OF SPECIAL INTEREST
OF SPECIAL INTEREST NEWS
Star Trek Turns 60!
Bottom Line up Front: Star Trek inspired a LOT of students and led to a LOT of beneficial and valuable inventions. [Star Wars sold a lot of toys!]
The technological advances (semi-)realistically presented in Star Trek fired the imagination, as did Star Trek’s positive and inclusive view of future society. Many scientists and engineers now at/near retirement age had their career paths profoundly affected by watching Star Trek during their formative years.
But don’t take my word for it! Check out the following examples of what successful people have said about the role of Star Trek in their lives.
Martin Cooper was responsible for building the first cell phone, and made the first cell phone call. He was inspired as a boy by Star Trek’s communicators, so when he built Motorola’s 1983 DynaTAC 8000X device, it had one, too, even though it didn’t need it, because that’s what his inspiration had.
Jeff Jenkins, CTO and co-Founder, Upskill: “Star Trek absolutely inspired me to enter the tech field, specifically computer science. … (W)hat I found most intriguing was how ubiquitous all of that computing power was and how it seamlessly integrated into the day-to-day lives of those aboard the starship Enterprise. Nearly every surface of the ship was festooned with adaptive touch screen interfaces (just like my iPhone today), and they all were integrated via a very cloud-like central processing core (just like all my devices today). The computer was also never more than a convenient voice command away to turn on the lights or retrieve data from the archives (Alexa anyone?).”
ZK Research CEO Aues Kerravala: “Star Trek absolutely inspired me to enter the tech field, specifically computer science …. Star Trek set a vision for science and technology that is still unmatched for any other TV show and the thought of 'what's possible' was partially responsible for my passion for that field today.”
Milind Tambe, Fellow, Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence: ““Science fiction in general and Star Trek in particular was instrumental in inspiring me to pursue a Ph.D. in computer science and more specifically in artificial intelligence. … (W)hen I completed my Ph.D. and began teaching AI at USC, I used Star Trek extensively in a class I had designed on 'AI and Science Fiction' to teach AI.”
Apple’s Steve Jobs was a Star Trek fan, commenting once that if he could have it his way, he’d want our world to be like Star Trek’s universe, especially technology-wise. It’s hard to say just how much direct inspiration for the iPad was drawn from the pad-like devices on Star Trek, but if you look at this promo image for the original iPad announcement, you might get (more than) a hint of it!
Apple’s Steve Perlman was inspired to create Quicktime software when he saw a character in Star Trek: The Next Generation using a computer with multiple input/output tracks.
Apple’s Steve Wozniak: “Star Trek had done so much for me. I’m not sure I would’ve had the inspiration that I had to ever start Apple, and do all these technical things, and I don’t think I would’ve had the meaning in my life if I hadn’t gone to Star Trek conventions when I was young.”
Love him or not, SpaceX’s Elon Musk was affected by Star Trek, too. “So, in terms of sort of key influences, I mean, I certainly like Star Trek, because that actually shows like more of a utopian future.”
I personally know a number of colleagues whose career path was favorably altered because they watched Star Trek during their formative years. Me, too!
The quotes and anecdotes above are examples of Star Trek’s impact on future scientists, engineers, and technologists. But that is only part of the story. Star Trek’s optimistic inclusivity also had a big impact in the underserved population.
Star Trek was in many ways a groundbreaking production. Remember (your history) about how America was in the mid-1960s. It was an “interesting time,” with amazing technological advances occurring frequently, seeing planets up close for the first time, advances in civil rights, all while conducting the Vietnam War.
