SPACE: THE final frontier. Actually that’s not strictly true as there are many frontiers that the human race has yet to definitively overcome. Thus far, we still haven’t found a cure for cancer, explored the vast dark depths of the oceans and we remain completely clueless as to what lurks behind Alistair Darling’s eyebrows.
Nevertheless, the tantalising terra incognita of outer space – the great universe beyond our small watery spec of galactic matter – still exists as something that humans strive to discover. The mysteries in the stars, the sheer size of the universe, the incomprehensibility of it all and the ever-present question, “Is anybody else out there?” all play upon the popular imagination. The essential human desire to learn and reach beyond also fuels a mass fascination with boldly going to a galaxy far, far away.
The powers that be figure that we’ve mastered our own little world and want to now make the great unknown known. This could be seen as a cold and soulless scientific desire to completely eradicate any exciting obscurity and codify the perplexing concept of space into rational, academic terms, but it is more than this. Surely we should aspire to increase our understanding of the universe around us, and it’s surely a good thing to intellectually push ourselves further for civilisation’s development. By asking the questions and trying to find the answers, the world advances. Imagine if the likes of Isaac Newton and Galileo had never polished off their respective apples and telescopes and pondered: “Why?”
It’s unsurprising therefore that the space race has re-ignited with a vengeance in the 21st century, having trailed off after the Cold War. Space agencies across the planet continue to spend vast amounts of money and employ the finest scientific minds to manufacture the tremendous technology and organise the programmes that will work to unravel the cosmos. After a few high-profile setbacks, NASA has re-asserted its ‘Vision for Space Exploration’ and has several schemes in the pipeline. Likewise, the European Space Agency, China and Russia all also have ambitious plans.
Sadly, there’s a distinct nationalism and international rivalry rooted in these programmes. Is this really about intellectual enlightenment and discovery, or is it just power-posturing on behalf of the world’s major nations? Sadly it seems to be mostly the latter. Furthermore, it’s unlikely that the likes of Richard Branson and other captains of private industry have ‘the greater good of humanity’ as the highest priority as they work on such space-travel schemes as Virgin Galactic. Here the brand and big publicity are the first concerns over any sense of a quest to advance the human race and raise the intellectual, exploratory bar.
I hate to sound conservative, but is the massive expense required to make leaps beyond the stratosphere really justified? The cost of any project is astronomical and, especially when you consider the unreliability of recent NASA programmes (see the number of safety concerns over shuttle components and the disintegration of the Columbia craft upon re-entry over Texas in 2003), it begs the question: couldn’t that money have been better spent somewhere else?
If we focus on launching spaceships, rockets and robots into space at the expense of our other Earthbound concerns, then the consequences could be severe. There’s so much space out there and it has lasted for eons without requiring our imminent, urgent attention. On the other hand, Earth faces such pressing problems as war, disease, natural disaster, ecological crisis and poverty, to name a few. Could it be that if the resources devoted to the numerous disastrous NASA projects of recent times had been diverted to medical research, environmental conservation measures or ethical activities in war-torn, underprivileged regions the world would be a significantly better place?
The small elites that have their eyes on the sky could do with keeping a down-to-earth outlook as they pursue their outer space endeavours. There’s no point wandering off into outer space when this world - our world - is in such a mess. That in itself raises another point: if we venture out and master the universe, will we just screw it up and spoil it like we have our own Earthly home? If there are other life forms out there, do they really want us ruining their peace and quiet?
A nice article, but the author falls foul of some common misconceptions.
"This could be seen as a cold and soulless scientific desire to completely eradicate any exciting obscurity and codify the perplexing concept of space into rational, academic terms"
I'm confused when people say that science is cold and soulless. The scientific method might be viewed as cold in that it doesn't allow people's emotions and biases to come into the equation, but that's where its success lies! If we didn't discriminate between fact and opinion, we'd still be living in the dark ages. However, the majority of scientists are extremely passionate about their subject; some even continue to work, unpaid, far into their retirement, such is the level of interest that they hold in their research. And why wouldn't they be interested? It's possible to derive an enormous sense of beauty from the study of nature. Cold and soulless indeed!
"Could it be that if the resources devoted to the numerous disastrous NASA projects of recent times had been diverted to medical research, environmental conservation measures or ethical activities in war-torn, underprivileged regions the world would be a significantly better place?"
One of the challenges of running a government is finding a balance between long- and short-term concerns. Even though space exploration may seem frivolous in an everyday context, it has an important role to play in inspiring young people to take up scientific careers, invent new technologies and make the improvements that you suggest. "Technology transfer" is a big deal in science, and pure research often leads to extremely useful technologies down the line. In particular, space exploration allows us to better understand biological processes by carrying-out experiments in low-gravity.
In summary, money alone isn't enough to improve the world. You have to have the people and the technologies to make the improvements, and space exploration is a tried and tested way of gaining those resources.
I think that's quite an ignorant and narrow-minded opinion. If you actually look at NASA's successful launch rates for ALL its launches (not just the shuttle ones shown on TV), you'll find it's vastly successful at what it does. If you take a minute just to find out what NASA does out of the media spotlight - building things like GPS systems, tsunami early-warning systems, earthquake early-warning systems, weather-monitoring systems, etc. etc. - you'd be amazed. Also, look at the great scientific returns that have been coming back from NASA's missions to Mars, Saturn (Cassini), the Sun (STEREO) and their observatories - Spitzer and Hubble, you'd be saying they're doing a fantastic job with the money they get.
One negative thing, of course, is all the money that is being sunk into "publicity stunts" like the shuttle launches and the international space station. Those initiatives return very little scientific value - they're really just to keep the public's interest up and to keep funding coming into NASA so that it can do real stuff. Of course, when George W. shuffles off, we may get a president who is keen to do more real scientific research and less setting off fireworks for the media. Here's hoping.
From someone who works for NASA (public disclosure).
Thanks for your reply Paul. You've got some good points and insights. It's true that NASA has done and continues to do an immense amount of invaluable work that doesn't get noticed as much as the big shuttle launchesand such. I'm not in any way doubting NASA's viability and credibility as an organisation - my main purpose is to reassess the idea of space exploration in light of the recent noticeable rise in nations further ambitions to launch costly programmes and projects.
My bias as a humanities student rather than being a scientifically/technically-minded person comes across here in this article, so it's good to get your perspective. I do genuinely feel though that there's a danger of neglected here-and-now concerns on Earth, create international tensions and squander resources in the drive to pull together space programmes. Of course we should push the boundaries, look beyond and strive to increase our knowledge of space, but it's essential not to devote too much to an exclusive endeavour at the expense of humanity as a whole. I'd be happy to hear your further thoughts and continue the debate. Contact opinion@student-direct.co.uk and they'll pass you onto me if you want.