What are the pros and cons of space travel?

Question

should we really be spending that much money on space travel and for what reasons? PLEASE LIST SOURCES!!!

can someone please tell me some cons!

Answer 1

The foremost thing we gain from space travel / exploration is knowledge. This knowledge then provides vast applications, many of which were unforeseen when we first gained it.

Soviet Russia launched the first satellite - Sputnik. It was essentially a beeping hunk of metal they could track. It didn't do anything useful other than to scare the USA into a panic. However, satellite technology is a cornerstone of the information age. Without it, we could not track and predict hurricanes with any sort of accuracy as we do today. We could not have the mass communications that we do today. The list goes on.

Not only do the accomplishments provide results, but so do things we had to invent in order to solve problems associated with space travel. Computers had to be miniaturized in order to send them up with our spacecraft, for instance. Many exciting textiles have been invented over the course of the space program. (I could be wrong, but I think velcro is a direct result of the space program). Lasers, radio equipment, lightweight construction materials, you name it. The space program drove the invention of all of these things and so much more.

Why even your digital camera phone exists because of the Apollo program. CCD cameras (digital cameras) were developed as a light weight alternative to the usual TV cameras of the day, which were huge and weighed several hundred pounds each. Why? Because that much weight couldn't be sent to the moon, but we wanted live video - so they invented the digital camera. That's why the famous Neil Armstrong "one small step" footage was so grainy - it was a first-generation technology taking the pictures.

Then there's the exploration of other bodies in the Solar System. Things we learn out there advance our knowledge of planet formation, behavior, weather, etc. By getting more examples of how things work, we can advance our understanding of our own planet. Suppose some day they learned to terraform Mars - our global warming problem would of course be solved by similar technology.

All in all, the space race of the 60s caused a tremendous burst of technological advancement, all of which has gone to improve the standard of living all over the world.

As far as MANNED space travel goes - at the barest minimum, we are learning more about human reaction to being in space. So? Well, we wouldn't just invent a starship and hop right in if we didn't know how people would fare on extended voyages into space, would we? Before the age of pan-atlantic sailing voyages, little was known about things like scurvy. Then the British navy began supplying its ships with limes to fight this off, which is why we call Britts 'Limeys' sometimes. ;)

Basically, anything we do that is on the frontier of human ability is going to advance us (well, maybe not devouring 200 hotdogs in 10 minutes, but you get the idea)

EDIT: (adding some cons to my response)

Probably the biggest single con to space travel right now is our limited propulsion technology. Our current chemical rocket engine technology can generate high amounts of thrust, but at a low "specific impulse." Specific Impulse is basically a measure of fuel efficiency - thrust per unit weight of fuel. In other words, it takes a lot of fuel to get the job done. Fuel is heavy, so adding fuel for use later in the mission (such as a burn to escape earth's gravity) actually requires more fuel to carry the weight of the added fuel. This also adds cost and complexity to missions.

The weight problem compounds itself when we want to send manned missions away from the Earth. People need a lot more baggage than robots do: food, water, breathable air, exercise equipment, control pannels, etc. All of this adds a lot of weight. Not only does weight require more fuel, it tends to slow down the mission because getting it there isn't the same as getting it there fast. If it were lighter, we could use the same amount of fuel to go faster.

Another major obstacle to space travel is distance. Just getting to Mars takes months. Jupiter takes about a year for robots, and would take longer for a manned mission (see previous paragraph). Beyond that, the planets get a LOT more spaced apart, and it takes even longer. This is all to say nothing of interstellar travel, which would take a generation or more to pass by living on a self-sustaining ship on its interstellar voyage.

Besides propulsion limitations, the other major drawback is the danger of space travel. We've only dipped our little toe into the watters of space. We're not the spacefarers akin to the seafaring generation of the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Until we travel more in space, we will not have the experience required to make the journey "safe." Seafarers at the dawn of the sailing era faced the same problem - many men died while we were learning to master the sea. Many men and women will die in our conquest of space.