Star Trek was the first major network show that had a Black person in a chain-of-command position. Nichelle Nichols’ Lt. Uhura opened a lot of hailing frequencies, but she was also a key member of a major vessel’s bridge crew. Nichelle had aspirations for a singing/dancing career, and was frustrated by the limitations of her role, and looked to quit the show after the first season. Dr. Martin Luther King, himself a Trekker, told her in no uncertain terms that her presence, even in the background at times, was a major symbolic victory for the Civil Rights movement, and that she was performing a great service to America in the role. [She later would tell this story often, and I have personally witnessed the powerful effect of this story as told by her in person.] Mae Jemison was a young girl at that time, and she was inspired by Uhura to believe that she, too, could play an important role in Space. And she did, she was America’s first Black woman astronaut!
If one believes that something difficult is possible, they can be inspired to reach goals that would otherwise be unattainable.
Carl Sagan wrote eloquently in Cosmos about how the glory that was ancient Greece was fueled in large part by Greece being a crossroads connecting many different cultures, drawing the best from each to make a greater whole than the mere sum of its parts. America and the rest of the World have benefitted similarly due to the international stimulus of Space, of which Star Trek has been an important part.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum agrees with that assessment. That’s why they acquired, refurbished, and placed the filming model of the original Starship Enterprise on display. It was initially placed in the Milestones of Flight Hall, sharing space with the Apollo 11 Command Module, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, and Chuck Yeager’s Glamorous Glennis! It is temporarily off display, pending the construction of an improved display case, but will be back on the main exhibit floor soon, although the good folks at NASM did bring it back for a one-day appearance on September 8, the 60th anniversary of Star Trek’s premiere.
Solar Eclipse 2026 Was Spectacular!
I had the pleasure of serving as one of the Subject Matter Experts for one of the sections offered by Smithsonian Journeys for the Spain total solar eclipse. The trip was great; we visited Madrid, Avila, and Segovia, with the eclipse in between. The weather was good, and we had great support from the local astronomy clubs. The diamond ring at second contact was wonderful, and the appearance of a large prominence on the Sun’s limb at third contact really made this eclipse special. It wasn’t a diamond ring, it was a ruby ring! See for yourself here: https://ecp.earthsky.org/community-photos/entry/84554.
Wait Until Next Year and the Year After That!
We are fortunate to have a number of good eclipses coming up in the next few years. The longest eclipse in our lifetime crosses Egypt next year on August 2, with both Luxor and Valley of the Kings in the totality zone. Trips have been in the planning stage for years for this one, and most trips are wait-listed, but try and maybe you’ll get a lucky cancellation from someone. The next one after that is on July 22, 2028, and will slash across Australia and the South Island of New Zealand. Many tours are offered, including with Smithsonian Journeys (I’ll be the SME for their “Sally Ride” group in Sydney), and you should be able to find one available, if you act soon.
For information on upcoming total solar eclipses through 2040, see: https://eclipse.gsfc.nasa.gov/SEatlas/SEatlas3/SEatlas2021.GIF.
OF SPECIAL INTEREST FYI
The Danger of Putting All Our Satellites “In One Basket”
Huge constellations of satellites in/near LEO are not just the bane of ground-based astronomers, they also is imprudently dangerous. But don’t just take my word for it…
“In August 1962, British instrumental band the Tornados released a song inspired by the just-launched Telstar 1 satellite. The 170-lb. spacecraft revolutionized communications, broadcasting the first images across the Atlantic and connecting televisions, fax machines, telephones and two computers in Europe and America.
“The revolution was ill-fated. Telstar’s launch in July came as a Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile lofted a W49 warhead for the U.S. Starfish Prime high-altitude nuclear test. It pumped the Van Allen belts with radiation that fried Telstar’s circuits. The lesson: Unshielded satellites are vulnerable to the lingering effects of nuclear detonations in space.
“Months later, as the Tornados’ Telstar tune was topping the UK charts, President John F. Kennedy revealed to the world that the Soviets had deployed nuclear weapons in Cuba. In the burst of treaty-making following the Cuban Missile Crisis, the U.S. and the Soviet Union agreed to prohibit nuclear weapons from two areas to complement previously enjoined Antarctica: the seabed and outer space. This consensus not to place nuclear weapons in orbit was fraught, however. Debates about missile defense continued in the U.S., and Moscow kept up its planning to defeat such defenses.
