Why explore space when we have millions of problems on Earth? This question has been asked millions of times everywhere and tells us that the Earth’s problem is space exploration. This question states that the money used for exploration can be reused and spent to help Earth, but would this happen?
The first thing is that this whole question is a false dilemma fallacy. Why do we have to choose between space exploration and saving the planet? Why can’t we do both? The world spent nearly $750 billion on cigarettes in 2014. NASA’s total budget is less than $20 billion, and Elon Musk estimates that he could send colonists to Mars for less than $10 billion. How about the whole world stops smoking, and we spend $20 billion on colonizing Mars and the other $730 billion on renewable fuels and cleaning up our negative impact on the environment, reducing poverty, and giving people access to clean water?
We know space exploration is not the problem and It might turn out that space exploration is the best way to save the Earth. I agree with Jeff Bezos when he says that Earth is the best place in the Solar System. Let’s keep it that way. Mars might be an incredible place to explore and an adventure to colonize, but I want to swim in rivers, climb mountains, walk in forests, watch birds, and sail in the ocean. But the way we’re using up the natural environment will take away from all that,
Now that you understand that space exploration is not a problem but a solution You may be asking yourself why do we explore? We explore space for many reasons. Space exploration has given us many great technologies. If it wasn’t for space exploration you wouldn’t be seeing or hearing me give this speech, not just this but if we don’t want to end our history like the dinosaurs we need to prepare for the possibility of being hit by a large asteroid, approximately once every 10,000 years, according to NASA, a football-sized rock or iron asteroid might collide with the surface of our planet, causing tidal waves large enough to inundate coastal regions. And not just this but we need raw materials from space and recently after returning for blue origins Jeff Bezos stated that we should relocate all heavy industries away from Earth and into space. Solar collectors can be used to collect energy, while asteroids can be mined for raw materials.
We need to keep the Earth as pure as possible for our future generations. We won’t be able to do so unless we go into space and learn how to survive and manage that industry from there. Now it’s not just this but we may need to colonize space to survive, most experts think that Earth’s carrying capacity is between 8 and 16 billion people, according to a 2012 research study by Unep and we now have a population of over 7 billion. As a result, some futurists suggest that humanity should be planning to colonize another planet as soon as possible. It could be the difference between your life and the lives of your descendants.
Humans have a right and a moral duty to save our species from suffering and extinction. Colonizing space is one method of doing so. At the speed that we are poisoning our earth, we will need a new home in a matter of centuries so exploring space can help our species survive. Take this as an example, Musk intends to have tens of thousands of people living in a city-like colony on Mars as early as 2040. He aims to expand the colony until it reaches a population of one million people, at which point he believes there will be enough people to “recreate the entire industrial basis,” resulting in a long-term civilization on Mars. ¿Why? In certain circles, one frequent response is that if we are to survive, we must evolve into a multi-planetary species. If not, how can we ensure that our evolutionary branch will survive in the event of a catastrophe?
Clean energy is needed for human survival in the twenty-first century, and space colonies can provide it. How?, Well they can build enormous solar platforms that collect and convert the sun’s energy into electricity using Low-cost space resources. Then a high-frequency radio beam would be used to transfer this electrical power to the Earth’s surface. They can also provide new habitats and a larger ecological niche for our species.
The word “space colony” conjures up images of domed settlements on the moon or the surface of a hostile planet for many people. But it’s much more than that. Take for instance what Buzz Aldrin, an Astronaut said, and I quote “Exploring and colonizing Mars can bring us a new scientific understanding of climate change, of how planet-wide processes can make a warm and wet world into a barren landscape. By exploring and understanding Mars, we may gain key insights into the past and future of our world.” This is a very important quote because it shows how the earth may look in the not-so-far future if we don’t take care of it.
We know that Mars Colonization isn’t going to be easy and that there are many problems but for every problem, humans can also create solutions. Here are some of the most famous problems and solutions given by some scientists. But before we can talk about a whole colonization with thousands to hundreds of thousands of people on Mars we have to tackle problems of the second phase of colonization creating a semi-permanent outpost to prepare the ground for a larger human presence. However, doing so will be gruesome. Because Mars is extreme even for an expansionist species like us.
Mars appears familiar at first glance, with polar ice caps, huge valleys, liquid water beneath its surface, and a day that is only slightly longer than Earth’s. This is an excellent location for us to visit. Unfortunately, Mars is truly a frigid, radioactive desert with deadly dirt and no way to breathe. But there are many ways to overcome this. Assume there have been previous expeditions to Mars to explore a good location for an outpost, stock resources, and equipment, and that a moon station that serves as a hub for Mars missions already exists. To bear the stress of huge pressure changes between the only choice if solar electricity is insufficient.
Another issue would be the Martian interior and exterior, habitats must be pressurized and filled with an artificial atmosphere made of nitrogen and oxygen, rounded and smooth shapes. Nuclear technology may be dust, which is poisonous and electrostatically charged, causing it to adhere to anything, including space suits. And so that It won’t enter the base we can make space suits in a way that they don’t enter the base, but stay attached to the outside of the habitats. Not only that but because Mars’ gravity is just 38% that of Earth’s, our crew would have to live in a low-gravity environment and exercise frequently.
Space exploration is not a problem but a solution to many problems here on Earth. We also know that humans can create solutions to almost any problem we encounter and all we need is to think not only for ourselves but for humanity as a whole.
