Space Exploration (nasa= Good/bad)

[wua05 0]

I wanted to see what people think about space explorationI believe that it is necessary- heres my views on space exploration Space exploration is one of the most important program humans ever had. There are some who believe that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) should be put at a halt. Others say that we as humans should spend more money on improving Earth such as using NASA’s budget for getting food to the poor. However, space exploration is important in many ways. Every day technology such as the news on television is made available by satellites. Also, what would life be like without the Internet or cell phones? Where would humans go when the sun explodes? However, the most important reason why space exploration is a must is because of human curiosity. Space exploration is crucial to the human race just as a keyboard is to a computer. Many people believe that the money that is spent on space exploration is used unwisely. It is also said that the government should use the money for space exploration on feeding the poor. When the money used on NASA projects is totaled, the sum seems like an astounding number. In contrast, the federal government of the United States spends less than one percent of its budget on space exploration. More than thirty percent of its budget goes to helping the poor. If a hypothetical situation was set up where space exploration was completely eliminated and the money went to the poor, the additional money would be almost none. If each poor person were to receive one dollar with space exploration in place, he would receive three cents more if NASA’s budget were moved to helping the poor. And with the poor receiving three cents, humans would lose the capability to communicate with Internet, not to mention cell phones and weather forecast. Much of the technology we take for granted comes directly from NASA technology. To some, these technology advancements such as robots are not absolutely essential and serve for luxurious purposes. This statement is incorrect- hundreds or thousands of years ago, colonies of humans were destroyed by natural disasters. Earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, and floods could kill hundreds of thousands of people at a time. Now, the deaths can be eliminated by the same natural disasters with the help of weather forecasting. If an earthquake with a magnitude of twelve were to be occurring, people in the area would be warned and evacuated and by the time the earthquake comes, nobody would be hurt. Space exploration can save many lives. One important reason why space exploration should not be banned is because colonization is possible. If population increase stays the same in twenty years, the human population will surely reach over eight billion. On the other hand, it is estimated in about five billion years, the sun will use up all of it’s fuel and literally annihilate our solar system. Where would humans go then? In five billion years, it is very likely that humans will have completely mastered space travel and be able to transport the entire population to another solar system. Millions of years ago, dinosaurs dominated the Earth. In a few years a meteor wiped out the entire population of dinosaurs. If humans were placed in this situation, space travel could be a solution. Already, theories are being formed. There are many ideas such as nuclear fission, which could allow travel to another galaxy far away. Another widely accepted theory is terraforming. There are many plants that can survive in an environment as harsh as Mars. If they were planted there, oxygen could be renewed, other plants such as trees could be grown. It is hypothesized that in a hundred years, if this theory were used, Mars could be inhabitable in the same way as Earth. I believe that the single most important reason space exploration should be promoted is human curiosity. Since the beginning of time, humans always wanted to explore. At first, what you could see was the limit. Then, the whole Earth was charted and mapped. When the sky was the limit, humans dared to challenge the fact that this was not true. After discovering that the Earth was spherical, planets were becoming named one by one. It was found that we lived in a solar system, and that we rotated the sun, instead of general belief that “Earth is the center of everything”. Technology directly from NASA such as the Hubble Space Telescope allowed us as humans to see other galaxies, then the universe. For centuries and still now, the success of humans is the ability to be curious and explore until the limit. The human mind has helped us develop theories. There are astounding theories that are likely such as the string theory. The big bang could be something that happens regularly, and ideas such as parallel universes and wormholes keep on coming. Perhaps the most intriguing question is if we as an intelligent race that has just barely touched technology are alone in the universe. Space exploration is something humans cannot afford to lose. It could possible be the one factor that prevents the extinction of the human race. In the short run, the accomplishment of NASA is the satellite. This can serve for communications, such as weather forecast and Internet. By giving up less than one percent of the budget, we would be giving up all of these. Also, the aspect that drives space exploration is curiosity. Space exploration is definitely one issue humans cannot give up.