“That fragile consensus is again under strain following a post-Cold War respite. Moscow is exploring ways to destroy large satellite constellations it sees as critical to its adversaries.”
And not just Moscow, or China, or whoever; even a few large fragmentation explosives could trigger a Kessler Syndrome…
For more on the quoted material above, see: https://aviationweek.com/space/satellites/opinion-golden-dome-revives-nuclear-anti-satellite-weapons-concerns.
Upper Atmosphere Pollution is a Growing Problem!
Rocket exhaust (especially that produced by kerosene-based fuels) produces soot particles and other pollutants that have a decades-long residence time in the upper atmosphere. Further, satellites coming back to Earth also disintegrate into undesirable pollutants that also remain aloft for years. This wasn’t a big problem “back in the day” because flights and reentries were relatively infrequent, but with the advent of multiple mega-constellations of satellites the problem is increasingly severe. It’s another aspect of the unsupervised conducting of an uncontrolled experiment in the only “Petri Dish” in which humans can live.
For more information on this topic, check out the following: https://aas.org/about/governance/society-resolutions/atmospheric-impacts-spacecraft; https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2026/may/satellite-launch-pollution-rapidly-accumulating-upper-atmosphere; https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/a-new-threat-for-satellites-can-orbital-re-entry-pollution-threaten-our-atmosphere ; https://aerospaceglobalnews.com/news/space-debris-dead-satellites-atmosphere-pollution; and https://spacenews.com/uncontrolled-experiment-study-links-harmful-atmospheric-metals-to-spacecraft-reentry.
Space Debris Follow-Ups
A previous Item of the Week about Arthur C. Clarke and Geosynchronous Orbits, had a section about the growing danger of Space Debris. Famed Space author, Leonard David, has a new space.com piece on the debris topic that may be of interest to you. See: https://www.space.com/space-exploration/launches-spacecraft/space-debris-led-to-an-orbital-emergency-in-2025-will-anything-change.
I ran across another orbital debris-related piece, this one in the Cardinal News, in Virginia. It’s by Jack Kennedy (not the senator from Louisiana), whose background includes graduation from the University of North Dakota’s Space Studies program, a former employer of mine. His piece is entitled, “The next Nobel: Why the U.S. must lead space diplomacy.” You can find it here: https://cardinalnews.org/2025/09/03/the-next-nobel-why-the-u-s-must-lead-space-diplomacy.
A similar interesting piece, by Tanner Stening, can be found on the Northeast Global News page, here: https://news.northeastern.edu/2025/03/11/space-leadership-united-states.
But Wait, There’s More info on mitigating the problem of space debris! It involves “a circular space economy, a model in which materials and equipment are created with reuse, repair, and recycling in mind. They also note that industries such as personal electronics and automotive manufacturing have already adopted similar ideas with considerable success.” See more about it at: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251203010211.htm.
AVIATION WEEK PODCASTS OF NOTE: Follow Up
Last month, the Aviation Week website had several items relating to the present events in the Iran Crisis, including: “What’s Under the Ever-More Expensive Golden Dome,” “A Stress Test for Aging Aircraft,” and “The Impact of the Iran War on Airlines.” I will focus here on two other items: the podcast entitled “High-Energy Laser Weapons Reach New Heights “and an article entitled, “Debrief: China’s New Laser Focus to Take Down Satellite Networks.”
Recently, Aviation Week posted a follow-up regarding the Golden Dome, questioning the feasibility of using Space-based interceptors.
Lasers: Laser weapons/defenses have long been under study, especially so since the High Energy Laser Scaling Initiative began in 2018. Recent advances, now being deployed in the Iran Crisis, are providing operational tactical testing. Present capabilities are useful against balloons and small drones, but research into scaling-up laser technology will soon allow targeting of faster targets, such as cruise and ballistic missiles. A 300kW laser system is presently in operation, and a 500kW system is under development by Lockheed Martin and should be ready soon. Meanwhile, a 1MW laser system is in the works. All of these systems are intended for defense against arial attacks. The AW podcast also stresses China’s interest in laser technology for aerial defense, and notes that powerful laser systems may also find use in the mitigation of orbital debris.
