Future travel with future engines

I think future, or even already present new technologies can bring us far on earth as well as beyond. While space exploration may or may not have a breakthrough in the near future, technology can support cleaner and far quicker transport on Earth.

The electric car is beyond the experiment phase by now. In the Netherlands, where I live, it has became standard to have chargers at designated parking spaces at every second corner. However, this technology has not yet solved the issues related to long-distance travel.

In Europe, many countries are buliding fast train networks, at crossing the English Channel at 300+ km/h is truly amazing. The bullet trains in China take you from one place to the other at incredible speed. However, this technology is dependent on rails.

I belive that there will soon be technologies available for fast, clean and independent travel. This, at the same time, can raise some concerns. I just want to mention two. One is the easier to solve: how to ensure that people living in countries built solely on oil will continue to thrive even if oil will become unnecessary for economies. The other is highly topical: how to prevent viruses, bacteria, insects, invasive plant seeds from travelling at lightning speed. This means that there is a need to also develop safety systems to protect people and the environment.

Issues of space travel that might be possible with such technologies will face the same challenges: how to ensure that humans do not pollute other, possibly inhibited planets. On top of that, there are several other challenges, some of them have been solved by Star Trek creators in fiction, and they "only" need to be transformed from science fiction to science fact as Dr. Rayman put it in the course video. A small group of people locked in together for a long time may mean a number of community challenges, while there is an additional challenge in them being away from their families and friends for a very long time. This might be partly solved by a space social network, but with the experience of the past months of global closures, we all know that virtual meetings are a very weak replacement. 

Even if engine technology is available, the question is if we will also have the necessary technology for providing proper food, healthy living conditions, opportunities for recreation and social life, or family life on a space or star ship powered by the new engine.

What happens if they find find life? This question opens a whole new chapter of challenges and dangers, too.   

Picture: Captain insignia courtesy of SmithsonianX