Spiritual Underpinnings for a Space Program

Speaker 1

So with that, I’d like to introduce the next speaker, William Pickett. Move it to the right page here. Is a senior hardware engineer and range master at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Mesa Antenna Range. He has worked for JPL as an employee and contractor for the past 40 years. Prior to JPL, Bill worked for North American Aviation Rockwell on the Apollo program. Other work experience includes Autonetics, Hughes Ground Systems Group, IBM GE, Martin Marietta, and Lockheed Martin. He attended Fullerton College and California State College and Fullerton’s E. Electrical engineering program. He is a member of the Antenna Measurement Techniques Association and an active member of his ward and stake in Pasadena. Bill is a California and Los Angeles County native and enjoys genealogy and live steam locomotives. He retired once and looks forward to retiring again. So today Bill is going to present a paper Upon which I’m also a co-author on this one, and the paper represents a perspective that, in addition to the benefits in science and education, A healthy space program may also have significance from a theological point of view, and in fact may be the result of divine inspiration. So, without further ado, then I’ll let Bill go ahead and take over. We need to set his computer up real quick.

William Pickett

One of the other things I’d like to do since I’m the last speaker is I’d personally like to thank the Claremont School of Religion and the LDS Council on Mormon Studies for hosting this conference. This is kind of a unique experience. One of the things I have to do is as a JPL NASA employee, I need to give a disclaimer that None of these views are theirs. If they want views on this subject, they can get their own.

William Pickett

First of all, what I’d like to do would be to take a look at the secular reasons for a space program. See them go the right way here? Yeah. NASA, turns out, is the only government agency that produces physical products that end up in the public domain. NASA is the only governmental agency that makes money for the government through the creation of jobs, business and developed products. So what kind of products are we talking about? Well, it turns out there’s about 1,800 of them that have been showcased in an annual publication by NASA called Spin Off since 1972. This happens to be for two thousand six. So there’s quite a lot.

William Pickett

So there you are, sitting in front of your high-def flat screen TV. Watching it over Fios in your easy lift chair while you’re texting your BFF and you’re waiting for the microwave to beep that your popcorn’s done and wondering what has the space program ever done for you? Well, everything I’ve just said, as you can imagine, is a space spin-off. Everything, all of it. NASA has a definition of a spinoff as a technology that has been commercialized through NASA funding, research, licensing, facilities, or assistance. And we’re kind of limited in time, so I’d like to look at a few of the other spinoffs. It’s more than just tangs, satellites, computers, LEDs, and space blankets.

William Pickett

One of them is possibly monitoring volcanoes in Russia or wildfires in California. The remote sensing technology that has been developed has improved agricultural production in the Midwest and elsewhere in the world. Similar technology is now being used for resource management and disaster analysis. Other spin-offs are the first digital maps of the entire world. You’ll also note up there, I don’t think you can read it, it’s the Ocean studies that basically tell us more about the ocean than we ever knew before. And there’s a lot of dynamics there that they’re still trying to figure out what’s happening. Also, the monitoring of the ozone hole and trying to figure out what that means, and other climate studies.

William Pickett

Much of the technology that led to smaller computers like the ones we’re using here were derived from NASA’s need to save weight on space missions. Consideration of possible habitats conducive to life elsewhere in the solar system and the universe has led to the discovery of life in extreme terrestrial environments.

William Pickett

And I’d like to take a moment to talk a little bit about the spacecraft that was alluded to this morning. That was launched last night just prior to this meeting, Kepler. Kepler is the world’s first mission with the ability to find true Earth analogues. By the end of Kepler’s three and a half to six year mission, it will give us a good idea of how common or how rare Earths are in our Milky Way galaxy. For you techno people out there, it also has the largest camera ever launched at 95 million pixels. I had a little more room before. So let’s see. We don’t want him yet.

William Pickett

It’s been conservatively estimated by U. S. space and financial experts that for every dollar the U. S. spends on R and D in the space program, it receives back seven in the form of new corporate and personal income taxes from increased jobs and economic growth. I was going to mention, but I don’t see him here for the CPA that was here, that that’s an ROI of seven to one, but he’s not here. Thousands more jobs are created by the companies applying NASA technology in non-space related areas that affect us daily. So space technology benefits everyone.

William Pickett

Some years ago, we did an experiment up there at work. Beaming microwave energy to a flying electric airplane to keep it flying. And that was used to charge its batteries. In 2008, another test was run, beaming microwave power in Hawaii, proving the feasibility of wireless power transmission.

William Pickett

There’s a science fiction story written by Robert Heinlein called The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. He’s one of my favorites that foresees a future scenario where lunar colonies specialize in mining and hydroponic gardening, and then export products back to the earth via a catapult or a mass driver. Their energy came from solar panel collectors on the surface. Now, while we don’t yet know The quantity of usable minerals that are on the moon, we do know that there is powdered iron, aluminum, and titanium. But not in quantities that are found on the asteroids.

William Pickett

We already know that mining A one kilometer diameter asteroid could yield about one and a quarter trillion dollars In iron, magnesium, nickel, aluminum, cobalt, titanium, and platinum. And these can all be used In space-based manufacturing. And we do know there’s plenty of asteroids out there.

