Watching the film "2001 : A Space Odyssey", I marvel at the incredible and unattainable expectation of humanity in the late 1960s. When the film was made, we had nothing but the most primitive of space craft and had yet to even reach the moon, and yet it depicts vast space stations and space ships of huge complexity a mere 30 years in its future. Now, well beyond that imagined future, we know better - it would have been better to name the film, and the book, with a date much further into the future; I would suggest, at the vey least, 2501, though even further may be advisable.
Scientific advancement tends to go in fits and starts; rapid advance is followed by a period of review, reflection and retrenchment. New ideas and achievements are assessed and the next steps considered; we are currently in the middle of a phase of retrenchment as far as space exploration is concerned. Rather disappointingly, our progress since the heady days of the 1960's ' space race' has been nothing like what was expected; in fact, it's been extremely limited.
Yes, we have a permanent space station in orbit around the Earth but it's scarcely on the scale of that portrayed in the film. Regular travel from the Earth to a space station and on to the Moon remains a dream although the film suggests that it's almost a daily occurrence. The film depicts a ship of huge dimensions manned by an active crew of 2 and a psychotic computer, all of which seems vastly removed from any realistic attainment for a very long time indeed.
We rightly applaud, and are astounded by, pictures sent from space craft which have journeyed out beyond the most distant planet in our solar system; to actually be able to see pictures of Pluto, and even the tiny and strange planetoid Ultima Thule, is incredible but it doesn't even scratch the surface of interstellar travel. More than 40 years after their launch, the Voyager spacecraft have reached the edge of our solar system and are now into the void between the stars, but it will be centuries, in fact millennia, before they actually reach even the closest stars.
The truth is that we have reached a point at which we must either discover a new means of propulsion, a way to avoid having to travel in straight lines through normal space, or accept that travel beyond our solar system is effectively impossible. As well as issues about speed and time, questions of survivability in deep space have arisen; even if man can manage to travel beyond our Moon, will he be able to withstand the dangers presented by cosmic debris and radiation ? Will he be able to survive the long period of separation from his native world, to exist on processed food for many months, to maintain adequate physical health ? Will he be able to re-adapt to life on Earth on his return ? So many questions, so few answers.
Science fiction writers have circumvented all of these difficulties by 'inventing' concepts such as 'hyperspace', 'warp drive' and 'inertial damping' while completely ignoring many of the practicalities of day-to-day living while in space. "2001 : A Space Odyssey" did, at least, show astronauts having to maintain their fitness, while the space craft had artificially induced gravity; some of the human cargo was in a deep hibernation, a perennial idea for long space journeys but also fraught with problems.
Fifty years after the release of the film, we have yet to send a human being beyond our Moon, indeed, we haven't even ventured that far since Apollo 17 blasted off in December 1972. No 'Moon base', no settlements on Mars and no space ships flitting around the galaxy. The simple fact is that unless we can turn 'warp drive' or 'hyperspace' into realities, we are likely to be stuck here on Earth for ever with no way of having any meaningful contact with life elsewhere.
So, come on you budding Einsteins, find me a 'worm hole' to Sirius, Rigel, Arcturus or, even just to Alpha Centauri. Without something of the sort, there'll be no "Space Odyssey", whatever year is ascribed to it.
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