Anti-satellite: Of course, if ground-based or space-based laser systems can shoot down debris, they can shoot down other satellites. Space debris is already a major problem, and could be used by a weaker adversary to disable an opponent’s space-based assets via a “denial of service” attack where a number of dirty bombs are exploded in LEO to cause a Kessler Syndrome. A nation with considerable LEO military assets of their own would not do that, but high-powered space-based laser system(s) could make a more surgical attack possible. Quoting from the Debrief piece in AW:
“Over the past decade, U.S. military space planners and commercial space companies have largely reached consensus on the “resiliency” of building networks comprised of numerous small satellites, rather than a handful of high-value satellites.
“If a potential adversary must now target hundreds of relatively inexpensive platforms with a high-cost anti-satellite weapon launched from the ground or an aircraft, that attack now becomes more inefficient and costly, the argument goes. That thesis has driven government and commercial operators around the globe to invest in new networks in low Earth orbit (LEO) for mission areas including data connectivity, missile warning and tracking, geospatial intelligence and alternate positioning, navigation and timing.
“Now, China is looking to use directed energy to target multiple satellites simultaneously. In February, the South China Morning Post reported that scientists at the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology in Xian, Shaanxi province, have developed a high-power microwave weapon called the TPG1000Cs—a compact device capable of delivering 20 gigawatts of power for one full minute from the back of a truck or while mounted on an aircraft.
“Such a device could send pulses out to space to hit multiple systems at once, causing glitches or loss of control, U.S. military leaders have said. Suddenly, the cost curve to target space assets looks more feasible.”
SpaceX Files Plans with FCC for One-million Satellite Data Center in LEO
“SpaceX is seeking Federal Communications Commission approval for a satellite constellation of unprecedented scale intended to function as an orbital data center.
“In a filing with the FCC late Jan. 30, SpaceX proposed an orbital data center constellation of up to one million satellites in low Earth orbit. The satellites would operate at altitudes between 500 and 2,000 kilometers, in 30-degree and sun-synchronous inclinations, to maximize time in sunlight for solar power generation.
“A constellation of one million satellites would far exceed any system seriously considered. China filed plans with the International Telecommunication Union in late December for two constellations totaling nearly 200,000 satellites. In 2021, Rwanda filed ITU plans for constellations exceeding 300,000 satellites, linked to proposals by startup E-Space, which no longer appears to be pursuing such a system.”
The announcement does not address issues such as orbit management, the impact on ground-based astronomy, the environmental effects of deorbiting satellites, or space debris management. For the full quotes and more news on this topic, see: https://spacenews.com/spacex-files-plans-for-million-satellite-orbital-data-center-constellation.
FOLLOW UP: The July 2026 issue of Sky and Telescope magazine has a news item about the one-million satellites proposal, on page 11.
NOT NERVOUS YET? The see: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2512.09643!
MORE? The dangers of the Kessler Syndrome happening by accidents are serious. What if a conflict develops where satellites are purposely targeted in LEO as a High Frontier version of a “denial of service” calamity…
NASA is “Cool Again”
A recent Aviation Week “Check 6” podcast was recorded at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, delving into the latest developments in space exploration and defense.
“The hosts discuss the energy and excitement (at the Symposium), particularly following the Artemis II mission. Key topics include the Department of the Air Force's new contracts for space-based air moving target indication satellites, a significant step for the Space Force.
“The conversation also highlights NASA's efforts to capitalize on the Artemis mission's success to boost budgets across the space community. The hosts note the rapid pace of contracting and partnerships, such as NASA's collaboration with the Italian Space Agency for a moon habitation module.
