Commercial Space Travel is going real time

[newburydave]

Fellow Anomaliens;

It looks like commercial space travel is going real time, soon. Randy's book "Oxygen" might actually become germaine again, though in a corporate inftastructure instead of the NASA world (the corps are already talking about commercially mounted exploration of Mars).

No, this isn't science fiction (or one of my usual flights of fancy), read the account of it on Cnet:

news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-57413803-76/manned-space-travel-from-gagarin-to-spacex/

This could be a major game changer for we Space Opera writers (you fantasy guys and gals can relax, I don't see any plans in the works to take Elves, Dragons and Magic real time in the forseeable future).

What think you?

How might this change our acceptable Hard Science Fiction workspace?

Bear His Flame; Be the Light!

SGD
dave

[metalikhan]

I don't see it as changing the game -- rather, it'll expand the game. Hard SF and Space Operas have always weighted more heavily toward governmental and military milieus, but every so often a commercial setting shows up. One that comes to mind is McCaffrey's Heptite Guild from the Crystal Singer trilogy.

IMO, the stumbling block about using commercial backdrops is two-fold. One is that we assume only governments and military structures will have the funding and clout to support and protect such expensive endeavors, not to mention weapons that make a story more desperate, more exciting.

But the other is the challenge of motives. Corporations undertake commercial space projects for potential returns on their investments. For the money. For a great amount of money. Whatever else may happen in the story, the bottom line is the bottom line.

So motives of exploration, colonization, conquest, defense, etc -- these are secondary to $$$.

I think Christian SFF writers might find this motivation difficult to work with. At some level, we'll see this in terms of everything scripture teaches us about the love of money, amassing treasures for this mortal life rather than our heavenly destination, and, at the heart of it, idolatry.

Would a Christian writer be able to write about a commercial space endeavor without vilifying the corporation(s)? Would it always wind up the renegade hero against the company? Noble savage versus corporate villain (which, all the wonderful special effects aside, was the core of Avatar).

Challenges ahead!

[newburydave]

Weeeell, ...my current Novel project, "Zander Brythwaite, Religious Courter Terrorism Agent" delves into that topic.

In his world there are good corporate entities, bad corporate entities and downright evil corporate entities. I'm guessing that even with a transition to realms beyond the confines of Earth the dynamics of business and human nature won't change too much. Witness the fact that we're still fighting over the same things the Romans fought over, albiet with guns, missles and nuclear bombs instead of Swords and Balistae (er, catapults). There are still good guys, bad guys and purley evil guys.

IMHO the Gospel and God's intervention makes the difference.

This is the first book in a series that I'm tentatively going to title the "Interstellar Criminal Court Saga" (but don't hold me to that).

The series title might give away that there is a legal presence that exerts itself as a Pan-National, Extra-Terran (ExT) Court and Police presence among the ExT human space colonies. It's a bit of a police, legal procedural... well, on sterioids actually...with healthy doses of romance (married and babies kind) thrown in... Oh and with cool starships too .
(Er... cross genre maybe; probably have to Indie-pub this one).

I'm thinking that this new development may obsolete some of my near future projections about technology and spaceflight, so I'd better get the book finished. ;D

Bear His Flame; Be the Light!
Write on Beloved Sibs

SGD
dave