When space astronauts and scientists decide to subject themselves to everything that comes with going to space, they do not do so because they want to take a leisurely stroll in space. They do so because they want to answer some of humanity’s questions about the origin of our world and the universe, and how to prepare in the event that there are extraterrestrial threats. Space studies have not always been as sophisticated as it is currently, at some point it was just the postulates of people like Galileo that were almost had, but now as technology keeps getting more advanced, we now have different equipment to help us in our space studies.
The Hubble space telescope was launched in 1987, it is the most powerful telescope in all of humanity’s existence and was not originally designed to be used in studying planets outside of the earth’s solar system. As we would have it today, that is its main use currently. One of the most captured places in space is the moon, the moon actually informs us of a lot of things about our earth. The urge to see far beyond Earth when trying to understand how it worked in regards to other planets and its inner workings has to do with our planet’s restless nature. At many points in its 4.5 billion-year existence, Earth looked nothing like the blue-green marble it is today. Scientists believe that a MARS-sized body crashed into the earth 4.5 billion years ago.
This crash sent pieces of the earth spiraling into space, one of such pieces clumped together and that is what we have as the moon today, some other debris that was scattered in space eventually settled on the surface of the moon. The craters on the surface of the moon were formed as a result of the high speed these parts of the earth made with the moon. Scientists hope that by studying the chemical composition of these rocks and soil on our natural satellite, we could understand a great deal of the Earth's geological infancy – including how life emerged. Essentially, the moon is an extension of the earth, this makes the moon the most habitable place after the earth. We also have the moon to thank for helping keep the earth in orbit too, the moon being in such close proximity helps influence the weather on earth.
Asides from the cost that goes into training, research, and other areas of space travel, there is also the human cost attached to it. These human costs teach us very simple lessons about the earth, of recent we seem not to be able to understand this. The human body is simply not designed for space, this would hopefully influence our stance on protecting the earth. Some space expeditions can take as long as 6-8 months, this is a very long time for humans to be in space because of the dangers it holds for the body.
Once in space the bone density drops as a result of gravity, this means the movement of fluids in the body would be altered too. Astronaut Scott Kelly says he spent over 8 months on earth before his body could return to normalcy, he spent the bulk of it nauseated, unable to walk because of swollen legs and other things. He had to be tested against his twin brother to see how much of him had been changed because his body adapting to changes in space is one thing, it is another for his body to recalibrate itself to the earth's dynamics.
There were also other psychological problems to tackle. No amount of training can prepare one for such changes, human bodies are simply not designed for space. The specially designed for space exploration vehicles, Rovercraft vehicles, will do much more effective jobs than humans can do at a low or no human cost. In 2013, the Mars Curiosity Rover gathered enough preliminary evidence that showed the Martian environment once had conditions favorable to supporting living.
The discovery of signs of past or present life in the solar system would ultimately affect in many ways humanity’s understanding and perception of life’s uniqueness on Earth. The impact on philosophy, culture, religion, and politics would be so vast because a lot of the principles behind some of these thrived in the fact that Earth was the only planet with life forms on it.
One good side about space travel is how it has brought different countries of the world together to contribute their quotas towards their individual missions, virtually every spacecraft has its different parts originating from different countries of the world. It is dangerous that we find it easy to work together on this but various attempts by different organizations to get us to care about our environment have been frustrated many times. At one time, countries of the world agreed to have about 20 percent of the Earth and water bodies as reserves but when the year came to see how the venture went, we were severely behind schedule
Since the race for the commercialization of space travel has started, many big names in the industry are of the opinion that the Earth is quickly dying and humanity would have to spread out in space if we were to survive or the fate of the dinosaurs would be ours.
Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos have spent huge money in trying to get humanity to MARS, just like Donald Trump asking NASA in 2017 if a man would be on MARS in 2020, it is 2021 and the answer is still a NO. While we might be focused on trying to understand space for the sake of preparation against future threats, it is also wise and pertinent we keep our biggest chance at survival safe; the earth. Leaving the earth to space with the mentality of the earth dying without providing ways to solve these problems would leave us having the same problems there as we currently have on earth.