Everyone who cares about the future of our planet probably accepts the fact that we must transition away from gasoline powered vehicles. Because of TESLA and the focus of mass media, you’re probably assuming the future will be electric vehicles. Don’t be so sure, because many people believe Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicles are a much better option, for both the environment and the consumer. A significant number of car companies are working on HFC vehicles. I could print the list, but I’m not doing such. Please take my word for it, the list is quite long.

I’m going to talk about this choice, and why I hope it will be the Hydrogen Fuel Cell which dominates the future of America, but I must begin with two caveats.

1. Technology changes rapidly, so if something totally unexpected happens in the next few years, that could change the equation big time.
2. I am not an engineer, so don’t rely upon my technical analysis.

Before we start the comparison, we need to explain how a Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle works and why it’s an ecofriendly option. A Hydrogen Fuel Cell vehicle combines hydrogen with oxygen to produce electricity, which powers the electric motor. Here’s the good news. The only byproduct of this process is H2O (water). Both Hydrogen Fuel Cell and Electric Vehicles have comparable or better performance than a gasoline powered car.

Negative Aspects of owning an electric vehicle

• The cost is obviously very high.
• Range is limited to around 250 miles.
• I’m sure this will change over the next several years, but when you must find an electric charging station, that’s a challenge. Imagine being on a long trip and you get stuck in an unexpected traffic backup on the Interstate, while your battery charge is dissipating. That isn’t a very comforting thought, is it?
• Before we get to the big downside to electric vehicles, it’s important that you understand the following. Just like your phone, you can charge the battery rapidly or you can do a slow charge.
• Why would you choose the slow charge over a rapid one?
• Because repeated rapid charging of the battery will make it wear out prematurely. If you always opt for the slow charge, the battery will have a much longer life.
• If you’re on a trip and opt for the rapid charge, it will take around an hour to charge your vehicle. Are you comfortable with that? I didn’t think so.
• If you’re home and doing a slow charge, that could take between 8-12 hours. I don’t know about you, but that’s not an appealing option for me.

Why Choose a Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Over an Electric One

• Let’s acknowledge that the cost is much higher than a gasoline powered engine. Of course that could change if and when these vehicles are mass produced at a significant level.
• One reason to choose this option over an electric vehicle is range. A HFC vehicle has a range of approximately 350 miles, which is about a hundred miles more than an electric vehicle. Please understand, this could change as technology advances in the design of electric batteries.
• But here’s the big one. You can fill up a HFC Vehicle with Hydrogen, just as you do with gasoline. In other words, you can fill the tank in less then 4-5 minutes.
• Of course, you’re probably asking, fill up where? Obviously, America would have to make a concerted effort to build hydrogen fuel stations everywhere, just like gasoline stations.
• Hydrogen is probably the most abundant element on the planet.
• If enough people understand the advantages of Hydrogen, I think this is a very realistic possibility, but there’s a big problem.
• That problem is a chicken and egg issue. No car manufacturer is going to commit to building HFC vehicles in America, until there’s an infrastructure of hydrogen stations. Of course, nobody’s going to build that infrastructure until car manufacturers start building HFC vehicles.

Around 66 million years ago, scientists believe an asteroid, approximately 7-9 miles wide, crashed into earth, just east of Mexico. It was the final blow which made dinosaurs extinct. It just didn’t impact dinosaurs. Most scientists believe around 80% of life on the planet, possibly more, also became extinct, eventually leading to new forms in the evolutionary process. Shhhhhhh, don’t mention the science of evolution to Trump lovers.  That wasn’t the only reason for the dinosaur extinction, but it was the primary one.

Why do we care about the above? Because an asteroid which crashes into the planet earth can do massive damage, possibly even destroying all forms of life.  Scientists estimate an asteroid 55-60 miles wide would destroy every civilization on the planet. Asteroids/Comets are constantly headed in our direction. The last known asteroid which caused serious damage entered Earth’s atmosphere over Chelyabinsk, Russia in 2013. That’s approximately 930 miles east of Moscow. It exploded in the air, releasing 20 to 30 times more energy than that of the first atomic bombs, generating brightness greater than the sun, generating heat, damaging more than 7,000 buildings, and injuring approximately 1,000 people. The shock wave broke windows almost 60 miles away. The asteroid wasn’t detected because it apparently came from the same direction as the sun.

In light of this major threat, NASA will launch a new telescope in 2026, which will be our first line of defense in protecting the planet. The primary mission is to search the solar system for potentially dangerous asteroids or comets headed towards earth. The Near-Earth Object Surveyor space telescope (NEO) was approved by NASA, and is currently in the design phase. The infrared telescope will help scientists find asteroids and comets which come within 30 million miles of the Earth’s orbit. Yes, 30 million miles is considered close enough to pose a danger. There’s no guarantee this telescope will find all dangerous objects headed our way (remember the one which exploded over Russia in 2013), but they hope to have a success rate above 90%.

Unfortunately, finding asteroids or comets headed our way is only part of the equation. The second part is can we change the path of the asteroid or comet. I’m sorry to say, we still don’t know if that’s possible. There are some proposed strategies, but as of today, they are only theories.  NASA will soon conduct some experiments to see if we can find a methodology that can reliably re-direct an asteroid away from our planet.

Please keep in mind, when they find an asteroid headed our way, NASA needs lots of time to prepare a mission to hopefully redirect the asteroid or comet. If they find an asteroid headed our way, scheduled to arrive, in let’s say only 4-6 months, that would not be nearly enough time to prepare a mission. If that happens, we may not be around to worry about climate change.

