The Polar Umbrella

I think that, whatever your particular belief regarding climate change, it’s hard to argue with the scientific data that indicates the polar region is shrinking; the ice cap is melting.

The news site dw.de reports that the polar ice caps have melted at a faster rate in the last 20 years then in the 10,000 preceding years. A comprehensive satellite study confirms that the melting ice caps are raising sea levels at an accelerating rate.

There are a myriad of reasons as to why this is occurring, but I don’t think that the scientific community has reached a consensus. Is the ice melting as a result of the planet’s natural evolution—an expected outcome due in part to the Earth’s age? Or is the human race and its industrial pollutants hastening the demise of our polar region? I guess that depends on which camp you align yourself with.

Nonetheless, the ice is melting and something needs to be done. I am of the opinion that the issue of climate change is complex so there probably is not one solution.

Courtesy Google Images

Courtesy Google Images

According to DVICE, Derek Pirozzi, winner of the most recent Skyscraper Competition held by the architecture magazine Evolo, has developed an innovative way to help preserve the ice cap. His design, the Polar Umbrella, marries technology and esthetics (it looks cool!).

Evolo says that the Polar Umbrella would be erected in strategic locations throughout the region. It would be a buoyant structure that would house things such as a NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) research laboratory, renewable power station and eco-tourist attractions. But I think the most important feature is that the Polar Umbrella also regenerates the ice caps via harvest chambers that freeze ocean water.

Of course, this is only a concept design; it might not be practical to build a Polar Umbrella. In order to reverse global warming and save the ice caps there needs to be a reduction in CO2 emissions and it seems like the Polar Umbrella would only be a band aid not a solution.

However, I think the Polar Umbrella is what would be termed, “Thinking outside the box” and given the opportunity, I’d sign up to visit one of them.

Anyone care to take a winter vacation? I wonder if I could use my Hilton Honors points.

Once in a Lifetime

Courtesy Google Images

According to Space.com on April 28, 2001, multimillionaire Dennis Tito became the first space tourist. He paid the Russians $20 million to ride a Soyuz spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS). Tito says he had dreamed of going to space since April 12, 1961, when Russian cosmonaut YuriGagarin became the first human in space.

Tito spent six days on the ISS and landed in Kazakhstan on May 6, 2001. Space.com reported that Tom Shelley, president of Space Adventures, the Virginia-based company that brokered Tito's eight-day mission, said, "The private spaceflight industry did start with Dennis' flight.”

Tito’s love affair with space is alive and well. He’s helping to underwrite a group called Inspiration Mars that plans to send one couple, in their 50s, on a 501 day trip around the Red Planet.

Courtesy Google Images

The dailymailonline reported they’ve set an aggressive timetable. They plan to launch on January 5, 2018 because that is the next time Mars will be closest, 75 million miles, to Earth. If they miss this window they will have to wait 15 years for the next one. “The planets realign every 15 years, and who wants to wait for 2033?” Tito said today at a press conference in Washington D.C.

Courtesy Google Images

The capsule that will send an intrepid couple on this nearly one and one half year trek will be small, just 600-cubic feet. Once these folks are launched toward Mars they’ll be on their own. If anything went wrong, there would be no rescue.

I think the people who are chosen for this endeavor will have to be really well adjusted as a I think the people who are chosen for this endeavor will have to be really well adjusted as a couple. They’d have to be to spend 501 days in a capsule with only each other as company. 501 straight days in a cramped capsule might strain the bonds of the strongest relationship.

When I read about this my first thought was that in 2018 my wife and I will meet the age requirement set forth by Inspiration Mars. I love my wife; we’ve been together for more than 26 years. I enjoy spending as much time as possible with her. If any couple could spend 501 continuous days in such a tiny space, I’m certain we could.

I think it would be cool to hop in a spaceship and travel millions and millions of miles through space. My wife – not so much. We fly a couple times a year but it still makes her a bit nervous. I can’t imagine trying to get her onto a craft that leaves the earth’s atmosphere.

What do you think – does anyone else share my desire to take an extraterrestrial vacation?