The Expanse: An Imagined Future

If you think the future entails bigger brains, SyFy has other ideas. In tonight's new series The Expanse you learn the future depends on precious commodities other than gold, platinum, and helium 3. And inequality has been relocated rather than removed - this time placed on the dwarf planet Ceres.  Yes, in the future the strange lights on Ceres will be mining colonies. As a concept I like the science of the show even if the sociology is depressing. 

Here is the basic story surrounding The Expanse:

Hundreds of years in the future, humans have colonized the solar system. The U.N. controls Earth. Mars is an independent military power. The planets rely on the resources of the Asteroid Belt, where air and water are more precious than gold. For decades, tensions have been rising between these three places. Earth, Mars and the Belt are now on the brink of war. And all it will take is a single spark. 

It is within this future that The Expanse begins. The series follows the case of a missing young woman that brings a hardened detective and a rogue ship’s captain together in a race across the solar system that will expose the greatest conspiracy in human history.

The first episode has been available on the website for some time. I enjoyed the pilot and look forward to more about the situation on Earth since our planet is being run by the United Nations and Mars by the corporations.  You can already see the upcoming democrat/republican dichotomy.  The Red States have moved to the Red Planet with potentially deadly consequences for all. Although it is set hundreds of years into the future, I would not be surprised if the descendents of Trump and Cruz are running around. Talk about terror-forming ideas...

By the way, the three-night miniseries Childhood's End starts tonight on SyFy as well. This series indicates things could get even worse than humanity soiling its own sandbox. If you have not read the book, this trailer gives you a glimpse of what is ahead.

Project Orion Re-Imagined

For three nights this week you can watch SyFy's mini-series Ascension that takes a look at what might have been if Freeman Dyson's earlier Project Orion ever took off. The program started last night (December 15th) and runs until tomorrow night (you can also watch the episodes at the SyFy website).  If it is successful, you may be seeing the start of a new series.  Here is the basic premise:

In 1963, the U.S. government launched a covert space mission sending hundreds of men, women and children on a century-long voyage aboard the starship Ascension to populate a new world. Nearly 50 years into the journey, as they approach the point of no return, a mysterious murder of a young woman causes the ship’s population to question the true nature of their mission.

Yes, the 1950s idea of powering a spacecraft with nuclear bombs was around many years ago and creates a good premise for this science fiction series.  Some estimated that Project Orion could have taken us to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, in as little as 44 years (the SyFy program appears to be using the older calculations estimating a 133 year voyage).  Pretty impressive. We have already gone about that long since the last moon mission in 1972.  And now we need decades just to figure out what to do besides low Earth orbit.