To infinity and beyond: The importance of space exploration
Mounting Earth issues should spur space travel
Illustration by Hannah Swann
Colin Hannifin
Columnist
We sent a man to the moon over four decades ago. That’s longer than many of us have been alive. Yet what has become of all those calculations, breakthroughs and the rocket science that got us there?
They have been forgotten.
It’s all locked away on age-old computers, and most of the notes and records went home with the engineers. If we wanted to go to the moon today, we’d have to recreate everything.
That, to me, is shocking, as are most things about our space program. We’re relying on Russian rockets to carry us back and forth to the International Space Station, having discontinued our own shuttle program. It will be years before NASA can send another individual up in space. It seems that we’ve forgotten just how important space exploration is, both to the world as a whole, the United States, and even Virginia. It’s something that deserves a lot more of our time, our attention and our funds.
As I’ve written about before, we are perhaps just a few decades away from reaching critical mass here on earth, when we have many more humans than we have available resources. Space is one of our few safety valves.
I’m not suggesting that we’ll abandon the planet and just live in space, a la the movie “Wall-E,” but living off our planet is not only conceivable, it may one day be necessary. It seems far-fetched, and that’s because it is right now. Currently, we are in no shape as a species to consider space the next step, but one day we may have to.
The study of space and its exploration is huge for the United States as well. Back in the 1960s, the Space Race captured the hearts and minds of adults and children all throughout the nation. We were hooked. Despite our study of it, we still know so little about space, and everything we learn leads to thousands of more questions. It still has that ability to capture the hearts and minds, to make us think, to make us challenge what we thought we once knew.
Yet the amount of money NASA receives is shrinking.
Money has been diverted to try to help the economy, among other programs. While Newt Gingrich’s plan for a moon colony may be a little off-kilter, the idea of a moon base is not. Past presidents have thrown out the idea, and it’s gotten positive reception. But never enough for actual money to be put there.
It’s also hugely important to us as Virginians. Though few people may know it, we are home to one of the few alternatives to the famous Florida launch pads. Out on the Eastern Shore, on Wallops Island, is MARS, the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport. This is a launch pad capable of sending governmental, commercial and scientific rockets into space. If we can attract high technology and blossoming commercial space companies to Virginia, jobs, revenue and recognition are bound to follow.
The importance of space, however, is much more than practical, it’s also philosophical. Somewhere out there, light is just reaching us from the Big Bang – we’ve already glimpsed back billions of years by training our telescopes to the oldest regions of space.This allows us to see the history of the universe and existence and start to answer some of that old, mind-bending question: Why? Why do we exist? Why does the universe exist?
Moreover, for the first time in history, we’re quickly finding whole other worlds that may support life. Sure, we find exoplanets that are either a giant diamond or essentially a massive sponge, and the search for extra-terrestrial life doesn’t seem so fruitful.
But every day, we’re finding smaller and smaller planets, better suited to hold life that may not be so different from our own. We’re even finding out that we may not be alone in this solar system, as Mars shows signs of having once had life. Could life still be underneath the Martian surface? The idea that we’re alone in this universe is starting to seem like a silly notion.
Space exploration is incredibly important. Space can help us find the answers to the questions we didn’t even know we had. It helps raise national esteem and pride and holds great commercial ventures for those willing to try – any scarce resource on earth is abundant somewhere in space.
I would contend that the study of space is one of the most important undertakings we can consider.
Yet, it’s been pushed off the table, and we’re just left to wonder why.
I was actually (vaguely) talking about this with my parents a few weeks ago. I was commenting on how terrible the yutes today are. I made a comment to my father that I didn’t grow up with the internet and he almost spit out his food. Of course, I grew up with physical internet. But it paled in comparison to what kids (10-15 year olds) are currently living with today. We had 14.4, 28.8, and 56k to start. We had AOL and cell phones with visible antennas and chatrooms and Starbucks wasn’t across from Starbucks and scripted tv and floppy disks and zip disks and you had to go make a sandwich, take the dog for a walk, smoke a cigarette, and make another sandwich while your porn downloaded. They’ve got smart phones and broadband and webcams and facebook and tablet pcs and celebrities that are famous for being famous and terabytes and thumb drives and porn that downloads instantly.
But they DON’T have the coolest heroes ever. When I was a wee lad, the astronauts were the coolest men and women (often not) on the planet. I thought space exploration was so cool that my parents sent me to space camp 3 years in a row.
Those heroes are gone now. But I believe one of, if not all, of the Mars Rovers have twitter accounts.
PS: Shouldn’t we also be exploring the hell out of the deepest parts of our planet. That’s why I always thought the show SeaQuest was so amazing. Even in the canon of Star Trek, we knew very little about our oceans.
Hats, I again agree whole heartedly. Speaking first to the notion of exploring the ocean, I have to agree. It’s so important not only to understand the deepest parts of their ocean for it’s own sake, but also for the sake of space exploration. Those worlds are alien worlds unto themselves, and we’ve experienced plants and animals subsisting without those elements that we thought were necessary for life. We used to believe that all life must somehow rely on the sun for energy, yet there are creatures living deeper than the sun could ever penetrate, subsisting on the nutrients from vents and underwater lakes. It’s exceptional.
The nation and various states are pressing the importance of students studying and then working in science and technology fields. They fear we’re losing our edge to other nations–and it seems that we are. Yes, the teachers are extremely important, but so are the heroes. Instill those heroes like they once were, especially the astronauts, and I think that you’ll find more students leaning towards science and technology not because their teachers impressed them so, but because they were shown at an early age what they could do if they pursue those careers. Most won’t end up in space, but they’ll end up in related fields, and they’ll still love it.
But there’s also the commercialization of space to contend with. Within a decade (and maybe within the next few years), the Richard Bransons will be orbiting the earth more commonly than government-sponsored astronauts. There’s this whole burgeoning field of space exploration and commercialization. If we can capture the minds and imaginations of students once again (and, I mean, look at those stars; it’s amazing), we’ll have the minds and bodies to fuel that burgeoning field.