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Last Exit: Space is a new documentary on Discovery+ that explores the possibility of humans colonizing planets beyond Earth. Since it is produced and narrated by Werner Herzog (director of Grizzly Man, guest star on The Mandalorian) and written and directed by his son Rudolph, however, it goes in a different direction than your average space documentary. It's weird, beautiful, skeptical, and even a bit funny.
In light of the film's recent streaming launch, father and son Herzog spoke with Ars Technica from their respective homes about the film's otherworldly hopes, pessimistic conclusions, and that one part about space colonists having to drink their own urine.
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Why Werner Herzog Thinks Human Space Colonization “Will Inevitably Fail”
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Lord, what fools these mortals be!
-- William Shakespeare, "A Midsummer-Night's Dream"
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday March 15 2022, @10:11PM (3 children)
Right - Joe Public indirectly funds NASA. However, NASA is mostly irrelevant to commercial space development, other than as a springboard customer to get things started.
NASA has nothing to do with communication satellites, and precious little to with the new Axiom and Orbital Reef space stations under development. They're one of many partners for the Artemis boondoggle, but show no interest in actually doing any serious development of the moon - that's being embraced by private enterprise as well.
NASA is great for funding research and proof-of-concept technology, but private enterprise has long been the leading force in commercial space development. And I don't see any realistic non-commercial way that we'll ever colonize space. Just like on Earth - if you want to actually get something done in space you've got to figure out a way that rich people can make money from it. And fortunately many people are doing just that.
(Score: 3, Informative) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday March 16 2022, @01:22AM (2 children)
The conspiracy theorist in me vaguely remembers something about grooming the private sector to look like they are doing the development while NASA spoon feeds the private sector what they need to succeed. That same nagging feeling believes that all sorts of tax breaks, incentives, and outright subsidies are quietly flowing to "private space industry" from government tax dollars because that's what it takes to make it happen in today's political climate.
NASA is what it is - there was greatness there, and there's still quite a bit of competence and experience, and a whole boatload of pork - but no worse than any other major industry. What's worse is the public microscope that NASA operates under. I applaud the transparency, but it's an anathema to making actual progress with public money paying the bills.
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(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 16 2022, @05:46PM (1 child)
Who really believes humans are smart enough to develop Velcro and Tang? It's the Roswell crash site spin-offs for sure.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday March 16 2022, @07:28PM
Velcro and Tang, sure. Some of this nanoscale semiconductor Voodoo.... if I hadn't watched the evolutionary development over the past 40 years I'd have a hard time believing it.
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