by mangiumicro » Sat Dec 08, 2018 8:40 am
Reporting from Austria.
I was on the podium on the 5th of December, presenting AWG to the UN.
The UN Expert Meeting on Human Space Technology was very efficiently organized, there where plenary sessions that covered many topics, from the experiences with nanosatellites by small teams in developing countries to the updates on the Chinese Space Station, from some legal aspects of space exploration and exploitation to the plans for analogue experiments simulating on Earth the life on future space colonies. There were also two breakout sessions to discuss and debate about past experiences and future goals for the Human Space Technology; I joined the second one and appreciated very much the drive of young engineers and scientists especially from Costa Rica and Colombia.
Of course there was our presentation of the AWG program; it was received in three basic ways.
1. Most of the audience did not provide a feedback, probably being busy with their own thoughts of the moment.
2. Somebody gave a very skeptical feedback, basically saying that "it is a nice dream", "it is impossible to do" or "if it was possible somebody else would have done it already" or "did you really accounted for all the very difficult parts of the mission ?"... showing a biased judgment that would have stopped any advance in any field of science or exploration at any point of human history. I did my best to answer to those remarks but it will take further work to address all people that still think such things can only be done by the big space agencies and they will cost much more than what we think.
3. But several people, mostly but not only from developing countries, found it "fascinating, possible, a very good idea and definitely something worth pursuing".
Now it will be the time to show to the skeptical that we are really capable and to gather and lead all the positive contributions to reach our target. The undecided or uninterested are always the majority of the population, they will also need to be made aware in all possible ways.
Looking forward to comments on this...
Giulio