Posted By: Nick
Of the many issues I care deeply about, one stands above all others. I often find it hard to adequately explain my love of Space. I have no special knowledge of astronomy or cosmology or astrophysics. I simply know what little I have read from books by Carl Sagan or news stories about the latest robotic mission to Mars. Still, I am utterly convinced that we must regain our focus on Space. Space Exploration is so vitally important to the future of humanity, yet gets very little attention compared to all of the other political issues.
This is not to say that other issues are not important, they surely are. Our economic situation is a cause for major concern. Our fossil fuel dependence has just begun its destruction of our livelihoods and our planet. Our nation is engaged in two simultaneous wars, while a third looms ominously on the horizon. Our freedoms are under constant assault by an increasingly conservative Supreme Court and a President and Congress that too willingly put “security” before freedom. These things are of great importance to our nation and must be resolved to the best of our abilities.
Even the great spokesman for space exploration, Carl Sagan, understood that we can’t ignore our problems here on Earth. In his book Pale Blue Dot, Sagan wrote:
Our planet is a lonely speck in the great enveloping cosmic dark. In our obscurity, in all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves…. It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceit than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.
Surely we each have our own vision of what a perfect society could be. We have an idea of where humanity is going, and perhaps a general plan of how we might get there. But what good is all this if humanity ceases to exist? I assure you, I am not tilting at windmills here. We face a very real threat of sudden extinction. The Universe is a dangerous place; right now we’re simply playing Russian Roulette and hoping we survive when the trigger is squeezed. Of course if you play Russian Roulette long enough, it’s only a matter of time before the bullet is fired.
That bullet could come in many forms. A nearby supernova would bombard our planet with deadly radiation. A large asteroid or comet could cause incredible devastation; indeed, this very event already once destroyed the dominant species of our planet. One of these events will happen. It is only a matter of time. Perhaps we will be fortunate, and we will have millions of years until one of these civilization-destroying events takes place. But what if we are unlucky? What if the event is only 1,000 years away? Or 100? Should we not be prepared for this eventuality? Our best hope of survival is to spread ourselves out amongst the stars. If such a catastrophe as an asteroid striking our planet and destroying all life on Earth were to occur, humanity would live on.
There are additional benefits beyond preservation of the species, however. What new chemical compounds will we find far away on some unknown planet? Perhaps a cure for some terrible disease; perhaps a new energy source. Maybe we will find life elsewhere. What can life on other planets teach us about our own existence? What can it teach us about our own biology? Surely such a discovery has the potential to revolutionize the way we think about biology, chemistry, and medicine. The possibilities are endless because Space, for all practical purposes, is endless.
The technological innovations required for extensive human space exploration will greatly advance our civilization. What we learn will benefit us here on Earth as well as out amongst the stars.
And we should not forget that other reason that we should reach into space: it is there.
Many years ago the great British explorer George Mallory, who was to die on Mount Everest, was asked why did he want to climb it. He said, “Because it is there.” Well, space is there, and we’re going to climb it, and the moon and the planets are there, and new hopes for knowledge and peace are there.
~President John F. Kennedy, Houston, Texas 1962
Humans have always been drawn towards the unknown. We spread from our humble beginnings in Africa to the far corners of the Earth. Explorers set sail across oceans that had no end for all they knew. Humans have climbed the highest mountains, piloted submarines deep beneath the surface of our oceans, reached the top and bottom of our world; a few brave men even stepped foot on our Moon. And as great a leap as that small step was, it is not even a tiny baby step when compared to a leap to the nearest star. There is so much out there that we have yet to even glimpse, let alone explore.
So lets reach for the stars! Eventually, perhaps, we can finally achieve the great visions of the future that men like Carl Sagan dreamed of for humanity:
[Our descendants] will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will love it no less for its obscurity and fragility. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was, how perilous our infancy, how humble our beginnings, how many rivers we had to cross before we found our way.
Listen to President John F. Kennedy’s 1962 Address on the Space Effort
[audio http://webstorage4.mcpa.virginia.edu/speeches/audio/spe_1962_0912_kennedy.mp3]