“The symposium is described as a pivotal moment for both defense and commercial space sectors, with a notable international presence, though China was absent. The discussion touches on the competitive dynamics with China, particularly in the context of lunar exploration and military space capabilities.
“The episode concludes with reflections on the symposium's impact and the enthusiasm it generated among attendees.”
Speaking of Cool…
Remember Jethro Tull? Ian Anderson, the eccentric flutist and leader of the group, played a duet with Cady Coleman, while she was on the ISS, in the honor of Yuri Gagarin’s first flight. Check it out at: https://youtu.be/XeC4nqBB5BM?si=FhZ9Ha5F3ziy4CMk! Coleman flew twice on the Space Shuttle and served a stint on the ISS. Her second shuttle mission was STS-93 in 1999, the flight where Eileen Collins became the first female to command a Shuttle mission; Cady was the mission specialist responsible for the launch of the Chandra X-ray Observatory.
[Astronaut Collins was born in Elmira, New York, not far from where I grew up. She attended Corning Community College, which had an observatory I used in my formative years. Elmira is in New York’s Southern Tier, and it boasts of being the birthplace of two astronauts, Collins and Doug “Wheels” Wheeler, who was born in Binghamton.]
See more Cady and Tull here: https://youtube.com/watch?v=sIvC3fdzqsU&si=oRHQnXMM1qX7DDR9!
More music? Sure, check out my good friend Bert Lams of the California Guitar Trio on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/reel/1518354919936314/?fs=e&fs=e.
China Expands Military Space Capabilities
Aviation Week’s Military Space Editor Vivienne Machi posted an article recently on this important topic, here: https://aviationweek.com/space/budget-policy-regulation/hide-seek-orbit-china-expands-military-space-capabilities. And although it isn’t a direct military threat, she notes that China plans to launch a constellation of over 200,000 satellites to LEO… And the FCC just authorized SpaceX to make an expansion of its Starlink system. [Why am I having an Olber’s Paradox flash-back?]
OF SPECIAL INTEREST LINKS AND OTHER INFORMATION
“How the U.S. Space Force Aims to Avoid a Second Sputnik Moment” is an interesting piece by Vivienne Machi, the Military Space Editor for Aviation Week. See it here: https://aviationweek.com/space/budget-policy-regulation/how-us-space-force-aims-avoid-second-sputnik-moment.
For Those of You in the Colorado Springs Area: The Space Foundation Discovery Center on Garden of the Gods Avenue has undergone a significant expansion and updating. Find out more about it at: https://discoverspace.org and more about the Space Foundation at: https://www.spacefoundation.org. In addition, the Planetarium at the U.S. Air Force Academy offers a variety of public programs; for more information, see: https://www.usafa.edu/facilities/planetarium. But be advised that the Academy has new stringent requirements to enter. The Academy also has great STEM outreach programming for students and teachers, see: https://www.usafa.edu/research/stem-outreach.
Jack Cross: I have met an interesting fellow on-line via one of NASM’s wonderful Docents. His name is Jack Cross, and he proudly served in the U.S. Navy from 1950 to 1954 as a Bosun’s Mate. He was on a series of warships at first, then he moved over to the USS Yellowstone, a tender that served the Navy’s Sixth Fleet. He joined the Navy and saw the world!
Now retired, Jack has put together a series of picture-rich PowerPoint presentations. He kindly gave me permission to post three of them already, one about D-Day, one about “A Day of Mercy in the Sky,” and one about his Navy career, which gives a real interesting look at what Navy life was like at the start of the Cold War. Check all three out on the Archive: Other Stuff page of the website! Thank you, Jack!
DOCENTS (and all others interested in Solar System exploration history): If you don’t have an on-line copy of Fordham University’s Asif A. Siddiqi’s fabulous book, Beyond Earth: A Chronicle of Deep Space Exploration, you should. You can find it at: https://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/beyond_earth_detail.html.