William Pickett

Another reason to develop space is for the Earth’s protection. Many scientists believe that 65 million years ago, an asteroid several kilometers wide hit the Earth in Mexico and caused an extinction level event, or ELE. An ELE is one where environmental conditions become so inhospitable to some species that they die off. This may have been the one that wiped out the dinosaurs. Though that meteor is controversial, the fact that asteroids and meteors Regularly pass nearby and even impact the earth in surprising regularity is well known. The possibility of an ELE is alarming. The Near Earth Object Program, or NEOP, is surveying near-Earth objects and recommending to world leaders. ways in which we can deflect or destroy dangerous earth crossing asteroids. Though no known impacts are imminent, several close calls like the one this past Monday morning And future Earth impacts have been identified. It will be immensely worth our effort to develop space technologies and to find ways to live and work in space. not only via robotic tools, but also via direct human presence. The other note is the Shoemaker-Levy Jupiter impact may be a warning that we can’t afford to ignore.

William Pickett

Now, moving on to spiritual thoughts and insights, we think that a stronger argument for engaging In space RD for members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should, in fact, be a spiritual perspective. In our experience working at NASA, both Scott and I have witnessed engineers and scientists achieve what might normally have been considered impossible. We think the reason for this is simple: that the time has come to further our knowledge of the Lord’s creations. To further the work of the salvation and exaltation of the entire human race, both individually and collectively.

William Pickett

Brigham Young once said in 1870, The construction of the electric telegraph and the method of using it enabling people to send messages from one end of the earth to the other is just as much a revelation from God as any ever given. The same The same is true with regard to making machinery. Or anything else. It makes no difference. These things have existed from all eternity and will continue to exist to all eternity, and the Lord has revealed them to His children.

William Pickett

Russell M. Nelson explained in 1988, quote, God is inspiring the minds of Great people to create inventions that further the work of the Lord in ways this world has never known.

William Pickett

Another quotation, Joseph Fielding Smith said in 1926, what I believe is possibly the crux of this conference, it’s my view. Quote: I maintain that had there been no restoration of the gospel, no organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, There would have been no radio, there would have been no airplane, there would not have been the wonderful discoveries in medicine, chemistry, electricity, and many other things wherein the world has benefited by such discoveries. Under such conditions these blessings would have been withheld, for they belong to the dispensation of the fulness of times of which the restoration of the Gospel And the organization of the Church constitute the central point from which radiates the Spirit of the Lord throughout the world. The inspiration of the Lord has gone out, takes hold of the minds of men. Though they know it not, they are directed by the Lord, and in this manner. Brings them into his service that his purposes and his righteousness in due time may be supreme on the earth. I do not believe for one moment that these discoveries have come by chance or that they have come because of superior intelligence possessed by men today over those who lived in ages that are past. They have come and are coming because the time is ripe, because the Lord has willed it, and because He has poured out His Spirit on all flesh.

William Pickett

We believe that the great outpouring of inspiration in regards to the space technology and development Is for an as yet unspecified role in building up of the kingdom of God. It is the imagination that has to motivate the research. These things were once relegated to the realm of science fiction and are now becoming reality. We also find inspiration for advanced technologies in the scriptures.

William Pickett

For instance, when we think of Joseph Smith’s first vision His description of the arrival of Mormon in his bedroom and on the hill Kimorah in a tube of light. We can speculate that the Lord has available to him a mode of transportation between two distant points That allows almost instantaneous travel as if the speed of light is no limitation. Science fiction uses similar contrivances, such as wormholes And personal transport systems, and the Lord has poured out these concepts for the purpose of sparking ideas in later generations. Joseph’s description gives proof that such modes of transportation are possible and may be worth pursuing as a technology. Already, the concept of transversible wormholes allowing for passage between two points in the universe without violating the speed of light is being discussed in a scholarly way. Kip Thorne and others have shown mathematically that transversible wormholes may in fact be possible. The Holy Spirit sparks change in the way this knowledge is viewed in order to cause things to be invented and developed at the time that they are needed to further the work of the Lord.

William Pickett

Joseph Fielding Smith wrote in 1858: The great universe of stars has multiplied beyond the comprehension of man. Evidently, each of these great systems is governed by divine law, for it would be unreasonable to assume That each was not so governed. This suggests that father’s skills for organizing and creating may have begun in a similar engineered environment that we experience, and that should we persist in disciplining ourselves in the proper use Of creative powers and organizing skills, we may also eventually achieve godhood.

William Pickett

As children of God, we are expected to shoulder the work of the Lord. We understand that the Lord’s work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Neil A. Maxwell wrote, We do not know how many inhabited worlds there are. Or where they are, but certainly we are not alone.

William Pickett

In conclusion, we suspect that Heavenly Father, as an advanced engineer interested in propagating his civilization, may be pouring out his Spirit On all who will listen, for the purpose of establishing a foundation to prepare us with the necessary tools and technologies. That will eventually lead to the creation and colonization of other worlds. We believe the LDS community and indeed all of humanity should consider this possibility in all seriousness. Also, the weight of public opinion on matters relating to space exploration may be influenced by those at this conference to our blessing or our condemnation. Thank you for your kind attention.