Another con, in my opinion is that the returns on space travel seem lost on most people. Most people don't realize the huge boon that it is to mankind. To them it seems boring and/or irrelevant. This lack of support has severely retarded our growth in space for as long as the programs have remained in government hands. We are beginning to see private space ventures, and I feel that this will greatly improve our progress there, and probably public support as well since it will be private individuals and companies bankrolling our expeditions.

Answer 2

"Queen Question of a Queen:"
We need to know every day more. We have to understand how the Universe works and what the humans have to do to live in a safer place for many centuries. A way to do that is exploring the space, but with unmanned missions.

Some day maybe we would be ready to initiate a colony in Mars or in the Moon, but by now, the manned missions have no sense.

The traveling outside the Solar system have no sense. We need to have better telescopes, antennas and additional instruments to see and understand the Universe before expend resources sending probes to a stars. Those probes would need thousand years of traveling.

Answer 3

The more we understand space and the objects in it, the more we understand about our home planet.

For example, Venus is the model that scientists use to explain the phenomenon of global warming cause by certain gasses building up in a planetary atmosphere (called greenhouse gases). And, the methods that scientists used to develop such technologies as fiber optics and LCD television screens are the result of methodologies used to determine the composition, distance, and direction of movement of stars.

The research conducted during the space program in the 1960s enabled the development of technologies that made possible home computers, laptops, and even cell phones. And, where would we be without those developments today?

But, the fundamental question that astronomers want to answer is: Are we alone? If we can determine that there was or is - in fact - life on other planets besides our own, this would put to rest a lot of theological debate about the origin of man.

Answer 4

I support space exploration, but favor unmanned missions to human ones. These missions are more than worth the investment. In the 70s and 80s, Voyager I and II revealed the outer planets and moons. The Viking missions to Mars gave us our first good evidence of Mars' terrestrial qualities. Galileo and Cassini missions expanded our knowledge of Jupiter and Saturn, respectively. Now the rovers on Mars are revealing its watery past and the possibility of water and life beneath the surface.

There are good reasons to fund these missions. Surveying asteroids and comets will help prepare for any objects threatening the Earth. Our robots will be followed by humans, when the time comes. But by then, space travel will be far more advanced and the missions will be funded by private interests looking for space resources to return their investment.

We must remain committed to exploring the solar system and expanding our observations of the universe, as with any scientific frontier.

Answer 5

space travel is a must bcoz we should know around whats going on and space research will provide many unanswered questions also there is every possiblity of shifting settlements at moon or or mars after a man centuries on over crowding at our planet. another reason is we can not see the vast universe by sitting inside we have to go out and see

Answer 6

A few datums for your viewing pleasure:

1.-WE ARE NOT SPENDING A LOT OF MONEY ON SPACE RESEARCH!!!!!!!!11111111 OMG!!!!!!11111

So you think a few billions here and there every year are a lot of money? The world's GDP is in the 40 trillion dollar range, the war in Iraq burns 12 billion a month, the world spends 5 billion A DAY in oil.

There goes your "omg we spend so much in space lol" theory.

2.-For all practical means space exploration is good because we need satelites. Not that we "need" them but they are useful.

3.-Non commercial space exploration is cool and scientifically relevant. I rest my case.

Answer 7

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What are the pros and cons of space travel?
should we really be spending that much money on space travel and for what reasons? PLEASE LIST SOURCES!!!

Answer 8

The pros are astronauts, the cons are trying to sell you space on mars.

Answer 9

well i believe that Earth is the cradle of Mankind but Man can't spend his whole life in the cradle.

the only negitive of space travel is that the human body cant explore space and must rely on robots maybe in the future we may travel farther.

GOOD QUESTION i luv SPACE and the fact we are the first humans to know there are inhabitable planets for us to find and conquer.

Answer 10

Well as the O-zone depletes, thanks to us, and the moon's orbit gets further every year; our need for providing our childrens children with a colony on the moon/mars grows. We need to upgrade our space craft so that it is possible for humans to survive trips to and from other planets. As of now we would be bombarded with solar winds and lethal amounts of radiation as we leave earths barrier.