Last week, I had the privilege of providing a colloquium at
The University of Kansas (the other UK, or as they write it, KU) in the Aerospace
Engineering Department. The topic of was
solar sails and how they will not only benefit exploration and science within
the solar system but also, potentially, take us to the stars.
I was there because of the initiative of one young man –
Brooks Pierson. I met him at the Icarus
Interstellar Congress last summer where he invited me to come to KU to talk
about interstellar travel using solar sails.
Brooks single handedly made all the necessary arrangements for my travel
and even had a gift bag containing chocolates and cookies waiting for my wife
and me when we arrived. The day went
like clockwork and included a lecture to a graduate-level aerospace engineering
class, lunch with students, meetings with the Dean and a former NASA astronaut
now on faculty at the university, and concluded with my departmental colloquium.
The response was tremendous.
Unlike when I’ve spoken at some other universities, the room was packed;
no one appeared to be sleeping, and afterward I was mobbed with students asking
thoughtful, intelligent questions. Carol
and I then went to dinner with a select group of students where the discussion
continued until much later in the evening.
It reminded me of being in college – back in the day.
Thank you, Brooks, for your interest and initiative. You will go far.
Upon my return, I received this email:
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Hello, Mr. Johnson.
My name is John Doe (yes, I changed his name – I don’t have
his permission to reprint the letter), and I'm a junior in Aerospace at the
University of Kansas, and an AFROTC cadet. I would just like to thank you for
coming and speaking at the University of Kansas' aerospace colloquium. Your
presentation was honestly the most engaging and interesting one that I've seen
in my 3 years of taking the class. I wanted to say this in person, but you had
a small army of fans in line and I had a meeting shortly after class.
I found your lecture so fascinating because the sole reason
I am in aerospace is to contribute to furthering deep space exploration. As you
highlighted in your lecture, not only would this reap an unfathomable
scientific and exploratory benefit, but the economic and environmental
prosperity would be massive.
…
Thank you very much for your time.
-----------------------------
The passion for space and space exploration is alive and
well at The University of Kansas and, I suspect, at colleges all across the USA
and around the world. The future is in
good hands, indeed.
