Spaceflight, still in its infancy, promises Mankind the ability to one day travel
to the stars and colonize other planets. While we are far from
achieving this lofty goal, the pace of space exploration is accelerating.
The Richard Branson space travel announcement of the formation of
The Spaceship Company (by Sir Richard Branson
and Burt Rutan) and subsequent construction of SpaceShipTwo heralds
the birth of private sector commercial sub-orbital spaceflight and space
tourism as viable space industries. The dream so many of us had as
children of traveling into space will become reality for a far greater
number than our select few heroic astronauts and cosmonauts.
The long-anticipated manned exploration of Mars is actively being pursued.
With visionary groups of citizens and scientists like
The Mars
Society and President Bush’s new space initiative for NASA
driving the effort, it appears the goal is coming within reach, although
technologies are yet to be developed that will make it truly feasible.
While some may argue that the cost of space exploration is too dear,
what price do you place upon a dream? The cost of human exploration
has always been high, both in lives and in resources. Columbus nearly
failed to discover the New World for lack of funding, yet the avenues
opened to Europeans once its existence was known were immense.
Columbus in his quest sought riches in the form of spices, gold and precious
gems. Physical riches may indeed abound in space; mining of asteroids
is being contemplated by NASA scientists. As the commercial sector
becomes actively engaged in space exploration, this too will become a
reality, perhaps relieving our planet of the environmental burden some
forms of mining cause it to endure. In an age of increasing population,
dwindling resources and potential environmental changes that may threaten
the stability of our climate, the imperative to push into space is
paramount to our survival as a species.
The quest for space we have embarked upon offers a goal capable of moving us
far beyond that of mere acquisition of resources. The two attributes
humans possess which set us apart from all other animals on Planet Earth
are our insatiable thirst for knowledge and our ability to imagine greater
things. The pursuit of knowledge for its own sake has always resulted
in advances in technology which ultimately advance the human condition,
although admittedly a few steps back may sometimes be taken in the process.
A handful of earthbound and space telescopes and robotic probes sent to
distant planets has yielded within the last decade a greater wealth of
information about our solar system and the cosmos than had been acquired
throughout the entire history of Mankind. Our scope of discovery and
understanding has progressed from the range of our unaided eye inward
from microscopic worlds to the quantum level of matter and outward first
to the horizons of our planet and now near the edges of the universe and
the depths of time itself. Within these great expanses lie a plethora
of secrets remaining to be revealed. Exploration of space is the key
that will unlock the myriad of unanswered questions confronting Mankind
and assure our continuing evolution.
Authored by Kenneth L. Anderson.
Original article published 27 August 2005, updated 16 June
2006.
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