Journos in Space? Give It 15 Years
In the wake of Newt Gingrich’s ridiculous plan to set up an American moon base by 2020, San Diego CityBeat’s Dave Maass attended the “Future of Astronauts (Colonization)” panel at the SpaceUp San Diego “unconference” on space exploration at the Ansir Innovation Center last weekend. The piece spends quite a bit of time presenting a rather dark, dystopian view of the future of privatized space travel.
Writes Maass: “The darkness is in the socio-political implications of a space race that could mirror the colonization of the Americas, with all the death and exploitation that came with it. Indentured servitude. Corporate rulers. Space cults.”
But, despite all those reservations, Maass eventually gets to the real question that’s been brewing in the back of his mind.
How long until reporters are invited to junkets on space yachts?
“Fifteen years,” [I’m told].
Did I say the future is dark? Retract that. Where do I get in line?
