The March issue of Popular Science magazine provides a feature cover story titled “After Earth: The Case for Populating the Universe — and How We’ll Get There.” The 11-page nicely-illustrated article covers a wide range of space exploration and development topics and includes mention of the National Space Society and several other space advocacy organizations. NSS CEO Mark Hopkins is quoted, as is the chairman of the NSS Space Settlement Advocacy Committee, Al Globus. The article is also available online.
The article concludes with two piquant quotes:
Gregory Benford, physics professor, NASA consultant, and science fiction author, points out that “We Americans think we are basically the Columbus of space, making big discoveries. But I’m afraid we might be the Leif Eriksson. We go, we try a few things, and then it largely gets forgotten.”
Marc Millis, a NASA propulsion physicist who also runs the Tau Zero Foundation, concludes that colonizing space “isn’t just about survival, it’s about thriving…. What [better] can we do that makes for an exciting future to live in? Something where when you wake up in the morning you’re glad to be alive and a human?”
