Space, The final frontier… Man has always dreamed of breaching the heavens and exploring all of the stars and planets that lie in our universe. We have made attempts to explore them by, sending men to the moon, flinging satellites into deep space, and even sending rovers to nearby planets. Scientific figures such as Neil Degrasse Tyson Ph.D., CEO and CTO of SpaceX, Elon R. Musk, and the renowned theoretical physicist, Stephen W. Hawking, believe that the next giant leap for Mankind would be the colonization of Mars. But is this truly the next step in human space travel? Should we be looking at this “next step” in a more altruistic point of view? This essay will explore the aspects of colonizing Mars in this day and age, covering both the for and against, arguments. As well as similar and different elements that Earth and Mars share, to see if colonizing Mars in this day and age would be the “Next Giant Leap for Mankind” that all these professionals have made it out to be
Firstly, we will look at the atmosphere, and the climate of both planets, as well as various other scientific data about both, such as weather patterns, and natural phenomena. Mars’s atmosphere is mainly comprised of carbon dioxide, nitrogen, argon, and various other gasses but mostly carbon
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Due to the lack of movement from Mars’s inner core, there is little to no magnetic field around Mars. Thus, it is under constant radioactive bombardment from the sun. This Radioactive bombardment could be devastating to humans. In just 180 days an astronaut would be subjected to over 300 mSv worth of radiation, exactly six times more than an Average worker in a nuclear plant would be allowed to receive yearly. Now although this seems to be a significant amount of radiation, Astronauts can avoid being exposed to such a dosage by simply wearing space suits on spacewalks outside the
The word race is defined at its core as a competition between runners, horses, vehicles, boats, etc. to see which is the fastest in covering a set course. Well, interestingly enough, a race of a different kind occurred between two countries from the years 1957 to 1969. The competition was unclear, and the opponents were on two entirely different continents, not something as simplistic as two horses. The United States and the United Soviet States of Russia both set out as arch rivals in the “Space Race,” a quest for dominance beyond the known Planet Earth. Ironically enough, just as communism was spreading to all parts of the world, the United States always sought to squash this form of government, despite somewhat dire consequences. Now, with
Space travel is both fascinating and terrifying. The mystery of outer space captivates nearly all children and many adults. Neil Armstrong’s first words from the moon are iconic and will forever be engrained in the history of mankind. With the end of the Space Shuttle program many people have wondered if America’s space travels are coming to a close. Is space travel going to become a thing of the past? Kim Stanley Robison believes that the future of space travel, specifically an interplanetary mission to Mars, is not only fascinating, but necessary. In his short essay, “Why We Should Go to Mars”, Mr. Robinson starts with acknowledging that reasons for a mission to Mars “range from good to bad to terrible” (Robinson). He defines the range of common arguments which he believes are outlandish and seems to be wholly against the idea. His tone quickly changes as he presents what, in his opinion, are not only good but the best reasons as to why a Mars mission is not only a good idea, but a needed one.
“Space, the final frontier….” These are the words that stirred the imaginations of millions of men, women and children with the debut of “Star Trek” in 1966. The show has arguably one of the most loyal followings of any production, and has inspired scores of people to consider the stars and wonder if we as a people will ever travel outside of our own solar system. The idea of space travel and exploration was not new when “Star Trek” hit the airwaves though. The United States was at odds with the Soviet Union, and both powers were locked in a battle that would come to be known as “The Space Race” during the height of the cold war. It was in 1961 that President John Kennedy made his famous appeal to the American people, challenging us as a nation to put a man on the moon before the decade was out. On July 20, 1969, that challenge was achieved when the astronauts of Apollo 11 made the first manned landing on the moon, and returned safely to earth. This, the highest achievement in the United States space program, will turn 45 years old this year. After 45 years, and a technological explosion over the past 25 years, the greatest achievement in the space program has been a manned lunar landing. Countless billions of American tax payer dollars have been spent on the space program over the decades, and there have been no achievements to match that of the moon landings. Though the budget for NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is but a tiny fraction of the entire annual budget for the country, many of those billions that are allotted in the NASA budget for space exploration would better serve the country if they were re-directed to other areas. De-funding the space exploration portion of the NASA programs could create a “...
Who knows what kind of opportunities can come from Mars? We can use the many resources that have already been found on this planet, it could help us in many ways beyond space exploration, and it could even be a new place for us to live. That’s why I believe that the government should fund space exploration to Mars.
