#SPACE WARFARE XV ROCKETPUNK MANIFESTO FULL#

But the subtler problem is then what? Suppose we learned that the rings of Saturn are full of McGuffinite. You have to make a few friendly assumptions to get space mining for terrestrial use to pan out (so to speak).

Mining fits the broad Western trope, and it does take people to the most Godforsaken places. The most popular profit motive has been mining. Clarke's space midfuture, at least in his earlier stories, seemed not unlike the 'realistic' vision I portrayed above.) This attitude is not just confined to the libertarian-minded Evil Megacorps in Space are a variation on the same theme. For this we need a justification.Īt least in 'Murrican science fiction, the profit motive is enshrined as probably necessary and certainly sufficient reason to go into space on whatever scale is desired. We want the outposts to grow into bases, then towns, then cities, and of course we mostly want them to end up fighting space battles with each other. (Sob!)įor story purposes this is not what we want. There will be a space economy, but no economy in space: the ships will be transports, not liners, and certainly not tramp freighters. In the early interplanetary era - and, in all likelihood, for a long time after - there may be hundreds of people in space, but probably not thousands and certainly not millions. Nor does the human scale of the thing lend itself to space opera. People will work very hard and spend a great deal of money to see to it that dramatic adventures do not happen in space. (Amundsen and Shackleton are the two names I remember off of hand.) Real space travel may turn out very similar. The popular literature of polar exploration is tiny, and most of what there is deals with the early days. Last post I made a comparison of space to Antarctica. What this highly plausible space future does not have room for, however, is most of our favorite space tropes. There is no inherent reason why this should not remain the case into or through the midfuture, as our steadily growing capabilities carry us outward. The inherent coolness of space travel, along with national vanity and parochial economic interests, has turned out to be sufficient for half a century.

Humans will reach the planets in this century at least there is a rather good chance that we will, without ever needing to be explicit about Step Two.

Space warfare xv rocketpunk manifesto