Outer Space Exploration
Many sit in awe of our universe, me included, and others think it is ... well, it just is! It colors our view of space exploration, an expensive proposition from either view. After all, don't we have enough problems right here on Earth to deal with without some pie in the sky (or beyond) expenditure with no guarantee of either success or tangible benefit?
Personally, I have learned to understand and even appreciate the priorities of those questioning such expenditures. It has taken me a while to get past my childhood dreams of someday watching our trips to outer space and learning what we find there. And when I'm talking about childhood, I'm talking about pretty early childhood coming from my primary grades. When I learned to read, I read my Golden Books on the Solar System and my Willey Ley books on our first trip to the moon. College years honed my appreciation of the actual science behind that exploration - I was a Physics major - and simultaneously sensitized me to the social and cultural needs of people less fortunate than I, people needing and worthy of focused social resources. This provided the dynamic tension appropriate to foster personal growth, to feed my spirituality.
That swings us to the present. Space exploration is becoming more and more a private enterprise undertaking, both to benefit and to detriment. It has also become more and more of an inevitability and the question now is whether most of it should be undertaken by manned missions or by robotic means. It brings us to the crux of what drove a child from rural Kansas to learn and explore on his own. Manned missions have sizzle. They rouse emotions and identification with the explorers. They are also dangerous and incredibly expensive. Science fiction shows and movies are not about rovers, they are about people. But is that justification enough?
Depends. Is it a worthwhile mission of scientific value that really requires a human on the spot to carry out? Could an astronaut with geological background note something a rover never could and bring it for breakthrough examination? Or even, is it a mission of political or military value better sold by human presence? When it comes to allocating significant resources and talent, basically there is a part that is a question of return on investment.
That isn't all that drives humanity at its deeper, more primitive levels, less rational and calculating levels. No, at those levels, we evolved to explore, to quest, to meet challenges for survival. We are made to discover the unknown, to expand our knowledge and experience. It is fundamentally human, for otherwise dreams die and souls wither.
Finally, it brings a consideration worth notice. It brings an awareness that's as amazing as the beyond is, as exciting as it is to learn. It brings the awareness that in terms of habitation, the rest of the solar system is a hell hole. It brings an appreciation that there really is no place like home. That in itself is worth the price of admission!
Please check out my other blog mates' takes on the same topic:
Ya know - we have essentially said the exact same things in our own unique styles. Yours is as usual more fluid and thought provoking as you are a much deeper soul than I You are a poet at heart whereasI am nothing but a relief pitcher/defensive tackle with a functional brain LOLLOL. This was a fun topic
ReplyDeleteDeeper soul?? Ha ha ha. It's just that I was a smaller guy on the mound while you could just tell em like it was and dare them to handle it! Now we are too old to pitch, so we write blog posts.
ReplyDeleteMost good bloggers used to be pitchers. That's my theory!
I reproduce what I said in Chuck's post : "I can understand and even support placing satellites in space for our various needs but, always wonder if the money spent on trips to other planets and other explorations could not be used for other more pressing purposes on earth."
ReplyDeleteIndeed, I covered my understanding of they position in my post. I think it true, but incomplete.
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