NASA has made great advancements, we continue to explore the vast solar system filled with magnificent sights. There is so much more out there, from black holes to some of the biggest stars coming to the end of their life cycle. With all this out there waiting for us why don't we pursue all the possibilities out there, all the knowledge and advancements we’d gain would be significant. We must continue to fund these space exploration projects to see all that there is to see. We would discover there’s more to space than we think maybe more the the life cycle of a star or more to nuclear fusion. It's important that we expand and explore to find a new planet, one day this planet will die and we need somewhere to go and something to do, if our species wish to live on. Its also paying off in many other ways. Technological advancements you see today like your phone was possible through space exploration even though you may not think of it. The space programs have made huge advancements in our world such as more fire resistant clothing and, car interior. We went from having a 70 pound micro computer with just 40 KB of memory (Less than a GB, Less than a MB(Which is 100 times smaller than a GB) so it's 40/1000 of a MB) Today we have 1 TB(1000 GB) flash drive the size of your thumb in just about 40 years. Allowing us to miniaturize
Mars is our next best hope in life on another planet. Because of science mankind can grow and harvest plants in the modified mars soil, make a thick warm atmosphere, and drink no frozen mars water. Mankind can grow and flourish more as a species with this idea of colonizing mars. With more scientific advancements we can colonize mars and we will colonize mars.
Knowing the impermanence of the Earth, do humans have a moral obligation to find and
Space, a vast and cold vacuum that much is yet to be explored. It all started in 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the first satellite, Sputnik into space. This launch caught the attention of people all around the world. As a result, it sparked the space race between the U.S and U.S.S.R. Since then, there have been many missions to space, but all these missions come with a cost. In 1981, NASA launched the first reusable space shuttle which was subsequently used for thirty years, however this cost about $209 billion over the years to keep maintaining it. The launch of a single space shuttle costs approximately $450 million and over the years there have been 135 launches. So why should governments and taxpayers spend billions of dollars on organizations like NASA, when so many problems already exists here on Earth? Although space exploration and research may cost a lot of money, I believe it is worth the cost as it has benefited humankind.
Have you ever wondered how you are able to call and watch tv from satellite? Well, just one word can lead to a heated discussion. NASA. Some will debate that NASA is not worth it, while some will.
Benefits in Space Exploration Thesis: Space exploration is beneficial for anyone because of long-term survival of humanity in the future, new technologies/understandings, and increase in job opportunities. President John F Kennedy once said, “We chose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win.” In 1962, in Texas the Address at Rice University on the Nation's Space Effort speech was delivered by Kennedy to a large crowd. This speech is about how sending astronauts to the moon is very important. Also, it showed that when humanity was smart enough, they realized that we are able to achieve impossible things like
In the end, human settlement on Mars will be the next greatest challenge humanity conquers, and everyone should support it and advocate for it even if it may be expensive. Money should be no obstacle in the face of the next giant leap for
Curiosity has driven human exploration for thousands of years. With huge advancements in technology and science over the last 75 years meant that humans have been able to feed their curiosity of the unknown with space exploration. Space exploration has created jobs, provided education, helped with commercial advancements (memory foam, smoke detection and even the household cordless drill) as well as providing information that we now take for granted. With the action of space exploration with it came an opposite reaction, this reaction was of negativity towards NASA and money spent on space programs. A lot of this negativity was a result of the public reacting to the amount spent on space exploration with funding last year alone over 17.5 billion
Space exploration leads to competition and strains relations between nations. This is shown empirically. The launch of Sputnik and the subsequent race to the moon between the USA and USSR heightened tensions in the Cold War (DeNooyer). A new space race may start as China and India ascend geopolitically and develop space oriented technologies.
The interest surrounding travel to Mars started in the 1950s with gaining sight of the new planet. Today, people continue to argue over whether the United States and NASA should continue its expansion by exploring Mars and the solar system. Looking at past experiences with going into space, there have been advances, such as going to the moon, as well as problems like space shuttle mishaps. American society continues to look towards the future for new information including space exploration; however people also do not feel it is necessary to have human space exploration, but people are still intrigued by competition over space exploration. For example, the ‘Space Race’ between the United States and Russia when trying to gather as much information
One of the biggest issues raised on sending humans to Mars, is the amount of radiation they would be exposed to by traveling through space. Most space agencies set lifetime amounts of radiation astronauts can be exposed to; the general limit is one sievert (Gelling, 2013). A way to minimize the threat of radiation exposure, is having proper shielding for those traversing inside the spacecraft. A lesson from the Curiosity Mars mission, is that having adequate