What are your views on space exploration?

Answer 1

We should continue to explore space, beginning with our own solar system. The Final Frontier, and all that. Continue robotic exploration of the planets and their moons, follow up with manned expeditions where practical (we're not going to try to land on Jupiter, but Io would be interesting) if for no other reason than to say we've been there.

When practical, interstellar, self-sustaining multi-generational ships could be sent to nearby star systems on one-way journeys-- someone born on such a ship is not going to get homesick; they'll think of the ship as home. Eventually, one will find a planet suitable for habitation, and we can start to get off this rock and spread to other worlds in the galaxy. Millennia in the future, we may even run into extraterrestrial intelligent life, but probably only after we have colonized thousands of other worlds.

Space exploration should not be an all-out priority, demanding vast resources that can be better applied to problems on Earth, such as combatting the effects of global warming before it's too late, but we should continue to explore. It helps to give hope for the future, and we may learn something useful along the way.

Answer 2

I just love those fools who think money spent by NASA would be "better spent elsewhere". First, let's just take everything out of all books that is information acquired by NASA. This would be lots of stuff about meteorology [supplied mostly by satellite observations, not ground observations that cannot really generate a "big picture"]. Any information gained through use of planetary probe missions such as the two Voyagers, Cassini, etc.
Also, take a list of the huge amount of things invented by NASA and if it is on the list, throw it out of your home, car or workplace and see just what quality of life you have left.

Anyway, my personal view on the current state of space exploration is that I am somewhat angry. I am STILL waiting to go some terminal and purchase a passenger ticket for a trip to the Moon or Mars. Come on NASA, hurry up will ya?!!? :)

And, for the commentor who says something about global warming. If you took all the funding away from NASA and shut it down, NOT ONE MORE PENNY would be spent on global warming problems. Why not? No one important enough gives a sh*t about global warming. Auto manufacturers don't and oil companies don't. If they did, they would dump lots more money into R&D for developing an *affordable* vehicle the public would want to buy. Of course, why would they do that when it is so much easier just to have the public buy the same gas burning thing in a different shape. Oh yeah, who do you think found out what was happening in the upper layers of our atmosphere that results in the warming? NASA, that's who.

Answer 3

Why colonize space... How about this-as an insurance policy for the human race in case we blow ourselves up? Or get annihilated by a meteor strike? Our grandchildren could, if they had the will, start to terraform Mars. With an initial investment (admittedly, trillions of dollars worth) of energy that would release the carbon dioxide and water sequestered in the regolith... Mars can be made much more habitable than it is now. Granted, it would take thousands of years to get a breathable atmosphere, but we could conceivably raise the average temperature above the freezing point of water and the pressure of the air to 1/2 to 3/4's of Earths. We still have to wear oxygen masks.... but THEN we would have an entire WORLD to colonize, and the human race's chances of extinction would drop dramatically.

Answer 4

I am excited about it. Sadly, the space shuttle did not live up the the promise of cheaper space flight. It was thought that by making it reusable it could land, be fueled up again and flown cheaply. But they did not realize how much maintenance would be required between flights. Anyway it needs to be reassembled with a new external tank and reloaded solid rocket boosters for each flight. But I am very excited about the private companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic that are building newer, cheaper, commercial space craft. We may finally be at the beginning of the true space age, where space flight becomes cheap enough to be relatively common. Still expensive, but not ridiculously expensive.

Answer 5

That we need more of it. Let's face it: the world spends more in two weeks on weapons than on space exploration over a whole year.
Most of the real answers are out there, and we have to look for them.
"Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot remain in the cradle forever" as Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky once said.

Answer 6

In my opinion it is very important. But it costs alot of money, I mean ALOT of money. Spirit, if I remember correctly it was between 2 and 4 million dollars but I can't say for sure. Eventually planet earth will have too many civilians and need more places to live. That is were Space Colonization comes in handy. Colonizing other planets will help us greatly. Some planets/moons have valuable resources that earth doesn't have or have alot of. It will become very valuable in the future. Hope I helped.

Answer 7

i think it's mostly wishful thinking for humans to want to visit other stars;

Einstein's theory of relativity says that it is impossible to travel the speed of light (i don't understand the theory well, but scientists smarter than me seem to).
But if people could travel at the speed of light, it would still take thousands of years to reach the nearest star, with no guarantee of there being anything planet-wise to check out when we get there.

On a more pessimistic note, we have gotten a pretty good look at the planets in our solar system, and they don't seem that impressive. We spent millions to send robots to Mars to find out what was in the red rocks, and they discovered that it is just a red planet full of rocks.....

If there was a way to pull a real-life Star Trek type of travel, and if there was a probability of finding something worth finding out there, then i would be totally into space exploration. Until then, i think the money could have lots of better uses, like making ethanol into fuel (it would make Wisconsin one of the most important states in America)

But until we have the ability to travel the stars, we still have our oceans. There are mysteries in them that we probably don't even know enough to imagine about :)

Answer 8

Its vital that the human race spreads to another planet or at least can support itself in space, I think it should become a priority as this planet is deteriorating fast and we are all stuck on it (We shouldn't keep all our eggs in one basket). More money should be spent on developing space travel than on military spending.

Answer 9

....ummm, havn't viewed Space that much this year, get out at night once in a while... exploration is good...

Answer 10

Its a gross waste of time and resources at this point in history. Maybe in the future when he have everything on earth strightened out, but not at this moment when things are so screwed up down here.