You can tell a lot about a person by what their goals are. I have noticed that people in the space program wanted to accomplish something great for all mankind.
My dad was like that. He contributed a lot to the advance towards space. Little known to most people is the fact that NASA makes very little of what they send up. It was TRW that made the first early warning satellites and later on developed the advance laser beam communication satellites.
My dad was the leading engineer in the infra red satellites. The reason was that he was the person that invented infra red camera in Monmouth Army Base. So when TRW was contacted and asked to make an early warning system they contacted my dad and asked him to drop what he was doing and help them develop the satellite system.
See this link on page 24 about the first infra red camera invented by Philip Rosenblum. https://books.google.co.il/books?id=D1QEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Later after the last infra red satellites went up he stayed on a for a few years to make laser communication satellites. But even though TRW had the plans for that for along time these more advanced satellites were not made until the 2000's--way after my dad left the corporation. [The reason was that TRW lost all its contracts after the Russians were discovered stealing the plans.]
My feeling about this is there is a need to be able to get out of the solar system. In the short term settling Mars I believe is an important goal. But eventually there is a need to discover some way of traveling to the stars. And the only thing that I or anyone else can contribute to that at this point is to learn String Theory and make some kind of progress in understanding the basic nature of space time.
As for Mars--there is no need to develop any new technology. everything has already been invented that Mars needs. Nuclear power is 1940's technology. We had it before colored TV's and transistor radios.
Incidental my dad also was the leader of Team II for the camera on the U-2. But that was when I was too young to remember. When I recall when I was five we were already in Newport Beach CA and my Dad had his own company to market a machine he had invented the copymate machine that used x rays technology to make super sharp copies. That went on until TRW contacted him as I said and then we moved so he could be closer to TRW.
[I admit I do not know why my dad is never mentioned in connection with the U-2 camera. There were two teams.]
My dad was like that. He contributed a lot to the advance towards space. Little known to most people is the fact that NASA makes very little of what they send up. It was TRW that made the first early warning satellites and later on developed the advance laser beam communication satellites.
My dad was the leading engineer in the infra red satellites. The reason was that he was the person that invented infra red camera in Monmouth Army Base. So when TRW was contacted and asked to make an early warning system they contacted my dad and asked him to drop what he was doing and help them develop the satellite system.
See this link on page 24 about the first infra red camera invented by Philip Rosenblum. https://books.google.co.il/books?id=D1QEAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Later after the last infra red satellites went up he stayed on a for a few years to make laser communication satellites. But even though TRW had the plans for that for along time these more advanced satellites were not made until the 2000's--way after my dad left the corporation. [The reason was that TRW lost all its contracts after the Russians were discovered stealing the plans.]
My feeling about this is there is a need to be able to get out of the solar system. In the short term settling Mars I believe is an important goal. But eventually there is a need to discover some way of traveling to the stars. And the only thing that I or anyone else can contribute to that at this point is to learn String Theory and make some kind of progress in understanding the basic nature of space time.
As for Mars--there is no need to develop any new technology. everything has already been invented that Mars needs. Nuclear power is 1940's technology. We had it before colored TV's and transistor radios.
Incidental my dad also was the leader of Team II for the camera on the U-2. But that was when I was too young to remember. When I recall when I was five we were already in Newport Beach CA and my Dad had his own company to market a machine he had invented the copymate machine that used x rays technology to make super sharp copies. That went on until TRW contacted him as I said and then we moved so he could be closer to TRW.
[I admit I do not know why my dad is never mentioned in connection with the U-2 camera. There were two teams.]