[Moody 0]

Human curiosity is indeed very important. Without that we would still live in de stone-age or something. And I agree if you say that we go into space because of our curiosity. But not the other way around. The fact that we are curious about things, doesn't mean we have to go to space. Ever been at the deepest part of the oceans? I guess not - nobody has been there. Let's first explore our own planet. Step by step we can explore space. And why shouldn't we be able to live without space exploration? No Internet, cell phones and weather forecasts. Big deal, they weren't always there. It would be hard at first, I must say. Exceptionally hard.And does helping the poor mean giving them all some money? No, that doesn't help, it's too short-term to help. We must build places where they can grow their own food, where they can work and where they have free acces to the medical world. That helps. And it doesn't cost you that much per year. Make them earn money themselves is more efficent.And don't get me wrong, I'm not against space exploration. I just don't agree with the arguments you have.

[kaputnik 0]

Frankly, human beings are naturally very curious. From the moment we're born, we're constantly seeking information and becoming aware about our surroundings. as we grow the further our awareness expands. During early infancy, a child may just be aware about the room it's crib is in. As the child grows, the home may become the all-encompassing world. Further development and age leads to going to school, learning a few basic routes, being bombarded by information, and, become ever more aware. Awareness of space and any area out of this planet's domain is just a natural extension of human (and I'm talking about the entire population of this planet as a single entity) spread of awareness of the world, the sky, space - our surroundings. Exploration does not 'just' extend to space. From ancient times, exploration has been assisted by technology and that is what defines the domain that humans are safely/ and ocassionally unsafely, capable to explore and discover. Ocean exploration is as much in its infancy today that space exploration was in the nineteen fiftys. The technology for safety under pressure, and being underwater at great depths simply is not feasable at the present time (not that its not available). So exploring space is a natural extension of the human ability to absorb informaiton at an exponential rate. The more we learn, the more capable we become, and the further we like to explore - to learn more. I occasionally have wonderded about why we're present on this planet in the form we reproduce into. An I've reached the conclusion that every living, and if you care to look into matter - even the inanimate - is in some form or the other, attempting to consolidate information as best as possible. Human beings have evolved/ or have arrived at the present stage of development, in a persuit of knowlage and informaiton assimilation. To cite an example - a single cell creature contains enough genetic material to consume food and reproduce by splitting itself. More advanced biologiacl entities like ourselves, have a much - much - higher degree of basic genetic knowlage and stored information, and, we're possessed by the ability to reproduce information, store information and utilize the information to gain even more information. The ability to derive more information from our surroundings, is what compells humans to explore.We often comment about the primary human driver being the sex drive (agreed that the sex bit of the chromosome is multiplied over on itself a great many times - something pretty unique to humans), but, I do believe, that a stronger drive - maybe even the strongest human drive is natural curiosity. And that is why we learn. That is why we want to know more about space. And space exploration is an extension of our world, into areas that have not been explored. We as humans, by our very nature - will want to , need to, and have to explore space. Even if it is "just to know what's out there"..!!

[ASR1405241491 0]

I think that is right... it is for our curiosity... but another reason why is to give us hope.. just like religion or anything else that requires hope and faith, etc... It gives many of us hope that we could better ourselves by filling ourselves with more knowledge in the universe... Possibly even find a cure for everything we cant seem to discover here... It makes me wonder sometimes if maybe just maybe they have unknown elements out there that would help us cure aids/cancer or perhaps create a better future with less harmful resource to damage our world, as well as, providing futuristic hovercrafts and other amazing sci fi stuff weve seen in movies.... But all in all, I definitely feel it is good that we are doing it... as I always believe, think positive... because without think positive, we'all just sit around and wait until we die... So far, there hasn't been any significant discoveries, but hopefull one day we will be able to change our lives somehow... Wouldnt it be nice to live forever???It might not be possible, but what if it is available somewhere galaxies away???Chin chin...

[tansqrx 0]

Space exploration and NASA = GOODBut that might be because I live near one of the NASA labs and our local economy and many of my friend's jobs depend on NASA. lol

[Moody 0]

Kaputnik, I think you've gone a bit (too) far. Even without our curiosity there would be human beings. Because the main goal of us walking around on this planet, no matter how banal it sounds, is reproducing ourselves. And we're not the only curious species. Monkeys, dolphins and dozens of other creatures are curious as well. And if humans weren't interested in their evironment, we would be here as well, but not as well dressed.

[organicbmx 0]

the only situation i can think of in which space exploration could be bad would be if it became too military and if certain countries forgot that space belongs to everyone like antartica.does anyone know what happens with land ownership on the moon - i guess its owned by everyone but did that craze of people buying acres of moon on the internet atually mean anything at all?that i think is bad. space you be puplic and that will force us to get along and co-operate to gain its potential use.

