Beyond 2000 ~ The High Frontier

Today on Far Future Horizons "a very special episode" of the acclaimed Australian science documentary series “Beyond 2000” titled "The High Frontier".

Iain Finlay writes, directs and presents this episode about the future of human space exploration.

Colonizing Mars

Copyright Bryan Versteeg Mars One

Today on Far Future Horizons we present an excerpt from a feature documentary titled Someday Somewhere Beyond which explores the history and future of space colonies.

Copyright Bryan Versteeg Mars One

Someday Somewhere Beyond was directed and edited by Jonathan Minard, and has some wonderful conceptual animation by artist Bryan Versteeg and features interviews with Robert Zubrin and Margarita Marinova.

Beyond Tranquility

This essay was originally posted on the National Space Society's blog site on August 11, 2009.

 

After Apollo, Can the dream of Solar System Settlement become reality?

The answer to that question is an unequivocal yes and the reasons have to do with economics, national prestige, national and environmental security concerns and the existential threats we face as a species.

Our species and our ancient forbearers were and remain innately a migratory species. The lure and call of distant lands and new horizons is an ancient passion. Modern science offers us tantalizing evidence of this wanderlust and has helped us weave a tale that is the stuff of legend. This migratory history is written in our genes and the fossil record. It is the story of how our species emerged out of Africa and spread out across the globe to become a planetary species.

Nature's Fury - Exodus Earth

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the first episode of an old Discovery Channel documentary series titled Nature's Fury. In this installment of Nature's Fury, Exodus Earth, we explore a scenario of the distant future where humanity must abandon its planetary abode and migrate elsewhere or face total extinction.

In the distant future the earth will die, whether by the hand of man, smashed by meteors, or burnt to a cinder by the expanding sun. 

The Starlost - Voyage of Discovery

Today on Far Future Horizons we embark on the ultimate human diaspora with the first episode of “The Starlost - Voyage of Discovery”.

"The Starlost" is a Canadian-produced science fiction television series devised by writer Harlan Ellison and broadcast in 1973 on CTV in Canada and syndicated to local stations in the United States. 

The show's setting is a huge generational colony spacecraft called The Ark, which has gone off-course. Many of the descendants of the original crew and colonists are unaware, however, that they are aboard a ship. 

The series experienced a number of production difficulties, and Ellison ended up disowning it before the first episode even aired.

Earth II (1971)

Welcome to the first independent nation in Earth Orbit. Welcome to Earth II.

Today on Far Future Horizons it gives me great pleasure to present the TV motion picture Earth II starring Gary Lockwood of “2001: A Space Odyssey” fame. 

I saw this motion picture when it first aired on NBC Channel 4 in New York City. I was ten years old at the time. This is the very first motion picture I ever saw that depicted the concept of an orbital space colony. Later made famous by Gerald K. O’Neill.

The Usborne Book of the Future

One book that I fondly remember from my youth is 'The Usborne Book of the Future', first published in 1979 by Usborne Books, and written by Kenneth Gatland and David Jefferis. The book is a very illustrative and colourful trip in time to the year 2000 and beyond. Portrayed in its pages is the exciting and wonderful world of robots, cities of the future, space colonies and interstellar travel. This is the future as seen from the stand point of almost thirty years ago, a future that many of us still dream of today and remains yet to be realized.





My most favorite illustrations in the book are the ones depicting Space Arks and Asteroid Colonies as envisioned by Dandridge Cole back in the early 1960s. 

Space Is Our Future - A Campaign for Space

The Moon, Mars and Beyond National Space Society Banner© Bill Wright

Today on Far Future Horizons we will be showcasing the National Space Society’s (NSS’s) video to promote their “Space Is Our Future” campaign.

Gaia Selene - Saving Earth by Colonizing the Moon

Today on Far Future Horizons I decided to post the following  feature documentary ~ 'GAIA SELENE'. 

This documentary outlines just the type of space program we need to help solve many of our earth bound problems. A Space program that is both politically and economically sustainable as well justifiable. There are two and a half ways to save the Earth and two of them are on the Moon. The half measure that remains for us on Earth is to create a society committed to conservation and creating a Zero Waste Culture totally dedicated to recovering its reusable resources.

Man vs. Universe ~ Mars Is Ours

Today on Far Future Horizons we proudly present the third and final episode of Man vs. The Universe, titled “Mars Is Ours”.

Man vs. The Universe ~ How To Kill An Asteroid

Today on Far Future Horizons we proudly present the second episode of a new three-part series that will shed light on humanity's ever-expanding place in the universe – Man vs. The Universe, titled “How To Kill An Asteroid”.

