Humans are fascinated with space, but is that a good thing? Have we gained anything important from our research on space, or are we better off focusing on our own planet?

 

The earth has so many problems. Climate change, poverty and racism and many more are all things that we urgently need to work on. So, in a planet full of all these problems, why focus on exploring and understanding the rest of our universe? Shouldn’t we focus on our planet compared to other celestial bodies? Does it really gain us anything useful?

Humans have a desire to explore. Throughout history, we’ve always been exploring. First, it was the areas immediately around us, then we went further. We started exploring the land around us, and when we figured that out, we got in boats and explored the sea. Eventually, once we’d explored our planet, we looked towards the sky, and wondered if we could explore what was up there.

But then that poses the question, is our desire for exploration doing us any good? That’s a difficult question to answer, and is of course, very subjective. I believe that it is doing us good, a lot of it actually. When we explore, we learn, and we can apply the knowledge we gain to fix the problems we already have. Exploring not only shows us new areas, it opens up a whole new wealth of knowledge.

How does it open up that knowledge though? It’s not like we find magical books in space telling us how to create dust busters. Actually, most of the technology we get from space exploration is spinoff technology. Spinoff technology is technology that has been developed with help from Nasa research. For example, technology NASA created to purify astronauts drinking water, is now also used on earth to kill bacteria in recreational pools. Now, one might argue that this technology isn’t necessary, or would’ve been created at some point. Well, it is possible that similar technology might have been created at some point, but at what point would that be? For all we know, without the technology we create to explore space, we could still be looking for a way to prevent glasses from breaking!

Now, spinoff technology is great, but other than that, what does space exploration offer? Well, for one, it offers some protection. Sure, the chances of an asteroid hitting earth are pretty slim, but the costs of that happening are so large, it’s better to be prepared for it. With our research and exploration of space around us, we’d know in advance if an asteroid was coming in our direction, and be able to plan ways to deflect it. That would’ve certainly helped the dinosaurs!

Other than asteroid protecting, space research and exploration gives us a back-up plan for if things go wrong on earth. Now, you might be thinking, that’s why we need to focus on earth, so things don’t go wrong, and I would agree, we do need to focus on earth. However, why can’t we do both? It’s not like space exploration is preventing us from doing something about climate change. We can focus on fixing our planet and focus on back-up plans, such as a permanent civilization on mars. Who knows, maybe we’ll create technology that can be used to fight climate change on earth while working towards getting to mars.

Another thing that benefits life on earth is satellites, something we wouldn’t have without space exploration and research. Some things that satellite technology can do is measure water quality from a 360 degree view, and even predict natural disasters. These are things that we’d have never been able to achieve if it weren’t for our curiosity and desire to learn about space.

Speaking of that curiosity, why do we even have it in the first place? Well, like our desire to explore, it’s in our nature. Being curious is just something humans are. As soon as we learn how to talk, the first words are “why?”. We want to find out how the world works, and once we learn about that, we want to know how the rest of the universe works. As we age, and we learn, the curiosity we initially had as children fades, but it never really disappears.

Without anything to satisfy that curiosity that we all have, we’d be miserable. Space exploration is that way that we satisfy our curiosity, the way that we feed our desire to explore. Two people can sit down in a room and argue about finances with regards to space all day. While I do believe space exploration and research is important, and does have many logical reasons to back that up, people often overlook the other reasons we explore space. We didn’t look up to the sky and wonder how we could benefit from it, we looked up at the sky and wondered if we could go there. We didn’t wonder this because of money, or logic, it had to do with our curiosity and desire to learn and explore.

We benefit from space research in so many ways, and a lot of the time, we don’t even realise it. From our research and exploration we’ve created new technologies, that can benefit us both in space and on earth. We’ve found ways to help our planet that we never would’ve found if we hadn’t gone into space, and we’ve also worked towards creating back-up plans to protect ourselves. Most importantly, we’ve found a way to continue exploring, and feed that child-like curiosity within ourselves that still looks at things and asks “why?”.  So, to answer my original question, our fascination with space is a good thing, we’ve gained many important things from our research, and by focusing on space we can find new ways to help our planet.

 

A video about spinoff technology:

A very sarcastic video about space exploration and research:

Bibliography:

Griffin, Michael. “The Real Reason We Explore Space.” Air & Space Magazine, Air & Space Magazine, 1 July 2007, www.airspacemag.com/space/the-real-reasons-we-explore-space-18816871/.

Rainey, Kristine. “15 Ways the International Space Station Is Benefiting Earth.” NASA, 30 Oct. 2015, www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/15_ways_iss_benefits_earth.

Andrews, Robin George. “Can Spaceflight Save the Planet?” Scientific American, 6 Sept. 2019, www.scientificamerican.com/article/can-spaceflight-save-the-planet.

Wiles, Jennifer. “Why We Explore.” NASA, 30 Sept. 2013, www.nasa.gov/exploration/whyweexplore/why_we_explore_main.html#.YHsnb5-SnD5.

Granath, Bob. “Why Do We Explore?” NASA, 2 Oct. 2015, www.nasa.gov/feature/the-human-desire-for-exploration-leads-to-discovery.

Photo:

JPL. “20 Inventions We Wouldn’t Have Without Space Travel.” JPL, 20 May 2016, www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/20-inventions-we-wouldnt-have-without-space-travel.

Videos:

TEDx Talks. “Space Exploration is the Worst | Emily Calandrelli | TEDxIndianaUniversity.” YouTube, uploaded by Tedx, 23 Dec. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqrahBJkKAs&feature=youtu.be.

Seeker. “What Is Space Exploration Doing For You?” YouTube, uploaded by Seeker, 1 Aug. 2014, www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZBjrwqxfnk&feature=youtu.be.