Go boldly forth with 'Endeavour'

AS THE SPACE SHUTTLE programme draws to a close, it is timely to ponder the future of manned space exploration. Many question the urgency of this quest, usually on the basis of expense at a time when there is so much costly misery to alleviate here on earth.

But the truth is that we must urgently press on with space exploration. Migration into space is the only hope that humankind has of ultimate survival, because in about five billion years time our sun will die, burning earth to a charred barren rock. Also, at any stage, a large asteroid might smash into earth, rendering it incapable of supporting human life. Or we may so pollute it that it becomes uninhabitable. And, finally, it is essential to our psychological health that we explore this “final frontier”.

I will cite some telling quotations to illustrate humanity’s need to continue to venture into space. Many further inspiring quotations about space can be found at sylviaengdahl.com/space/quotes.htm.

WE MUST COLONISE SPACE FOR SURVIVAL

“Since, in the long run, every planetary civilisation will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring – not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive . . . If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.”

– Carl Sagan, Pale Blue Dot, 1994

“The earth is the cradle of humankind, but one cannot live in the cradle forever.”

– Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Russian rocket scientist, 1895

C OLONISATION OF SPACE HAS LONG BEEN A HUMAN VISION

“In spite of the opinions of certain narrow-minded people, who would shut up the human race upon this globe, as within some magic circle which it must never outstep, we shall one day travel to the moon, the planets, and the stars, with the same facility, rapidity and certainty as we now make the voyage from Liverpool to New York.

– Jules Verne, From the Earth to the Moon ,1865

WE MUST COLONISE SPACE TO PRESERVE THE EARTH

“People who view industrialisation as a source of the earth’s troubles, its pollution, and the desecration of its surface, can only advocate that we give it up. This is something that we can’t do; we have the tiger by the tail. We have 4.5 billion people on earth. We can’t support that many unless we’re industrialised and technologically advanced. So, the idea is not to get rid of industrialisation but to move it somewhere else.

“There are three reasons why, quite apart from scientific considerations, mankind needs to travel in space. The first reason is garbage disposal; we need to transfer industrial processes into space so that the Earth may remain a green and pleasant place for our grandchildren to live in. The second reason is to escape material impoverishment: the resources of this planet are finite, and we shall not forego forever the abundance of solar energy and minerals and living space that are spread out all around us. The third reason is our spiritual need for an open frontier.”

– Freeman Dyson, Disturbing the Universe, 1979

WE MUST COLONISE SPACE TO ELIMINATE WAR

“More than ever, we need people in space . . . The events of September 11th show us how vulnerable our civilisation is . . . So let us use our strength, our awareness of mortality as a civilisation, to do something truly lasting and earth-shaking for humanity. Let us join with the peoples and cultures of this planet, the diversities of its perspectives and religions and science, so we can leave it – not behind, but as a springboard to something better.”

– Paul Levinson, Realspace, 2003

WE MUST COLONISE SPACE TO FURTHER HUMAN EVOLUTION

“The urge to explore has propelled evolution since the first water creatures reconnoitred the land. Like all living systems, cultures cannot remain static; they evolve or decline. They explore or expire . . . Beyond all rationales, space flight is a spiritual quest in the broadest sense, one promising a revitalisation of humanity and a rebirth of hope no less profound than the great opening out of mind and spirit at the dawn of our modern age.”

– astronaut Buzz Aldrin (on the moon), Albuquerque Tribune, 1999

William Reville is UCC’s associate professor of biochemistry and public awareness of science officer: http://understandingscience.ucc.ie