Man vs. The Universe ~ Mining the Moon

Today on Far Future Horizons we proudly present a new three-part series that will shed light on humanity's ever-expanding place in the universe – Man vs. The Universe.

The Science Channel's new special "Man vs. the Universe"  covers everything from a private race to the moon to how scientists are trying to protect the planet from the threat of dangerous asteroids. The miniseries  explores the new era of commercial and national space exploration..

The first installment of this brand new series looks at efforts underway to develop the technologies that will allow humanity to mine the Moon.

L5 First City in Space

Today on Far Future Horizons we would like to present a very hopeful vision of the human future rooted in the work of space visionary Gerard K. O'Neill and outlined in his groundbreaking book “The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space”. 

Islands in Space: The Challenge of the Planetoids, the Pioneering Work of Dandridge M. Cole

Cut Away View of an Asteroid Hollowed Out and Transformed into a Space Colony

©RoyScarfo

This essay was originally posted on the Discovery Enterprise blog site on August 8, 2007 and blog site of the National Space Society on August 13, 2009. 

This essay was cited in the article "Remembering Dandridge Cole" by Paul Gilster on May 14^th , 2012 in Centauri Dreams.

NASA is again considering the feasibility of manned missions to the asteroids. However, this idea is not without precedent. Scientists began seriously considering asteroids as targets of exploration in the 1960s. The leading proponent of such missions was American aerospace engineer and futurist - Dandridge MacFarland Cole.

October 30th, 2005 marked the 40th anniversary of his untimely passing. Dandridge Cole was only 44 years old when he suffered a fatal heart attack. The anniversary of his death seems to have largely escaped the notice and attention of the space community at large. This brief article seeks to redress that awful oversight.

Hyperspace – To Boldly Go

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the final episode of the highly acclaimed six part BBC documentary series Space (Hyperspace in the United States) hosted and narrated by veteran actor Sam Neill.

Hyperspace – New Worlds

Today on Far Future Horizons we present the fifth episode of the highly acclaimed, six part BBC documentary series, Space (Hyperspace in the United States) hosted and narrated by veteran actor Sam Neill.

The Sun, brilliant, powerful and the giver of life, will one day become our enemy. If we are to survive we will have to leave the Earth.
 

We will need to seek out new homes and amazing new places to live and change other worlds to recreate the Earth we left behind. In the far future our Sun will become a monster. It will burn all life from our planet and destroy entire worlds and finally our Sun will even destroy itself. It’s going to happen. One day our Sun will die and when it does we will go with it. It’s time to think about the future. 

Living on the Moon

"If God wanted man to become a spacefaring species, He would have given man a moon." ~ Krafft Ehricke

Today on Far Future Horizons we present a fascinating episode from the National Geographic Channel’s documentary series “Naked Science”.

In this installment of “Naked Science” we look at the exciting possibility of using our celestial neighbour, the Moon, as a stepping stone that will allow humanity to colonise the solar system and beyond.

Exodus Earth ~ Venus

Venus is a hellish planet and within our solar system the world that is most reminiscent of Dante’s vision of Inferno. Today on Far Future Horizons, we join physicist Dr. Basil Singer and explore the possibility of colonizing Venus.

Venus is perhaps the most difficult planet in the solar system that we could possibly colonize. Yet, the colonization of Venus has been a subject of much speculation and many works of science fiction since before the dawn of spaceflight, and is still much discussed. Are floating cloud cities hovering over Venus’ hellish surface in our future?

Libra: The 21st Century Space Colony

Today on Far Future Horizons we present one of the first television motion pictures to depict life in a Space Colony as envisioned by the Gerard K. O'Neill - Libra: The 21st Century Space Colony.

The first motion picture to actually present life aboard an orbital space settlement was Earth II, a pilot film, which first aired on November 28, 1971. Unfortunately, the pilot was never fully developed for television.

Libra is a film which depicts a very hopeful vision of the human future which is deeply rooted in the work of space visionary Gerard K. O'Neill and outlined in his ground breaking book “The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space”.

Exodus Earth ~ Titan

Today on Far Future Horizons we begin a brand new series of exciting documentaries titled “Exodus Earth” *also known as "Space Pioneer"  hosted by British physicist Dr. Basil Singer. In this series Dr. Singer explores one very important question - does humanity have a future in the Cosmos beyond its planetary home the Earth? Our first destination is Saturn's moon Titan.

Saturn Rise Over Titan's Surface

In Exodus Earth, the six-part series, we investigate if humans could possibly call Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn's moon Titan, Jupiter's moon Callisto and the exosolar planet Gliese 581c home in the future.