My packing list for space

We’re all back from a few days’ break following the end of Ramadan. Some have stayed put, others have travelled to a resort, to another country, camping, meeting families or friends.

What have you packed? Well, that would have depended on the purpose of the trip, its duration, destination and a range of other factors. But, in any event, you planned with purpose because the direction was clear.

While we have visibility, clarity and influence over our own direction of travel, can the same be said about our collective direction of travel and future?

Whether or not we feel there is collective purpose, I have a litmus test that can help in the decision-making process about the technologies of the future.

This has come as a result of a conversation with our son who heard about new ways of producing food – cultured meat to be precise. He rightly suggested that such technology would be enormously useful in space: shipping and keeping chickens and cows in a planet-faring rocket would be impractical and the freeze-dried version would probably be uninspiring on a journey of several months.

So, we wondered whether ChatGPT might be useful in space.

We agreed that advanced tools that would emerge from AI and ChatGPT would indeed be – for companionship or for interacting with machines, much like TARS, in Christopher Nolan’s Sci-Fi extravaganza Interstellar. TARS is a functional, engaging and humourous robot all rolled into one, as is evident from the following conversation it has with the protagonist Joseph Cooper.

TARS, after the rocket lifts off into space: “Everybody good? Plenty of slaves for my robot colony … ”

Cooper: “A giant sarcastic robot … what a great idea … what’s your humour setting, TARS?”

TARS: “It’s 100 per cent.”

Cooper: “Let’s bring it down to 75 … ”

So here is the litmus test: is a future technology useful in space?

It’s not to say that our future will be about being a wholly space-faring civilisation, though there will be an element of that. It’s more about deciding where to prioritise our brainpower, funds and time – essentially giving it an element of purpose beyond the mere or immediate generation of wealth.

Or put another way, providing a purpose and direction of travel. And more broadly, if it’s useful in space – a harsh, unforgiving environment with scarce resources (for our species, that is) – it may well also be useful to our societies on planet Earth as resources are diminishing and the need for their better use becomes imperative.

A recent example is 3D printing. I had written about this technology before in the context of Dubai’s 3D printing strategy and the building the Dubai Future Foundation has constructed. The latest iteration of 3D printing is the Chinese space programme, which is planning the construction of shelter on the Moon, ready to welcome astronauts. The Chang'e 8 lunar mission in 2028 will carry 3D printing equipment to test material found on the lunar surface to place the first bricks for the Chinese lunar station for 2030.

Similarly, the ability to grow food under limited resources is a critical skill and technology.

Back in 2020, we reported on research that examined the use of “grey” waters – water from a shower or sink drain – to feed growing plants. What makes this work by researchers at the Wroclaw University of Science and Technology even more unusual, but useful, is that it is “aeroponic”: plants are suspended in moisture-filled air.

And another technology that is deployed on Earth with potential uses in space are bio-reactors: tanks to grow desired cells, or complex materials using specially designed microbes or algae. Such algae can be important food sources or additives as we become increasingly able to manipulate the genetic code of plants and micro-organisms and produce targeted products. In space this would be an obviously useful method for producing organic products – including, perhaps, a veggie burger.

Much research has been going into haptics, a kind of technology that simulates the sense of touch, motion and resistance in a digital environment. This proves useful in a situation where distance manipulation of, say, a robotic arm requires the operator to gauge the strength needed for an action. You don’t want to destroy a delicate object by over-exerting pressure with a mechanical arm. Useful in space, but also on Earth as we’re increasingly operating remote equipment, but also, eventually for amputees who might gain sensory feedback from prosthetics with such technology.

Finally, readers of my column will know that I have been somewhat lacklustre about NFTs, a thing of the not-too-distant past.

Not surprisingly, an NFT was sent to the International Space Station’s server in 2021 and stayed in orbit for a couple of hours. Mostly, though, NFTs have been sent into space in a gimmicky way to make money or raise funds for space-related charities. If I was in space – travelling, stranded or just needing to survive – I might reach for a 3D printer or eat a piece of protein that I had grown right there, before reaching for that NFT.

Would the same apply on Earth? Probably yes. And if that’s the case, then our collective direction of travel is clear, and we should be better at rewarding some of the folks engaged in solving the deep science challenges that promote our survival, wherever we go.