Space, Is This A Place Where We Should Trully Explore Should we explore space@?

[user681 0]

It is important for the human race to spread out into space for the survival of the species. Life on Earth is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster, such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers we have not yet thought of.

These are from the words of the world-renowned scientist Stephen Hawking.

 

But do the risks of space trully out weigh the risks of our home?

So much can happen out their. There is Space Debris, a result of human activity in Space, it is one of the greatest dangers. Previous missions have left behind great amount of debris. There are an estimated 10,000 man-made objects larger that 10 cm in orbit and probably tens of millions of fragments less than 1 cm. the risk of collision is high. Collision with such debris could be extremely damaging leading to dire consequences.

 

Then if you manage to pilot your way through all that junk, their is much more to worry about past earths orbit.

 

Now you must worry about solar and cosmic radiation, this could kill everyone in an unshielded craft. Then their are micrometeorites (small bits of rock and dust) this might puncture a spacecraft hull or an astronaut’s pressure suit. Loss of air is fatal in the vacuum of Space and serious accidents might happen as a result of this.

 

All these could damage or destroy the space craft, or cause death to the astronauts. But what about smaller, more overlooked effects.

 

Astronauts that returns from space shuttle missions have experienced temporary, or sometimes, permanent hearing loss, even after a weeklong mission. Both temporary and permanent hearing loss has been documented as a result of long term spaceflights. The noise level may be up to 75 decibels in the space station.

 

Then there are the Psychological Effects of being in space.

Traveling with a small crew isolated from the rest of the world for long periods of time often causes heightened anxiety, boredom, depression, loneliness, excessive fear of danger, and homesickness. Manned missions require crews to spend large amounts of time in close proximity. Because space is extremely limited aboard a spacecraft, privacy is often unavailable. Longer missions, such as to Mars, take roughly six months just to get there. During long missions, crews become easily irritated and often withdraw. As a result, tension between crewmates often builds, and the risk of miscommunication and other mishaps occurring increases

 

Although problems between the crew may not occur, the feeling of isolation from the rest of Earth may be detrimental to the immune system. Research has shown that the stress of isolation may damage the body’s ability to fight infectious disease. Studies in Antarctica indicate that those isolated individuals have a decline in T-cells, the immune system's "killer cells". In a small capsule high in space, hypochondria becomes more common, as astronauts have felt they were suffering from diseases that doctors could not diagnose.

 

Although the psychological effects of space travel are often not considered an eminent danger in space travel, its presence is very evident in some cases and should not be neglected.

 

This is just a taste of the risks associated with space travel.

 

But are these risks really worth it?

As President Kennedy once said, space travel is the "most hazardous and dangerous and greatest adventure on which man has ever embarked." No flight into space is ordinary, only the functions and goals of those flights have become ordinary. Space travel has the ability to transform nations, to capture the hearts of the entire world, to demonstrate unparalleled scientific achievement, and to carry our dreams farther than the eye can see.

 

Not only does space travel capture the hearts of the entire world. It comes with technological break troughs that were only a tinkle in a scientist eye at the time, because with challenges, brings new technical advancement.

 

If we had never had the will to launch man into space, we would never have discovered it, much of the daily things, such as satellite TV for example, would not be in existence.

 

Then there is the possibility of colonies far away from our planet.

A permanent human colony on the moon would represent a significant step in human development for example.

 

There are possible benefits aswell that would help us, and our planet.

There's the issue of resources. We as a greedy, spoiled, society. We mine resources to the point were the earth will eventually be barren of materials. We take so much, that there is not enough time for the earth to renew the resources we take. This brings me to my last benefit of space travel, and that is mining in space. In 2004, the world production of iron ore exceeded 1,000 million metric tons. In comparison, a comparatively small M-type asteroid with a mean diameter of 1 km could contain more than 2,000 million metric tons of iron-nickel ore, or two to three times the annual production for 2004. The asteroid 16 Psyche is believed to contain 1.7?1019 kg of iron-nickel, which could supply the 2004 world production requirement for several million years.

 

Although this may sound like an ambitious Sci Fi future, this would be possible. We have proven there is nothing us as a species can't do if we put our minds to it. Once again, this is only small taste of the benefits we have reeked as a society because of space travel. Although the risks are evenly balanced with the benefits, but then again, is anything without risk?

 

Now discuss, or share with us some more insight.

 

Please try and stay away from one liner responses. I'm not just interested in knowing yes or no, but also why.

[akira550 0]

yeah i am thinking of it if someone who has the ability to make or invent the other planet or even the whole space to make living things can live wow it seems to be great i can imagine now living in space?? isn't that fun? well maybe in the future.there are space stations today... :)i am wondering Mcdonald floating in space

[eurobeat 0]

where not greedy. just a basic needs

But are these risks really worth it?

yup coz knowledge is virtue

[Plenoptic 0]

In my opinion, space travel is eventually going to be a necessity. As technology has developed, we have always looked for more space for not only the population but, also for resources. When our little town grew too large and we needed more food, we expanded or moved to a new area. This led to traveling from country to country and then finding new continents to take resources from. Sooner or later, we are going to run out of resources on our planet. It may not be in our generation or the next but, the day will come. By that time, space travel will probably be a lot cheaper and more plausible than it is today because we are doing all the hard work now. That is how technology has always been. The earliest computers or air planes were so costly, the everyday person could not afford them. I imagine one day it will be an everyday occurrence that does not really mean that much anymore. Thus I believe exploring space now is just leading the way for the future as we will know where to turn for aid or new resources. I personally believe there is other life out there as well and if we could some how communicate with them that would be a feat. Space travel has always interested me and I think there is a lot to learn from what we find out there. Maybe we should not really be worrying about it right now with the economy as it is but, I do think it should be a part of what we do.

