American Museum of Natural History heads for the heavens with its new exhibition

From Silive.com: American Museum of Natural History heads for the heavens with its new exhibition
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — How many museums let you play God?

The option arises more than once at the American Museum of Natural History’s new show, “Beyond Planet Earth: The Future of Space Exploration.”

The best might be the “Mars Terraforming Table,” a play station that starts as a wide touchscreen depicting a Martian panorama, dry, red and barren. The vista changes depending on the instructions. The idea is to “terraform” inhospitable Mars, tweak it until it becomes earth-like, a big job but apparently doable.

Mars has no atmosphere, no cloud cover, precipitation or ground water, no rivers or oceans, fauna or flora. One of the earthifying strategies involves establishing mines, factories and industries that would spew greenhouse gases: carbon and other organic goodies. Mars needs exactly what earth doesn’t.

Exercising this option, along with introducing genetically altered species, gradually remakes the grim red planet. In the final screen, a boy and his dad are hiking the terraformed Martian wilderness, now green and Earth-like

They aren’t wearing space suits (although they are carrying oxygen tanks). Apparently, even the new Mars won’t have quite enough oxygen. One more thing: This transformation will take just 100 years.

“Beyond Planet Earth,” which seems very kid- and family-friendly, is part history and part vision quest. The former is necessary, of course, but the latter is exciting.

The first sections track the USSR’s early space feats, in photographs, text and to-scale models. The Soviets sent the first man into space 50 years ago, in 1961, and they were way ahead of us for years.

Only a few years earlier, some observers didn’t think space presented much of a challenge. The cover story in a 1952 Collier’s magazine bragged: “Man Will Conquer Space Soon.” Today, there’s a more realistic sense of the hurdles involved and no one talks about “conquering” space.

By 1969, the American space program had more than caught up. It’s still pretty thrilling to hear moonwalker Neil Armstrong saying “That’s one small step for man and one giant leap for mankind.” Notice: He didn’t declare a partisan or American victory, he claimed the moment for all.

ASTEROID: SMASHEROID

No extraterrestrial voyages have been as exciting as the moon walk, and yet, progress has been made. The data produced by the shuttle and international space station will prove useful sooner rather than later.

This past spring, President Obama alluded to an expedition to an asteroid, a useful trip. Big rocks have beaned the Earth in the past; the more we learn about them the better.

An asteroid slammed into the Yucatan 65 million years ago, launching an ice age and ending the era of the dinosaurs. It needn’t happen again: An interactive station allows participants to disable/deflect an asteroid on a collision course with us.

Just think: By contemporary calculations, there is a 1 in 4,700 chance that a 450 ft. asteroid will smack Mother Earth on Feb. 5 2052. How worried should we be? The exhibit lets us decide for ourselves.

Much of “Beyond Planet Earth” is concerned with more realistic possibilities. One gallery is wholly devoted to a lunar base that might well be set up someday soon near the Shackleton Crater at the south pole of the Moon. Why there? There’s abundant sunlight for solar power, for one thing.

Bottle-shaped habitations — there’s a detailed model — would be made out fabric, designed to withstand pelting by micro-meteorites, which are pretty relentless on the moon by all accounts.

Carrying water to the moon colony would be a nearly insurmountable hurdle. Fortunately recoverable water is trapped on the surface.

So far, despite the claims of science fiction and the UFO faithful, there is no sign of intelligent life on any heavenly bodies. Signs of any kind of life, intelligent or otherwise, have been elusive. But Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, may have a liquid, salty ocean sloshing around under its frozen skin.

To find out, a Mission Europa probe would arrive equipped with a submersible robotic device that could melt the ice and then sink into the undersea, looking for living things.

“Beyond Planet Earth,” an enthusiastic endorsement of interstellar manifest destiny, acknowledges the enormity of such an undertaking without getting entangled in impediments.

Beyond Planet Earth:

The Future of Space Exploration”

Where

American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street; 212-769-5606

When

Daily, 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m.; through Aug. 12.

How much

Suggested donations: $16, general; $12, students/seniors; $9 for children.

More information

www.AMNH.org