Back in the early/mid 90’s, when I was getting my Aero E degree from Iowa State U, the Iowa State Space Society put on several “Mid Continent Space Development Conferences,” where we got a surprising number of aerospace “luminaries” to come in and give presentations on whatever their topic was… Bill Gaubatz from McDonnell-Douglas on the Delta Clipper, Robert Forward on several “crazy” concepts (I drove him from Ames to the Des Moines airport – or vice versa – once, and had what at least to me seemed a good conversation regarding wormholes and time dilation with him), Seth Shostak from SETI, Len Cormier and his Space Van concept, Lori Garver from Ad Astra, Chuck Lauer (for orbital “real estate development,” later to be one of three founders of the late lamented Pioneer Rocketplane), Leik Myrabo (for whom I gave the introductory remarks, and managed to mangle both his name and that of Rensellaer Polytechnic… yeah, not one of my crowning moments) for laser propulsion, and numerous others. (now THAT is a run-on sentence!)
One of the others was Anthony Zuppero from the Idaho National Engineering Laboratory. He spoke to us of colonizing not planets (like Mars… at the time, the idea of blowing off Mars was heresy to young chuckleheads like us), but comets. And he showed us how it could be done, using the resources available in situ.
Sigh.
The days when I was young enough to think I might actually live to see such days.
Sigh.
Anyway: It turns out that Zuppero has written a book, a memoir on his experiences in aerospace. It is discussed in this article in The Register. And it is also available for free downloading as a PDF file HERE.
Yes, I was vain enough to do a search for my own name, since I knew I’d met him. And lo and behold, there it is, along with the names of fellow students that I haven’t seen, heard of or in some cases even thought of in 14 or so years. Hell, even my parents get the tiniest little mention.
I’ve not read the whole book, just a few bits (yes, starting with the MCSDC stuff). But his recollections of the MCSDC certainly match mine, and bring back the memories:
Pretty quickly I noticed that the only place I had ever been that was
more dismal than Idaho Falls in the winter was flying and driving
in Iowa in mid winter. The extra depressing element was that
from the air one could not see any mountains anywhere in Iowa,
and we could in Idaho Falls. We could see majestic mountains
from an airplane above Idaho Falls.
Got that right. Iowa in winter is charitably described as “dismal.” Especially when I recall that driving across Iowa in winter once involved my Ford Escort hitting a patch of ice, going into a spin on the entirely ice-covered highway and thinking “well, at least I’m the only idiot out here,” and then seeing the headlights of a Peterbilt coming out of the mist. Ba-BAM!
Another of Zuppero’s anecdotes, that, had I put some more thought into this some years back, could have saved me considerable headache:
I was supposed to be the featured evening speaker. But Robert
Zubrin, also there on no money, said it would really help if he could
speak in my place and I speak at his place. I should not have let
him. It is a status thing to be the featured evening speaker. Zubrin
did not publicly thank me for trading. That was the rub. Never
again, Robert.
Snerk.
Now, doesn’t that bring back a few years worth of unpleasant recollections…
Zuppero discusses his ideas at some considerable length in his book. In short… nuclear thermal rockets “burning” water ice, the ice taken not from Earth but from the comets that the rockets are used to colonize.
Zuppero also discusses his Asperger’s Syndrome at some considerable length… a topic of some small theoretical interest to me. And he pretty much nails it:
<> I will sometimes go too fast. I will sometimes say things that are
<>simply not supposed to be said that way. Because I am an Aspie,
<>I can’t see what’s wrong with doing these things at all. If I went
<>too fast or confused you, tell me and I will try to fix it. Maybe
<>not.If I use inappropriate language or say things that are too graphic
and just not proper in mixed company, or that are insulting or too
mean,
too bad.
I’m an Aspie.
You are supposed to treat me nice, like we treat mongoloids and
other weird people.
…
You don’t like my exaggeration? Too bad. I’m an Aspie.
…
One always has a “day job” that you do to get money. One also
has a fantasy, a hobby daydream you think about all the time. It’s
the daydreams that make magic happen. And that is what
happened. However, it took a while and was mostly
disappointing the entire time. I never got rich either. And I got
fired a couple of times. Aspies just have a hard time with social
situations, like a boss.
…
Asperger’s Syndrome seems to be a real thing, just like ADD is a real thing. But it’s also become a somewhat fashionable diagnosis… seen by some as a convenient excuse for behaving like an asshole. But I’ve seen more than my share of “Asperger-Like” behavior in my aborted aerospace career . Aspies are, or at least can be when utilized properly, a massive benefit to whatever organization or project they’re working for. But what I’ve also seen are Aspies whose skills are ill-utilized (“Wow, you’re a great design engineer. Here, be an accountant.”), coupled with entirely too many non-Aspie assholes in positions of managerial/political power. Zuppero makes several references to Aspies being like Spock from Star Trek, which is a reasonable analogy… but imagine if Starfleet had taken a good hard look at Spock’s record and decided that he’d be best utilized as a singer of jingles for the “Be All You Can Be, Join Starfleet” ad campaign.
Download his book. It’s a bit rough (it’s clearly a draft, and needs some serious editting), but what I’ve read so far is certainly engaging.