[Neverseen 0]

Hm, actually I think people should take care about our own planet Earth instead of searching something somewhere far from here... they don't even know what they're serarching for... they just EXPLORE... now we all know that the global warming is becoming more and more important for all of us (especially for the youngest generations) and instead of doing MUCH more for stopping it they're still CURIOUS about what happens there in space... I think this is so damn stupid. Of caurse it's good to know that we have Mars,Jupiter,Neptune e.t.c. around our planet Earth... good to be able to send sattelites and stuff... but there's a lot of money spent on useless researches and this money could be much more usefull if it was spent for new researches on global warming and on how to prevent it. Also there's a lot of illness like AIDS or cancer that people still can't really cure.. why not doing some MORE research on that ? This is really something that would help humanity... and Space exploration.. well doesn't really help.. Now if people find some water on Mars, so what ? we will be just happy to know that there's some water there... how would it help people on Earth ? In no way it will help anyone. The scientists will be even more curious and then they'll want to find if there's any life form on Mars... and this will take even more time and money and human brain to find out if there's something alive there... So imho people gotta think about more important things first.

[Illudar 0]

i THINK THAT nasa IS a good thing (sorry for caps) because they are discovering many new things that could be useful to humans some time in the future.

[Monkeymagic 0]

We will soon outgrow this planet in various different ways. We need to look to the future and currently NASA is the only one taking it seriously.

[abhiram 0]

We will soon outgrow this planet in various different ways. We need to look to the future and currently NASA is the only one taking it seriously.

You mean the other agencies in other countries are just waiting for NASA to explore first and then follow them? Get real. NASA might be the only agency that has the funds to take space exploration very seriously.

[Mahanon 0]

I believe that space exploration is very important, as some one stated already "for our curiosity". Yes that is a good reason but I don't think that is the only one, the value of discoveries, the information gained, new resources and that is to just name but a few.

 

Just think about all the information that could be attained about the universe, it could be virtually limitless and isn't that reason enough to explore. Another is discovery, that is what has fueled exploration in the past and see where that has gotten us, the exploration of space could yield fascinating discoveries that could revolutionize that way we think about certian aspects of thinks forever.

 

And finally it will eventually bring about the discovery of new resources that could replenish our own dwindeling supplies, (I know they aren't dwindeling that much, but some day). It could quit possibly bring about the advent of new and better forms of energy that are far more reliable then what we are using at the moment.

 

All in all I really think the pros outweigh the cons of space exploration, after all it is simply another step civilization will take sooner or later.

[miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0]

You mean the other agencies in other countries are just waiting for NASA to explore first and then follow them? Get real. NASA might be the only agency that has the funds to take space exploration very seriously.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Going off topic here - so we have an IITian amongst us Terrific man. Welcome aboard Hope you can lure some of your superbrainy IT classmates into joining our ship That'd be an awesome help.

 

Regards,

m^e

[jacky5283 0]

Anyone read this book from Dan Brown? Deception Point.Since I was small, I love the solar system so much. From Mars exploration until the 10th planet of our galaxy. I can't deny NASA had put so much effort in space exploration. After reading Deception Point, I realise how much NASA had spent to accomplish their objectives. The contents of the book are true.NASA had taken funds, funds from tax payers. NASA spent billions every year, why don't we use the money to save the earth. Earth is threatened now, global warming, pollution. Even my country - Malaysia is suffering from haze. Why don't the government funds technology to save our planet. Even if space exploration is successful, and the earth dies, what is the point?

[saxsux 0]

I agree, very well said. Also, welcome to Xisto! What a great first post.As mentioned earlier, we'll need to get off this planet before the sun expands and, as Rose from Doctor Who put it, "we've only got five billion years 'till the shops shut". But 5 million years is a very long time. A breakthough in space technology could be made waaaay in the future without so much research happening now. Humans are hardly doing amazingly on earth, so how will we be able to cope on another planet? People kill each other for money, we pollute and destroy our planet which is vital to our survival, some ludicus amount of people die in LEDCs from easily stoppable reasons, we fight and destroy ourselves. Space travel must pollute, adding to the current problem of global warming. Shouldn't we try and sort things out on earth before we go elsewhere?