Rocketree

August 24, 2008

I saw a blurb recently for what must be the ultimate in green living: trees shaped into pretty much whatever floats your boat.

Here’s a bench, newly installed outside a Tel Aviv hospital:

(The side supports are temporary until the trees’ roots set.)

For the home, the company offers fruit baskets, umbrella stands and toilet paper holders. Their scientists even have plans to grow a whole house, though they estimate it'll take about 10 years.

That got me thinking that maybe NASA ought to special order one of these arborsculptures crafted into the shape of a rocket. It’d be fun to see how big it would be in 12 years -- the amount of time the U.S. government needs to get astronauts back on the moon. (The program started four years ago.)

Seems odd, since the first moon landing, which basically started from scratch, took nine years. Now with 50 years of spaceflight under our belts, it’s taking almost twice as long. With progress like that, a rocketree seems an appropriate symbol for 21st-century rocketry.

(Photo, computer image: American Friends of Tel Aviv University.)

Comments

[Arun Srinivasan]

I don't know much about outer space.... But after reading though your blogs................ I believe I'm getting curious............

I have heard of a man who could grow a special grass on a coat that could be worn for a day or 2, with proper watering.

If even this is true........ I believe these varieties of trees and special plants could be used by nasa to setup a perfect ecosystem in outer space......

I dream one day... one of my relatives will be in moon making a long distance call from there saying they need a new rose plant from earth and I can send it to them......

It's only a dream till now........ might be one day It might become indeed possible......

[Eddie]

"Seems odd, since the first moon landing, which basically started from scratch, took nine years. Now with 50 years of spaceflight under our belts, it’s taking almost twice as long."

Nothing odd at all, really. Our plans today are far more ambitious than merely getting there. Then it was a race against time, a matter of pride to beat the Russians to the moon, with fairly limited plans on what we'd do once we got there. Today it involves transporting enough materials to begin establishing a permanent base there and using it as a stepping stone for farther-reaching exploration.

In the process of our initial reach for the moon, more people died during training, tests and a failed launch than ever actually set foot on the moon. We lost 11 during the test phase alone and only 12 ever reached it. That would be viewed as a catastrophic failure if it happened today.

Besides, 2x9=18, but "it's taking 33% longer" doesn't sound very dramatic.