Should we keep on trying to explore space?

[sdkudrgn88]

It's a long-debated issue, but I have a healthy opinion on it: yes, we should keep exploring space.

I think it's just not really about any survival tactics or trying to improve technologies here on Earth - it's simply about the human desire for exploration.

Sure, Earth has a lot of problems, like starvation of the poor - but why should that stop us from exploring space? We already spend enough money as it is trying to fix our problems, and it's not just a problem of money, it's a problem of political will.

(e.g. There are some religious fundamentalists that are firmly opposed to space travel because they believe it contravenes God's will for people to be subservient and faithful to him, like the tower of Babel did.)

Of course, I'm talking actual exploration here, not the stuff that happens at the ISS, which is just sedentary research. I'm talking sending probes and eventually people "out there", perhaps to explore new planets or new stars.

What do you think?

[Ihatepie]

I personally would love to see a permanent moon base within my lifetime. Colonizing the moon would not only provide a new frontier, but would get rid of our overpopulation crisis, and give a new area for scientists to use their knowledge (basically how to make the moon get an atmosphere, good soil, water, etc.) Plus, almost anyone can do a backflip there.

[worthawholebean]

Space exploration is one of those places where we need to take the "long view." Some may say that it does nothing to improve life on earth, but they are too shortsighted. The potential benefits are just too great to stop right here, to give up. It''s too late at night for me to go into what I think are the underlying philosophical issues.

[12markkram34]

What are some of the potential benefits? How would they balance the costs?

[sdkudrgn88]

[worthawholebean]

I don't think any of the arguments above are valid - a colony on the moon is not yet a good idea, and the other goals are either exaggerated or could have been achieved more cheaply without the added baggage of space exploration. I think the idea has its own merits, though. If we're talking as percentage of world GDP, space exploration is a pittance. Even as a percentage of US GDP. Eventually, larger-scale stuff will be viable, but we have to start now. The inspirational value is more difficult to quantify, but it exists.

[zapi2007]

I thought microwaves were invented when a person realized that the bar of chocolate in his pocket melted?

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/worklife/10/04/nasa.everyday/index.html
Here's a site with a list of inventions that came out as a result of space.

[sdkudrgn88]

[ZetaX]

[12markkram34]

That's a good reason, but are there activities on Earth that have similarly stimulated technological advancement?

[sdkudrgn88]

[Ihatepie]

[chrischris]

I honestly do not care about problems that can't be solved, or won't even arise, within my lifetime.
I'm not shortsighted, just not immortal.

[JBL]

The problem with overpopulation is the distribution of a finite amount of resources; lack of physical space on which to live is irrelevant at the world scale. The idea that we will be able to live sustainably on the moon is silly; the idea that it makes more sense to do that then, say, to increase population density in Utah or the Australian outback is really strange.

[nobelium]

In my opinion,we should continue space exploration.To solve a problem, one cannot divert all the energy to its solution.Space exploration may bring out facts that may help mankind in the long run.

[sdkudrgn88]

[JBL]

How about Earth?

Edit: Also, your rejoinder is just wrong: kites and hot air balloons have been in use for more than 2000 years, according to Wikipedia, and the first human glider flight was apparently in the 9th century CE. The first flight by a steerable aircraft was in the 1850s. A moon colony that could support enough human life so as to "help solve the overpopulation problem" is to current space flight technology as a 747 is to a helium balloon.

[sdkudrgn88]

[ZetaX]

It's not like the problem here on earth is a lack of some technology. What fails here are politics and the people itself. Any argument of type "space colonialisation will solve our current ressource/recycling/clima/population/whatever problems" is just wrong, as such a thing can be archieved much easier and much cheaper with current technology, but just no one does (and the colonies will give them no reason to start doing so!).
The only good argument for colonies in the short run is curiousity. In the very long run (some thousend years maybe), ressources may come into play, but not for current issues.