Should Humans Colonize Space? Rockets or mass drivers can perhaps be installed on asteroids to direct their paths along safe courses. The most important reason for space colonization is the continued existence of the human race in the face of a catastrophic event. Musk is the CEO of SpaceX, an aerospace manufacturer and space transport services company. Then the planet must be made to produce oxygen so humans and other mammals can breathe, which will take about 100,000 years or more. Analyze Christopher Schabergs position that Were Already Colonizing Mars.. Finally, the level of (pseudo-) gravity is controlled at any desired level by rotating an orbital colony. SpaceX is a commercial space travel business owned by Elon Musk that has ignited commercial space travel enthusiasm and the idea of space tourism. Richard Bransons Virgin Galactic and Jeff Bezos Blue Origin have generated similar excitement. The most common ideas for space colonization include: settling Earths Moon, building on Mars, and constructing free-floating space stations. Much of the current terrestrial communications already pass through satellites. ProCon/Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc. All rights reserved. Robert Zubrin constantly beats the drum for exploring Mars first. At the same time, it can also serve as a laboratory in space - a purely scientific enterprise, existing with the help of a regular supply of necessary resources from Earth. Locations in space would necessitate a space habitat, also called space colony and orbital colony, or a space station that would be intended as a permanent settlement rather than as a simple way-station or other specialized facility. The speculation is that hot, hydrogen-containing balloons would be used to suspend large masses at roughly Earth gravity. The Artemis Project designed a plan to colonize Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) Book of Mars: $22.99 at Magazines Direct. Some people believe we should not spend our money, time and resources on this enterprise, because there are problems on Earth we still haven't fixed. It has been suggested that Mercury could be colonized using the same technology, approach, and equipment that would be used for colonization of the Moon. These may be expensively imported from the Earth, or more cheaply from extraterrestrial sources, such as the Moon (which has ample metals, silicon, and oxygen), Near Earth Asteroids, which have all the materials needed (with the possible exception of nitrogen), comets, or elsewhere. This article was published on January 21, 2022, at Britannicas ProCon.org, a nonpartisan issue-information source. You might as well be exposed to the vacuum of space, resulting in a severe form of the bendsincluding ruptured lungs, dangerously swollen skin and body tissue, and ultimately death. Sooner or later, disasters such as an asteroid collision or nuclear war could wipe us all out. As a species, we are approaching an important turning point in our history, and if we make the wrong decisions we might be facing a future of deprivation, over population, hunger, and. 2. John Traphagan, PhD, Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Texas at Austin, argued, Colonization has the odor of running away from the problems weve created here; if we do that, we will simply bring those problems with us. The clouds could be a possible source for the extraction of water. A civilization that turns away from discovery and growth stagnates. Kennedy pointed out that while humans still have problems to resolve on Earth including civil rights violations and wealth inequality, Forgoing opportunities to expand our presence into the cosmos to achieve better outcomes here at home hasnt eliminated these scourges. We shouldnt avoid exploring space based on the false dichotomy of fixing Earthly problems first. What is the value of space exploration? Robots are hard and nobody gets upset when they die. [34], Bioethicist George Dvorsky summarized the hostile nature of Mars: The Red Planet is a cold, dead place, with an atmosphere about 100 times thinner than Earths. A continually accelerating starship: It would use a propulsion device such as a solar sail to approach the speed of light, allowing short subjective time to the crew, because of time dilation. Although they would generally also take a few days to reach with current technology, many of these points would have near-continuous solar power capability, since their distance from Earth would result in only brief and infrequent eclipses of light from the Sun. Why or why not? e NASA astronauts going into space afterward rode along with Russians until 2020 when SpaceX took over and first launched NASA astronauts into space on Apr. In the 1950s and 1960s, Dandridge Cole and Krafft Ehricke published their ideas. In Earth orbit, the Van Allen belts make living above the Earth's atmosphere difficult. [16] [17], On Apr. Proponents say artificial intelligence can improve workplace safety. t. e. Space colonization (also called space settlement or extraterrestrial colonization ) is the use of outer space or celestial bodies other than Earth for permanent habitation or as extraterrestrial territory . 