Planet Earth and The Universe

When I was in elementary school, a school trip to the Hayden Planetarium in Manhattan changed me forever. For the first time in my young life, I realized the planet earth was not the beginning and end of reality. I learned the Earth is part of something called a Solar System, which is part of a vast, mysterious Universe. What’s a Universe? Wow! That experience blew my mind, while totally changing my perspective of reality. To this day, thanks to the Hubble Telescope and NASA, the rapidly evolving state of knowledge reference our Universe has been stone cold fascinating. But it gets even better because our current perception of reality is about to change big time, starting later this year.

Our world is on the cusp of what could be an array of startling discoveries, which will modify, or radically change our perceptions in a very dramatic manner.  Why am I saying that? Because in late 2021, when the James Webb Space Telescope launches, it will hopefully unlock many of the secrets we could only discuss in abstract or theoretical terms. As amazing as the Hubble Telescope has been, it was just the beginning. I can’t wait until the JWST is revealing the secrets of our existence, which started around 13 billion years ago.

If you think like me, you often ask yourself many questions about the earth and how we fit into that universe I first heard about as a 10-year-old boy. Here are some of the questions I asked and couldn’t answer for many years.

• When was the earth formed? [around 4.5 Billion Years Ago]
• Where did it come from?
• How was it formed?
• What is a Solar System?
• How does the earth fit into the solar system?
• What is a Universe? When and how did the universe come into existence?
• What existed before our universe?
• How large is the Universe?
• What is a Galaxy?
• What is our relationship, not only with our solar system, but our galaxy and the Universe?

Thanks to the Hubble Telescope, we have a much better perspective in terms of where and how we fit into our Galaxy and the Universe. The numbers, distances, and speeds are so incredibly huge, they are mind boggling. In my opinion, humans cannot comprehend the numbers in real terms with which we can identify. Yes, we know the number 100 Billion is incredibly large, but we have no real reference point which gives that concrete meaning.  Can you envision seeing 100 Billion stars or planets? I certainly cannot.

Although the Hubble Telescope brought us incredible discoveries, and answered many of my questions above, the James Webb Space Telescope is 100 times more powerful. Can you believe that? Wow! When it launches in late October of 2021, unlike Hubble, it will orbit our planet outside of the earth’s atmosphere. It will also be much further away, (approximately 1 Million miles) from the planet. In addition, it will utilize Infrared Technology. That means scientists will see so much more than we did via the Hubble Telescope. Therefore, many of the numbers, cited below, will probably change.  The telescope will go back in time approximately 13.5 billion years, to see the formation of the first galaxies after the Big Bang created the Universe.

Before we get started, here is a disclaimer. I am not a scientist. I’m just a regular guy who is fascinated by our rapidly growing knowledge of the Universe. I have no idea how scientists manage to accumulate such a vast wealth of information, and that probably helps explain why I’m not a scientist. But I will do my best to simplify the numbers and concepts, so that anyone (just like me) can derive meaning from them. Let’s get started with an array of questions, and hopefully, relatively decent, easy to understand answers to those questions. Occasionally, I will throw in some of my thoughts.

What is the name of the Galaxy we live in? The Milky Way

How big is the Milky Way? It is so large that humans cannot comprehend its actual size. It is about 100,000 light years across.  Does that mean anything to you? Probably not, so let’s try to put that in perspective with the following questions.

How long would it take to travel the entire length of the Milky Way Galaxy? At 17.3 km/s (the speed of a NASA spaceship), it would take that spaceship around 700,000,000 years to traverse the entire length of the Milky Way. Even if it was possible to travel at the speed of light (many scientists don’t believe this is possible), it would take  a hundred thousand years!

Hopefully you realize our sun is actually a star. What is the name of the closest star to earth? Proxima Centauri

How far away is Proxima Centauri from the Planet Earth? 4.2 light years

Why do we care? Because it’s the closest solar system to earth. Once you realize how far away the nearest solar system is, you should realize, that aliens never visited our planet. Yes, I know there’s a theory, which I do not believe, which states that aliens repeatedly visited the earth and somehow impacted human culture. Another theory is aliens can travel at speeds we cannot imagine, so the numbers I posted below are meaningless. Once again, I believe that kind of mystical thinking is part of our Hollywood imagination.

How long would it take for a rocket ship, traveling at the fastest rate possible, using today’s technology, to make the trip to Proxima Centauri? Here’s an approximate number, around 4,600 years. There are so many variables, such as acceleration, deceleration, mass of the spaceship, friction, etc. But most physicists agree, it would take thousands of years for the journey. If it takes so long to travel here from another solar system, ask yourself this question. Why would anyone want to start that journey, knowing they would die in the early stages of the trip, long before they reached their destination? I can’t speak for you, but I know the answer to that question.

What is the largest star in the Milky Way Galaxy? Pistol Star

The largest known star (in terms of mass and brightness) is called the Pistol Star. It is 100 times larger than the Sun, and 10,000,000 brighter!

How many stars are in the Milky Way Galaxy? Between 100 and 400 Billion stars

How many planets are in the Milky Way Galaxy? The Milky Way contains at least 100 billion planets, probably many more. Our galactic neighborhood may be bustling with other worlds, but a new study estimates that only a small percentage, approximately 300 million of those 100 billion planets, may have the right ingredients for life.

As you can see, the size of our Galaxy is so large, humans cannot comprehend it in any meaningful way. In other words, there is no way to reference those incredible numbers with something we could identify with. Please keep in mind, the Milky Way Galaxy, as incredibly large as it is, with over 100 billion planets, only encompasses a tiny fraction of the Universe. Here are numbers which should blow your mind. Scientists estimate there are at least 100 to 200 BILLION GALAXIES in the Universe. Are you kidding? That number could be even larger, and we’ll learn much more after the James Webb Space Telescope is in service.