Nasa

[lucy]

Top Ten Reasons for Going Into Space


Reason Number 10
Colonization: it's a long shot, but there are serious people who still claim that we can travel to mars and turn it into livable space for humankind. The process is called "terraforming".

Yup. Right. And the resources we use to do that won't be available for other, maybe more important projects and the pollution created in the process will tip our Earth just a bit more towards the edge. Towards the edge of becoming inhospitable to humans, that is, i'm not worried at all about the planet as a whole.
Besides, given humankind’s (read: moslty Europe’s and America’s) truly fantastic record of colonization we probably shouldn’t attempt to fuck up yet another place, even if it is a barren one and we can’t slaughter or enslave a couple of million natives and kill their cultures in the process.

[BReason Number 9
Intelligence Surveillance: Ok maybe we wouldn't bother placing a spy satellite over the Hawaiian Tropics contest (then again maybe we would) but the very first truly functional (i.e. non-experimental) satellite was a U.S. spy satellite. This was the Corona series, first operational in August of 1960. The U.S. maintained a strong lead in this super-secret technology throughout the cold war and it was the only distinct intelligence advantage this nation ever really had. Since the U.S. won the cold war, you simply can't dismiss the importance of this capability.

Ok, as i said already: It's your money. If you think sending people to Mars gives you a strategical advantage, go for it. I'm Swiss, i don't give a damn whether you can watch me undress in my bedroom from 50 km above.
Given recent events one would think that the gathering of intelligence is not the problem, but processing it is.

[BReason Number 8
International Diplomacy: this one speaks for itself. It's the only reason we went to the moon.

Sorry, that’s boys stuff. My dick’s longer than your dick. Go for it, if you can’t find a better way to spend your money.

[BReason Number 7
Natural Resources: this one may be reaching, but there are people who believe that we would want to mine the asteroids & the moon for minerals. The most credible argument for this is assuming we would want to build a huge space structure and wouldn't want to have to loft the raw material into earth orbit or higher on rocket power.

Uh huh. Kinda like the chicken or egg question, isn’t it? In order to be able to colonize space to get at the resources we need to get at the resources so we can colonize space.
Or did i get that wrong and it was that the other way round?

[BReason Number 6
Researching the universe: this one also speaks for itself. The discoveries and observations made from the Hubble telescope alone are staggering, and could never have been made from earth because of the obscuring effect of the atmosphere.
There are new discoveries being made every day, such as finding planets around other stars and discovering the true structure of the outer solar system (the Kuiper belt).

Yup, good reason. Can be perfectly done without sending anybody into orbit. And much cheaper, because Austronauts are heavy and they need a lot of stuff while up there, thus making it expensive. Oh, and don’t tell me that Austronauts where needed to repair Hubble. For the same amount of money who was spent to do that (all costs included, not just that one flight) several Hubbles telescopes could probably have been built.

[BReason Number 5
Technology Spin-Offs: this also speaks for itself, although the list of new technologies just goes on and on and on. These new technologies mean new industries, new jobs, and saved lives. For example, kidney dialysis, which has kept (and still keeps) countless people alive, came from the Apollo program. A new artificial heart came from technology used in Space Shuttle. New insulin pumps can eliminate the need for injections for diabetics, and the space program is constantly producing new materials for prosthetic devices.

That could all be done without going to space. IF there were the right incentives. If all the brainpower spent on sending 80kg human bone and flesh in orbit would be spent on researching, say, new materials for prosthetic devices would have a much larger spin off. In the meantime, most countries drastically cap their spending on basic research, thus capping also the basis for future practical research.

[BReason Number 4
Researching the sun, moon, and planets: - planetary probes like Voyager, Pioneer, Viking and Pathfinder landers on Mars, Magellan probe to Venus, these and others have all changed our entire view of the solar system and all the planets. Nothing else has ever given us the close-up view of the planets or their moons. For example, no telescope could ever have shown us the volcanoes on Jupiter's inner moon Io or the ice on Jupiter's second moon Europa. Nothing could ever have given us the clue that there could be life on those moons, aside from the space probes we've sent.
With these probes and the new, powerful orbiting telescopes we've put in place, we are updating our once-simple view of the solar system - learning about the many asteroids and comets and their complex orbits. We are only now becoming aware that an asteroid or comet may have been the end of the dinosaurs, and could be the end of us. By studying our solar system, knowing what's there and what threatens us, and devising the capability of averting disaster, space exploration could mean the very survival of the human race.

We may care very much some day about this reason for space exploration.

Yup, good reason. Do it, but don’t send people. Personally i don’t care too much about the survival of the human race. Any survival is just temporary anyway.

[BReason Number 3
Marvin the Martian's autograph: well maybe not his, but the more we learn about our solar system and the universe the more likely it is that we'll someday contact intelligent life.

I doubt that. And if we do, they’ll probably not recognize us as intelligent, mwahahaha....

Furthermore, with our record of dealing with other beings, we’ll probably fuck it up as usual. I guess it would be better for everybody and –thing involved if we didn’t find intelligent life.

[BReason Number 2
Satellites in orbit: The biggie in my opinion - you would not be reading this page if it weren't for communications satellites that make the world wide web possible. Thousands and thousands of lives would be lost each year to hurricanes if it weren't for weather forecasting satellites. Even the war in Iraq would have come out differently (and not in favor of the allies) if it weren't for satellite positioning capabilities. The civilized world owes much of what it is today to satellite technology.

We wouldn't miss a thing if it hadn't been invented. For example, the web (which originated at the CERN, if i’m not misstaken)
And people do still die in hurricanes, just because they have no means of building houses that can withstand a hurricane. Even more lives could be saved if cars were banned, by the way.... Or some money spent on fighting malaria. Or money being spent to provide children with clean drinking water. Or. Or. Or. The list goes on....
As for the war in Iraq: All your fancy satellites haven’t prevented you from entering a useless war in the first place. But of course that is just my humble opinion.

[BReason Number 1
Because it's there: This one may seem whimsical but it is not. The society that stops exploring and begins to stagnate begins to die. It is only through the constant effort to learn and to achieve that we remain vigorous, bright, and strong. The fact that we don't know yet what is out there, and the fact that space represents our final limitation, is reason enough for us to strive to master it. Note that the same could be said for the ocean floor.

Given human nature as it is, this is not whimsical at all. In fact, this is the only point i completely agree with you

I’d just say: Leave the astronauts on the ground for the time being, just because sending them up is extremely expensive and not really necessary, care about other problems first, and if and when they are solved, think about it all again.