8, 2022, a SpaceX capsule launched, carrying three paying customers and a former NASA astronaut on a roundtrip to the International Space Station (ISS). Dreams of space settlement hit a zenith in the 1950s with Walt Disney productions such as Man and the Moon, and science fiction novels including Ray Bradburys The Martian Chronicles (1950). ProCon.org is the institutional or organization author for all ProCon.org pages. By colonizing space, humankind could . And the majority (63%) stated NASAs top priority should be monitoring Earths climate, while only 18% said sending astronauts to Mars should be the highest priority and only 13% would prioritize sending astronauts to the Moon. One common phrase used to describe the necessity of space colonization is that it is unwise to put "all of your eggs in one basket." Should a catastrophe occur on Earth, and all humans on Earth die out, humans in space colonies would still be alivemeaning that humanity would not be extinct. Above Earth's natural protection, radiation exposure increases cancer risk, damages the central nervous system, can alter cognitive function, reduce motor function and prompt behavioral changes. Can Alternative Energy Effectively Replace Fossil Fuels? Dreams of space settlement hit a zenith in the 1950s with Walt Disney productions such as Man and the Moon, and science fiction novels including Ray Bradburys The Martian Chronicles (1950). 5. 1. It appears to be some interpretation of Christian dominion, or dominionist, theology that drives colonization advocates to declare that humans are destined to fill the universe, that humans "must" colonize Mars, that outer space resources are there for the taking.The ideology of space exploration is in need of rejuvenation. Technological advancement into space can exist alongside conservation efforts on Earth. Space colonization (also called space settlement, space humanization, or space habitation) is the concept of permanent, autonomous (self-sufficient) human habitation of locations outside Earth. = A major drawback of the Moon is its low abundance of volatiles necessary for life, such as hydrogen and oxygen. [25], Munevar also suggested something similar in more detail: In the shorter term, a strong human presence throughout the solar system will be able to prevent catastrophes on Earth by, for example, deflecting asteroids on a collision course with us. Space can be colonized and provide Earth with the. Following from that premise, Brian Patrick Green, Director of Technology Ethics at the Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, concluded, Because space settlement gives humankind the opportunity to significantly raise the chances of survival for our species, it is therefore a moral imperative to settle space as quickly as possible. [21], Some theorists, including Gonzalo Munevar, PhD, interdisciplinary Professor Emeritus at Lawrence Technological University, believe colonizing space will increase clean energy on Earth, provide access to the solar systems resources, and increase knowledge of space and Earth. Launching of materials from Earth is very expensive, so bulk materials could come from the Moon or Near-Earth Objects (NEOs, such as asteroids and comets with orbits near Earth), Phobos, or Deimos, where gravitational forces are much less, there is no atmosphere, and there is no biosphere to damage. Very little can be achieved on Mars that isn't already possible on Earth. Saturn 's largest moon Titan is one of several candidates for possible future colonization of the outer Solar System, though protection against extreme cold is a major consideration. And we can do this while also pursuing colonization. [23], Jeff Bezos suggested that we move all heavy industry off Earth and then zone Earth for residences and light industry only. And space exploration with colonization of other planets is the only solution in the long term. Unmanned supply craft may be practical with little technological advance, even crossing 1/2 billion kilometers of cold vacuum. The most common ideas for space colonization include: settling Earths Moon, building on Mars, and constructing free-floating space stations. "Man has gone out to explore other worlds and other civilizations without having explored his own labyrinth of dark passages and secret chambers, and without finding what lies behind doorways that he himself has sealed.". These solutions are the cornerstones that have helped people expand their horizons. However, if such a goal were to imply human self-replication, it would treat people as machines, requiring genetic experimentation on humans and expecting that human nature and the human desire for a spouse and family life can be by-passed in some cavalier fashion. Opponents say technophobia fuels debates about the internet making us stupid. The International Space Station alone has generated scores of medical innovations with uses on Earth, such as a method for delivering cancer-fighting medication directly to tumors; gadgetry that a nurse can hold to perform ultrasounds and transmit the results to a doctor thousands of miles away; and a robotic arm that can perform delicate surgery Print. value attempts to balance the rate of gain in genetic variation due to mutation with the rate of loss due to genetic drift. The moons of Mars have been proposed as targets for space colonization. 25, 2022. Billionaire Elon Musk explained that the SpaceX Mars colonization project would need one million people to pay $200,000 each just to move to and colonize Mars, which doesnt include the costs incurred before humans left Earth. Generation ship: A hypothetical starship that would travel much slower than light between stars, with the crew going through multiple generations before the journey is complete. The Space Movement began in 1975. Technological advancement into space can exist alongside conservation efforts on Earth. 3 reasons Mars colonization might be a bad idea. This requires fairly large radiator areas.
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