PH307 – Disasters: Essay Issues for:
Space Flight Disasters
You may choose your own Space Disaster issue for the essay if
you feel motivated. Or you can wrap the essay discussion of the
lecture material or other material at:
http://astro.kent.ac.uk/mds/Modules/1011/PH307/
into answering some of the following with original discussion.
What are the known risks and unknown risks of manned
spaceflight? Can we even assess the risk? Should we take the
risk?
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Challenger 86 was the first major space tragedy.
It could have been prevented.
What professional responsibilities were neglected?
What was more to blame: human failure or engineering failure?
Blame ambition:
“For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over
public relations, for nature cannot be fooled.”
Blame the SRB:
“The cause of the accident was due to bad weather and the
failure of the aft joint seal in the right Solid Rocket Booster.”
Blame a NASA Conspiracy
Future. What drives us to take such high risks and, in this
respect, should NASA now be planning for a Moon station
followed by a manned mission to Mars? Can you be confident
you know the risk of the known unknowns and unknown
unknowns when you board an aircraft?
Would you volunteer to be the first human on Mars? At what
risk? What is the personal sacrifice? The prestige? The financial
gain if you return? The personal achievement?
Should we continue with exploring space?
Should we continue with manned missions?
How much should we spend on these activities?
Should we (prepare to) evacuate the Earth?
In case of emergency, where is the EXIT?
What emergencies could occur?
How can we prevent, mitigate, if we can?
Material:
Feynman’s findings on the Challenger ‘86.
The Columbia report 2008
The Space Race & The Space Age
Previous space flight tragedies