Why do we look to space, when there is so much still to discover on this Planet ?

Question

Most of the worlds Oceans have not been explored. Deep sea exploration discoveres new species on almost every dive.
Parts of the Amason rain forest still have not been visited by man and new species are discovered there all the time, albeit mostly insect life.
Should we not know our own Planet properly first.

Yes i know i spelt Amazon wrong !

Answer 1

There has been a lot of criticism of the space programs, but once we started learning that the satellites we put up were actually doing the most good for EARTH (hurricane forecasting - which saves lives, crop water level patterns, location of ancient cities that might nave been left undiscovered, global communications, and more) the space program started to show that there was merit to exploring space because by doing that we learn a lot about ourselves. And most people don't think of the Earth in this way, but we ARE in space - the Earth is a planet orbiting a star in a galaxy. I guess its normal to think of the Earth and space as "separate", but they are not. That, and we learn a great deal about ourselves by studying space. And there is one reason we MUST study space - killer asteroids. Remember the pictures of the comet fragments that slammed into Jupiter? Those could have slammed into EARTH. There is a prediction that in 2054 one will hit in Kansas that will be so devastating as to wipe out the entire United States. We HAVE to at the very least see if we can locate these and either change their orbits or destroy them before they destroy us. This isn't just a matter of curiosity in exploring space - this is a matter of survival of life on Earth. And, isn't human nature to be curious about what we don't know about our environment, with our environment being the universe? I think those pictures from the Mars rovers and the Hubble Space Telescope, etc., are amazing! We should still study life on Earth, but studying the universe is just as important, because we are in it.

Answer 2

Because we can.

Why does a dog lick himself?

As humans, we are curious. We explore wherever we can. The oceans are being explored. What? Should we just focus on the oceans and leave the rest be? The Amazon is being explored. Entomologists and botanists are combing the jungles for new species of life, both fauna and flora.

When will we know that we know our planet properly enough? Who will sit in judgement to advise us when we know all there is to know about one thing so we can move on to another?

Answer 3

The main objective to explore space is to find if there's any place outside the earth to live on. The earth is crowded with its growing population.
The second things is, the earth will one day being hit by asteroid. If the prediction is accurate, then human beings can move to other planet for temporary shelter.

Answer 4

As you say there is still a lot of earth that is still to be discovered, but to some people space is so attractive because so little is really known about it and if the human race is to expand then colonising other planets is really the only option as earth can't possibly keep up with the explosion of people and their needs !.

Answer 5

we are interested in our world what the depths of the oceans and different speceis of animals, but here is the thing. my theory is that humans are concern of their own planet but earth is right in front of them they are standing on earth. we already know a lot about the earth then we do about space. snice the earth is right under us we aren't that concern with it then things that are miles and miles away from us. space is so interedting but it is so dangerous. it is only natrualy that humans are more concerned with this that thy can't really see or can really feel. we are so courious about the unknow that is exactly what space is to us. even though we do know things about space already it isn't enough, for our minds. as humans we most look and grasp the unknow, the unknow that we haven't a big clue about (only some clues.)

i hope this helps you

Answer 6

If you think all scientists are looking at space to find life then you don't know what scientists do.
There are some physical interactions and reactions that happen in space which don't and can't take place on Earth. Space, looking at it through the right telescopes, offers some of the most amazing sights filled with valuable information to all scientists.

Answer 7

Why can't we do both...? Not everyone wants to explore the ocean - and not everyone wants to explore space - but there are plenty of people in the world that would like to do one or the other - or both.

Answer 8

The simple answer is - different people have different interests. Some people find space exciting and underwater research boring - and vice versa.

I would respectfull suggest you be grateful for space research - things like teflon coating come from space research (to name just one:-)

Answer 9

Astrophysics and astromony are what you might call 'Mental Masturbation'. They are completely useless for everyday life. They have no benefits to human society yet we spend billions on sending probes to other planets we know are uninhabitable. Money well spent? I think not.

Why do we do it then? Well, one advantage to looking to the skies has been satellite communication. It has been handy, albeit not essencial, to society. As for asteroids hitting the Earth.... what a load of crap. If it's gonna happen, there's not much we could do about it, even if we knew in advance.

Why don't we use our energy on the real things on terra firma rather than gazing at the stars wondering what is out there.

Answer 10

The main drive for space exploration today is to find traces of extraterrestrial life. The option to evacuate the world population to another place before a future global catastrophic event is not feasible at all. What's the drive then?
It's the unsolved question that science can not solve under its present paradigm. The question of how life has started on Earth. Biologic science knows that life can not start by itself on Earth. So they hope to find some form of life on another orbiting body. This would give them some temporary relief from the pressing question how life started. They could say: "It came from another place". But then my honest question would be - how did it start there, when we can not observe a spontaneous start here on Earth under favorable conditions?