Arthur C. Clarke: “I’m rather proud of the fact that I know several astronauts who became astronauts through reading my books.”

Credit: Astrobiology

Clarke believed that humans would one day build colonies on the Moon and Mars.

Credit: NASA

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Mars and the Jovian moons

Arthur C. Clarke’s fiction envisaged a future for humans on Mars. Clarke’s astrobiology dreams in the realms of the outer planets drew attention to the many satellites, “some considerably larger than our Moon.” Titan he found most intriguing, on account of its atmosphere. He felt the exploration of these worlds would take many centuries.

By 1952 Arthur Clarke had been the Chairman of the British Interplanetary Society for three years. That same year his The Exploration of Space brought the possibilities of the space age to worldwide audience. He gave vivid non-technical descriptions on how spaceships would refuel outside the atmosphere. There would be a large space station in a permanent, stable orbit, to provide a platform and laboratory space for scientific research. Vast new fields of endeavour would open up such as zero-gravity experiments and the manufacture of electronic gadgets in the vacuum conditions of space. Furthermore, Clarke correctly foresaw the advantages of the space telescopes that would conduct deep surveys of the whole of the sky.

Clarke envisaged that by 2050, the Moon would have enormous bases that would be indistinguishable from those dreamed up by science fiction writers such as himself.

In the outer solar system he continued to regard the natural satellites of the giant planets as suitable for landings, even daring to suggest that these would be achieved in the 21st century. So far only Titan has that distinction. Clarke correctly predicted that Titan would become the most important target among the moons of Saturn because of its thick hydrocarbon atmosphere. Eventually, he felt, there would be self-supporting enclosed colonies, but that took his speculations into the realm of fiction.

The practical realisation of space exploration and the search for life in the solar system required an enthusiastic public that supported their taxes being used to fund space research. In the U.S. and Britain in the 1950s to 1960s, three people were outstanding ambassadors for space: Carl Sagan, Patrick Moore, and Arthur C. Clarke.

Within this trio Clarke’s strength stemmed from his technical background in engineering that enabled him to see the potential for space exploration with remarkable clarity and vision. Astrobiology, remote sensing, and human spaceflight owe him a great debt.

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