[gisellebebegirl 0]

I like the idea of exploring space, but i mean it is very risky, we should not send humans into the unknown, because of how long it takes to travel around, and the fact that we cannot travel at the speed of sound yet, i think we should built robots with a built in camera, and send them to explore everywhere in space.Who knows we might find other form of life, and explore into other gallaxy's. i am sure we are not the only ones living in this universe

[Okara KAmi 0]

Why not explore space? When we first came to this planet, from the Martian space pods that dropped us off, we thought the mountains were scary. High and filled so horribly with snow and frigid climates, feats like the Himalayas were the closest to impossibility that we strove to achieve. And now we're just increasing those limits. The thing about space, admittedly, is that it's a big step. Mountains and valleys, underwater and underground, it's all on our planet. But the second we step out into a black blanket of nothingness, we meet something that we have never really encountered before. Infinity. With space holding to it no known bounds, we're dealing with terribly large numbers here. We don't even know how to explain many of the oddities that it contains, and there is a high chance we could encounter paradoxes and conundrums in our exploration. But I think outer space is just another level in a game. Sure it's a lot harder than the previous ones, but one way or another, we'll conquer it to an extent. There is, of course, no way for us to hope to understand and satellite the entirety of it, because of which we would need to determine somewhere to stop. What I'm more concerned about, is the fact that space does not offer an end. As I mentioned before, it holds to itself no known limit, and because of that, we can keep exploring. With the Himalayas, we reach a peak and we are forced to stop. With the underwater world, we reach the sandy bottom and conclude that anything below it is not sea life. But what about space? Even if we manage to colonize and create sturdy scientific facilities through out our galaxy, we still have an infinite amount of data to gather, an innumerable amount of information to capture. This could grow dangerous, as one can see.Imagine one great find. For example, nuclear substitutes on Mercury, due to the increased ultra violet exposure. What do we have then? Oh, just a jackpot that we stumbled upon by mere luck. But what does that mean to a nation? Well that means that hey, over at that planet, we found something that will sustain us for the next decade with 1/4 the cost of fuel. Let's spend more of our money on research and development, so that maybe we can hit another oil mine and get rich again. But what happens to the country while it's financial leaders lead it towards the endlessness of the Space above? Well the country crumbles. Now sure, that's an exaggeration, but even at a lower level, when a multitude of countries make the same, small but imminent, mistake, the global state of things suffers. With that said, I think space exploration needs to constantly monitored by more then one governmental organization. It's funding needs to observe and respect ascertained caps that can decrease with the slightest negative flux in the nation's financial state. Also, all operations would need to be transparent. We don't want any corruption when it comes to large companies like this, and corruption is a major concern once we start opening up the market for Space Exploration to MNC's through out the globe. With profit in mind, companies of today can do just about anything, and that's not the kind of risk we are willing to take when it comes to sending billions of dollars out there into the nothingness. All in all, I think we still have a lot to learn and gather from our planet, but given the state of things and the rate at which our energy plans are drying old Mother Earth here, we might as well look for greater cost efficiency and natural resources outside of our home field.

[Unknown_99 0]

Actually I think we should finish exploring our own planet before actually going into space to search other planets. As I'm aware we haven't even finished searching out our seas yet, which in itself means there are several things below us or within the waters that we have no idea about. So before jumping to space and probably attempting to find ways or life out there we should probably think about the problems we have on earth first.

[freshpub 0]

The survival of the human race will ultimately depend on us colonising space in one way or the other...The dinosaur were wiped out and so could we. Whether it was diseases, asteroid strikes or another catastrophe, what killed them could and probably would kill us too. On top of natural disaster, there is the fact that the human race can't seem to be able to stop fighting among itself. If Nature doesn't get rid of us, we would surely do the job for Her...Space, and the possibilities that are out there, is the only way mankind will survive.Then again, I'm not convinced that mankind should survive...

[user681 0]

The survival of the human race will ultimately depend on us colonising space in one way or the other...
The dinosaur were wiped out and so could we. Whether it was diseases, asteroid strikes or another catastrophe, what killed them could and probably would kill us too. On top of natural disaster, there is the fact that the human race can't seem to be able to stop fighting among itself. If Nature doesn't get rid of us, we would surely do the job for Her...

Space, and the possibilities that are out there, is the only way mankind will survive.

Then again, I'm not convinced that mankind should survive...

Colonizing space?? That's a loong loong time from now you know?

Yeah, I honestly think that the human race would probably be wiped out by a disease, asteroids, or global warming, or by ourselves before we even get to colonize space.