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Dator, Jim

Publications and source records attributed to Dator, Jim.

2 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2006

Comments about "Earth 3.0"

Dr. Christopher P. McKay, Planetary Scientist with the Space Science Division of NASA Ames. Chris received his Ph.D. in AstroGeophysics from the University of Colorado in 1982 and has been a research scientist with the NASA Ames Research Center since that time. His current research focuses on the evolution of the solar system and the origin of life. He is also actively involved in planning for future Mars missions including human exploration. Chris been involved in research in Mars-like environments on Earth, traveling to the Antarctic dry valleys, Siberia, the Canadian Arctic, and the Atacama desert to study life in these Mars-like environments. His was a co-I on the Titan Huygen s probe in 2005, the Mars Phoenix lander mission for 2007, and the Mars Science Lander mission for 2009.

Dator, Jim↗
NASA NTRS2006

Till the Ductile Anchor Hold: Towards Space Settlements in the 21st Century.

Humans are restless explorers. For 99% of humanity s time on Earth, we have been nomadic wanderers, not farmers, warriors, factory workers, developers, or NASA employees. Only recently--for only a few thousand years--have most humans been tied to the land as many are now. But as more and more of us live in information societies and some indeed in dream societies where our identity derives from the knowledge we share and the image we project, and not from the property we own or the manual work we do, the time may be coming when we should break free from the land, and roam once again. But beware: the reality of Man and Woman the Explorer has a very dark side as well. Many people where I live view the recent experience of Man on the Move as a history of theft, murder, racism, exploitation, and genocide. So we need to be very careful if we say that space exploration is only natural for humans, since the experience has not been very uplifting and noble for most recipients of the exploring of others. But such warnings are not new. Humans have been alerting each other to the dangers of change and novelty from the very beginning: Who and what is this?

Dator, Jim↗