How Civilizations Choose to Fail or Succeed
In his book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed”, Jared Diamond, a geologist, examines a number of ancient societies that have collapsed including, among others, Easter Island, the Mayan culture and the Norse settlements in Greenland. The keyword is: “choose”. The Space Option concept implies that a choice related to space exists for humanity that has do with the success of our civilization. The Space Option Space noun 1. the unlimited or incalculably great three-dimensional realm or expanse in which all material objects are located and all events occur. 2. beyond the atmosphere of the earth. Option noun [...]
Our Window of Opportunity
Our civilization is at its peak – we have the means today to implement The Space Option but not yet the commitment. However, if our species does not soon embrace this unique opportunity with sufficient commitment, it may miss its one and only chance to do so. In July, 2013 the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) hosted the 8th IAA Symposium on The Future of Space Exploration – Towards The Stars in Turin, Italy. In addition to science and technology sessions several sessions were also devoted to the motivational, cultural and ethical aspects of space exploration and development. I made [...]
More Space or More War?
The main point of this article is about the use of space technologies either for peace or for war and how that choice may influence the implementation of The Space Option. Simply stated, humanity must soon make a choice between “more space” or “more war”. At a very early age I became aware of the “cosmic choice” which is inherent in space technology illustrated in this image. A Redstone mobile guided ballistic missile with a nuclear warhead is pictured in the photo on the left. In the right photo we see the lift-off of the Mercury-Redstone carrying the Alan Shepard, [...]
Making Cosmic Choices
If one believes that other technological civilizations have appeared throughout the Cosmos, then one can speculate they must have faced a similar choice that confronts humanity at this particular moment in its history. Did these distant civilizations decide to use their technology and knowledge to extend their civilization beyond their home planet in order to perpetuate their species, or did they misuse their technology and knowledge and let their civilization decline and their future be destroyed? This situation is called the Cosmic Choice – a decision which any technological species must make about its future at a critical point in [...]
The Space Option: An Alternative to War
Arthur R. Woods Here on Earth, human civilization has reached such a point in its development where it has evolved the means to leave its home planet and to begin operating in the environment beyond the atmosphere. Optimistically, this development would enable humanity to utilize this technological capability to harness the infinite resources located off Earth to improve the well-being of the population in the decades and centuries ahead – both on Earth and beyond. On the other hand, this same capability could also be used to exert tyrannical control over much of the population thereby limiting [...]
Space Option Star in ELEO
Developing solar power satellites (SPS) as a major energy source for Earth will involve multiple orbital demonstrators. Satellites in low Earth orbits (LEO) will have far lower costs than demonstrators in geostationary orbit (GEO) or High Elliptical Orbits (HEO), but they have the major disadvantage that they can deliver power to a receiving and rectifying antenna (rectenna) for only a few minutes, and only once every few days. However, Equatorial Low Earth Orbits (ELEO) offers the unique advantage to effectively deliver power to the same rectennas about 10 times every day. The Space Option Star in Equatorial Low [...]
Art to the Stars
An Astronautical Perspective on the Arts and Space Arthur Woods - Latest update: April 2026 Most people are probably not aware that the idea of space exploration began in the mind of the artist or that artists have been intimately involved in space exploration from the beginning. Yet long before the first rocket penetrated the atmosphere, artists were making the concept of humanity traveling beyond Earth’s atmosphere a reality. This has led to a genre of art called Space Art sometimes referred to as AstroArt – two terms which can be used interchangeably when describing art related to artists who are inspired by or depicting [...]
The OURS Projects
Arthur Woods In the 1970’s my art had become inspired by scientific information about the nature of the universe which was reflected in my primary mode of expression, which at this time was mostly painting. In 1975, my wife and I moved to Zurich which exposed me to a thriving contemporary art scene. Four years later we moved to the US and, after a year and a half, we decided that Switzerland was the better choice for our circumstances and we returned to Switzerland in 1980. Signs & Symbols Acrylic on Canvas, 70 x 70 cm Back in Switzerland, my [...]
The Cosmic Dancer Sculpture on the Mir Space Station
On May 22, 1993, a sculpture called the Cosmic Dancer by the Swiss-American artist Arthur Woods was launched to the Russian Mir space station on a Progress rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Cosmic Dancer – a painted geometric form made out of welded aluminum tubing measuring approximately 35 x 35 x 40 centimeters and weighing exactly one kilogram – was the first three-dimensional artwork to be specifically conceived for and officially realized in a space habitat. The purpose of the project was to investigate the properties of sculpture in weightlessness and to evaluate the integration of art into the human [...]
Ars Ad Astra – The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit
The Orbiting Unification Ring Satellite and the OUR-Space Peace Sculpture projects were the beginnings of the OURS Foundation’s “private space program” which began to unfold and develop in other and sometimes parallel directions. Below is the history and details of the spaceflight of the Ars Ad Astra: The 1st Art Exhibition in Earth Orbit that was realized on the Mir space station. Ars Ad Astra: Mir Space Station 1995 Involving other artists in space has always been one of my goals. In my negotiations with the Russian space company NPO Energia in 1990, the idea to organize an art exhibition [...]
In his book “Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed”, Jared Diamond, a geologist, examines a number of ancient societies that have collapsed including, among others, Easter Island, the [...]
Our civilization is at its peak – we have the means today to implement The Space Option but not yet the commitment. However, if our species does not soon embrace [...]
The main point of this article is about the use of space technologies either for peace or for war and how that choice may influence the implementation of The Space [...]
If one believes that other technological civilizations have appeared throughout the Cosmos, then one can speculate they must have faced a similar choice that confronts humanity at this particular moment [...]
Arthur R. Woods Here on Earth, human civilization has reached such a point in its development where it has evolved the means to leave its home planet [...]
Developing solar power satellites (SPS) as a major energy source for Earth will involve multiple orbital demonstrators. Satellites in low Earth orbits (LEO) will have far lower costs [...]
An Astronautical Perspective on the Arts and Space Arthur Woods - Latest update: April 2026 Most people are probably not aware that the idea of space exploration began in the mind [...]
Arthur Woods In the 1970’s my art had become inspired by scientific information about the nature of the universe which was reflected in my primary mode of expression, which at [...]
On May 22, 1993, a sculpture called the Cosmic Dancer by the Swiss-American artist Arthur Woods was launched to the Russian Mir space station on a Progress rocket from the Baikonur [...]
The Orbiting Unification Ring Satellite and the OUR-Space Peace Sculpture projects were the beginnings of the OURS Foundation’s “private space program” which began to unfold and develop in other [...]
