“The Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in the cradle forever.”
-Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (the father of modern rocketry)
This statement is a simple one, but the implications of it are broad, beneficial, and exciting.
Space exploration does many things for us. It gives us context for our own planet, by allowing us to compare it to others. Not to mention that the technology to explore can also lead to the technology to defend our home planet from an asteroid. As of now, all it takes is one of decent size and we're all dead. We are only on this one planet after all.
There are simple technological reasons for space exploration as well. Some estimates say that for every dollar invested in the Apollo program, more than 20 have been returned. Computer tech, communications, rocketry, and many other fields have benefited hugely from space exploration and that's where that return on investment really comes from.
Then here's possibly the biggest reason. Humans unite under causes, whether its an enemy, and disaster, or a goal. What greater cause can we have as a species than to strive to learn, to explore, to push boundaries, to see what's around the corner. This is in many ways a fundamental need of humanity, and space exploration is a fantastic manifestation of that. The universe is huge, beautiful, mysterious, and, [u]ultimately knowable.[/u] Even if the other reasons were not there, this alone should be enough for us pursue our exploration.
We are still in our cradle, and just beginning to look outside of our safe little bubble.
Thoughts?
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Space exploration will be led by corporations because, unfortunately, "knowledge" isn't as pressing as other, more uniting causes, like war. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily. Money has driven many great benefits. Knowledge will inevitably follow.
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1 답변We should explore other planets, but I don't think the universe is ultimately knowable. It is so large. Like REALLY large. And interstellar travel and communication would be very difficult. The speed of light is kind of the universal speed limit for things. Even if we were able to build a spacecraft that could go the speed of light, a big if, it would still take YEARS to get anywhere habitable outside our solar system. And it would be difficult to communicate with other settlements because even to communicate with mars it takes minutes to to send a message and receive a response.
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1 답변작성자: wolfBTM 10/16/2015 10:17:42 PMThank you for consistently posting intellectual topics that are interesting and beneficial.
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1 답변Folks that say space travel is a waste of money are completely wrong. Outside of the military, space exploration is the single largest source of technology and scientific progress, and I absolutely believe that exploration needs to continue and advance. We're quite a long way away from any sort of colonization, but in the meantime we'll be able to benefit from a world united in that goal, technological advancements hopefully mitigating the environmental damage that may force colonization, and a general expansion of our knowledge.
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