engineering proposed by Carl Sagan in the 1961 Science article “The Planet Venus”
• The process of modifying the ecology of a planet or moon to mirror that of Earth, making it suitable for carbon-based life
• Anthropocentric vs. Cosmocentric Ethics: The need to sustain human life vs. the intrinsic value of diverse universal ecosystems
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Constellation Program
• Former US space policy, cancelled February 2010, intended to further human spaceflight and solar system exploration
• Goals:– Rockets designed for International Space
Station (ISS) access (competes with private sector initiatives like the SpaceX Dragon capsule)
– Moon and asteroid missions serviced by updated Orion capsule
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SETI Cases: They are out there…
• Combined work of private, government, academic, and non-profit research looking for extraterrestrial life
• Primarily radio signal analysis but also optical
• Criticism that research is an inefficient use of resources at best or pseudoscientific and myopic at worst
• Fermi paradox: problem of uneven technologies
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Aiding the Planet:Internally Focused Affirmatives
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Solar Powered Satellites (SPS or SBSP)
• Photovoltaic Cells in geosynchronous orbit that beam solar energy to a collection dish on earth via laser or microwave
• Not filtered through atmosphere or effected by weather, making collection over 150% more efficient; current PV technology transfers at a rate over 50%; 24 hour collection
• Military use: Is beamed directly to point of use, eliminating supply line concerns
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Miniaturized satellites
• Small satellites, from 2 to
1,000 pounds, used for
communications, data
transfer, and large
satellite observation• Greatly reduces cost to build, launch, and
maintain satellites• Lower financial risk allows for frequent updating
and increased experimentation
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Star Wars: Military Satellites• Military use of satellites
date to early days of space exploration with the CORONA program
• Pentagon looking to cut its $26 billion budget on space projects
• Despite publicly opposing military-use satellites, China is reportedly developing a reconnaissance and guidance satellite that would allow it to project power beyond the mainland
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Space Elevator
• An effort to solve the massive cost of lifting payloads into space
• Technological Constraints: – Must be over 24,000 miles high in
order to reach geosynchronicity
– Cable must be strong enough to support itself and payloads
– Must protect travelers from radiation
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Solar Storm Warning Systems
• Solar flares can disrupt and damage Earthly electronics and communications
• NASA currently operates a Solar Dynamics Observatory SDO to track solar changes before, during, and after eruptions
• Additional analysis of magnetic data needed to understand solar storms and prevent damage to electronic systems
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NEOs: Near Earth Objects
• NEOs are classified as 1.3 AU (Astronomical Units) or closer to the Earth
• NASA recommended in July 2010 to establish an Asteroid Defense Office to track, characterize, and prevent Earth-asteroid impact
• Private initiatives in the lead
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Outer Space Treaty: Who owns space?
• Entered into force in 1967• Governs state and non-state
actors• Prohibits WMDs and claiming
sovereignty over celestial bodies
• Currently no similar treaty regarding the moon or banning all weapons (Space Preservation Treaty)
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Keeping House: Space Junk Cleanup
• Over 500,000 pieces of “space junk” in orbit at speeds of over 15,000 mph
• Threaten satellites, travel, and ISS• Numerous ideas: lasers, magnets, nets, fines
for polluters• What’s the harm, really?
– Closing velocities are what’s important, not velocity relative to earth
– Space is much bigger than we give it credit for (volume, not surface area)
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Arguments Common to All Case Areas
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Cost: That’ll be $10,000, please!
• Cost to develop, build, and operate one space station: $100 billion (about 0.7% of US GDP)
• “Substantial” increases could carry a much larger price tag.
• NASA’s entire budget currently around $19 billion
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Tradeoffs
• NASA’s commercial airline projects, contracted with Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grummon, are slated for development in 2025
• NASA currently fighting to save Webb telescope from being cut
• International projects: Soyuz, ISS support, heavy lift vehicles
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Privatization & Internationalization
• The ISS is a good example of an internationally funded R&D and implementation effort
• Companies like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX, and Ad Astra Rocket Company are developing launch and propulsion capabilities to replace the US Shuttle
• Private sector and international spending could avoid political and economic impacts of US government funding
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Questions? Comments? Frustrations?
Presentation available online at http://houstonurbandebateleague.wikispaces.com