Science And Science Fiction
By ANN Correspondent Aleta Vinas
Today’s science fiction is tomorrow’s science fact.
DragonCon, billed as “America's largest, multi-media, popular
arts convention—focusing on science fiction and fantasy,
gaming, comics, literature, art, music, and film” is a
mixture of today and tomorrow. The four day event takes place in
Atlanta (GA) over Labor Day weekend every year.
While DragonCon certainly leans toward the science fiction end
of the spectrum, there are four full days of hour long panels about
space. The assortment of panels ranged from past space successes
and failures into what the future holds for spaceflight for the US
and other countries. The past year and the future of the Space
Elevator was presented by part of the LiftPort Group, the business
team behind the Space Elevator.
NASA astronaut Richard F. Gordon, Jr. discussed the space
program as well as his personal experiences on Gemini XI and Apollo
XII. Spaceflight historian Hugh Gregory reviewed other countries
past year in space and what they are shooting for in the future.
What’s next for the US space program was also presented by
Dani Eder and Ginny Mauldin-Kinney.
The panel on SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) was
presented by Professor William Keel. Keel discussed the Greenbank
or Drake Equation. The equation, N = R x P x E x L x I x C x T ,
supplies us with an estimate of the number of inhabitable planets
in our galaxy. The number has certainly not been agreed on in the
astronomy community. Keel points out “How vast our ignorance
is of really important factors in estimating the likelihood of
intelligent life elsewhere and I think, that alone makes a modest
investment in combing the sky worth it. We don’t know enough
to tell if it’s a stupid idea or a brilliant idea.”
Professor Keel also spoke at another panel, Living in
Einstein’s Universe. The panel covered the NASA –
Chandra Outreach effort. Keel has written a book, The Sky at
Einstein’s Feet due out shortly, which expands on topics in
the panel.
That’s no Moon, it’s a Space Station panel covered
how large a space station can be built in space within the limits
of known physics today. The sizes, using varying components are
much larger than someone might think. According to speaker Dani
Eder, using carbon fiber, a rotating wheel space station can be
built with a radius of 100 miles. Hydrogen bubble space stations
were another possibility, which increases the size significantly,
into the realm of hundreds of thousands of miles. “We
haven’t reached a limit due to gravitational force but
we’ve reached a limit due to the mechanical stability of the
shape” say Eder. There is also the shortage of materials for
a station so large.
Eder is a former rocket scientist who worked for Boeing/NASA for
many years. He has worked on the space station as well as other
programs. This is Eder’s seventh DragonCon. Many of
Eder’s co-workers were sci-fi fans. Eder says
“It’s a big influence on a lot of engineering and
computer and other technical people. They were exposed to
it when they were young and they thought it was cool, so they
pursued it.”
Eder became an engineer because of Star Trek and science fiction
books he read. “If you don’t get people interested in
the first place, you’re not going to get people into the
field.”
Eder is also a charter member of Evil Geniuses for a Better
Tomorrow, the professional association for “mad”
scientists. There are several Evil Geniuses panels throughout the
weekend where one can learn to take over the world for fun and
profit.
DragonCon is not just panels, of course. Space and fantasy
artwork is available, originals as well as limited editions. Noted
artists on displayed include Leslie Camara, Bob Keck and Nicole
Pellegrini. Using technology, DragonCon made available “Art
on Demand.” You can place the art on tote bags, canvas, gloss
or matte paper. Several medium choices were available.
Even the most conservative space fact fan took a walk on the
sci-fi side. The most popular panels included four of the cast
members from the now cancelled Fox series Firefly (2002). Cast
members Ron Glass, Morena Bacarin, Adam Baldwin and Jewel Staite
attended the convention to promote the opening of the movie,
Serenity on September 30th, which is a continuation of six months
after the series left off. A fan documentary about Firefly was
being partially filmed at DragonCon. Titled, 'Done the Impossible,'
the documentary is the story of the rise, fall and rebirth of
Firefly as told by the fans, cast and crew of Firefly/Serenity.
Doing the impossible is how technology and space travel started.
The Wright Brothers achieved the “impossible”, NASA
achieved the “impossible”. At DragonCon science fiction
and science fact join hands and the realization seems to be that
anything is possible.
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