The stuff of classic science fiction tales — daring space exploration of exotic planets, bizarre intergalactic alien empires, faster-than-light travel through the seemingly infinite cosmos — it’s all fun and games until it comes time to actually think about it. The uniquely human fascination with the grand mystery of space is as longstanding in our past as it is essential to our future as a curious, explorative species. But it is a future that increasingly appears necessary to postpone as we confront our immediate planetary concerns, of which there are many to say the least. We cannot let our fantasies of the great mystery of space distract us from the very clear, very real and very present dangers that we face on our own planet Earth.
This realization comes on the heels of a seemingly innocuous and isolated statement by the rather ambitious CEO of SpaceX, Elon Musk, who hopes to one day move “well beyond” Mars in our purported inevitable efforts of human space colonization. His dream is for the human species to one day inhabit the entire solar system and beyond, and millions more share this dream. So while we daydream about how we shall best design our wonderfully sleek spacecraft or how to finally develop cryogenic sleep, never mind the over 2.1 billion people in the developing world who lived on the equivalent of less than $3.10 a day in 2012. Or we can overlook the approximately 2.5 billion people who do not have the most basic access to adequate sanitation of water, or turn away from the approximately 795 million people in the world who do not have basic food access. We need not consider the endless, painful statistics that paint a grim picture of reality on our planet, a reality that must take precedent over and not be eclipsed by our fantasies of space.
It is not as if I hate the idea of space exploration. In fact, I am an outspoken proponent for the natural human curiosity to dare, to explore and to innovate, all of which duly apply to space, the final and greatest frontier. I am just as awestruck, just as overwhelmed, by the vastness of space as any other person — but this fascination only goes so far as to inevitably be hampered by the reminder of the suffering of billions of people who do not share the dream of one day touching foot on Mars, but rather only hope of what to eat the next day.
Even here in the United States, we can see the effects of our obsession with space and our indifference to other, more pressing, affairs. Unbelievably, our deeply divided, extremely partisan Congress can find the time to discuss the funding to to consolidate and protect the NASA mission to send a man to Mars. They crossed party lines to do so, but cannot seem to unify behind comprehensive legislative action against the Zika virus, insidiously encroaching onto the mainland United States with numerous cases reported in Florida. By means of illustration, Zika infected individuals have been registered in all states except for Alaska. And Zika is only a tiny portion of the larger issues facing our species. What good will our spacecraft be when we face an existential crisis on our own planet? The list goes on.
Our romance with space exploration is quite literally drawing our eyes away from the problems right before us — problems that are in need of serious solutions. We must dedicate the same ambition and innovation we might otherwise distractedly apply to other enterprises, such as space exploration. We have the means. We have the knowledge. What we need is the willpower and attention to focus our efforts on helping those billions who cannot help themselves. And we need not fear that we are missing an opportunity in doing so — space isn’t going anywhere. We cannot honestly deny that we in the developed world possess the economic, political and social tools to effectively combat global poverty and destitution. For the sake of our planet, our very future, we cannot turn a blind eye to our moral obligations as fellow human beings before we look to the stars.
Why the assumption that money spent on space flight and space development can’t also be a useful to to deal with things like global poverty, climate change, and so forth?
Hi Aaron,
I appreciate the question. Never did I claim that the two were mutually exclusive, however. In fact, I was thinking to myself that I should have included my commentary on space tourism, which may have answered your question on the matter. Sure, the investments towards space tourism or spacefaring craft used for commercial enterprises may indeed stimulate significant capital, but given the longstanding trajectory of wealth accumulation in developed countries in a small number of individuals or groups, I find it unbelievable that that same profit or capital could be reinvested into sustainable development in the developing world- but I would be glad to be proved wrong on this count.
Thanks,
Elias
You don’t have a chance in hell of solving those problems without space colonization.
You are completely unaware of the cultural origins and the magnitude of those problems.
In short, you reason like a college student.
Hi Thomas,
Interesting perspective. While I was unable to articulate the entirety of my stance in the span of a single column (which may have addressed some of your concerns), I invite you to send me yours in its entirety by writing to the DFP. You seem to have strong opinions.
Thanks,
Elias,
Elias,
Your comment about space investment spurring significant capital misses my point. I’ll give you an example, that is happening right now.
A significant amount of capital goes into earth observation satellites, which help out on a number of activities – weather prediction, ocean monitoring and so forth. All of those do actually address and help real world problems, both in the developed world, and the developing world. There are more and more countries that are deploying their own assets in space, because of the importance of earth monitoring (farmers planting crops, fisherman, and so forth).
Now, I realize this is only unmanned, and you were clearly focused on the human spaceflight side, but I want to drive the point that this is an example where spaceflight is helping to solve a real problem.
So, that brings us to a question of human spaceflight. And the answer is that part of the problem is that human spaceflight costs to much. But, and here is the big but – it doesn’t need to cost that much. We can and should invest in options that bring the cost of spaceflight down, if for no other reason than to allow for replacement of the systems we already have – GPS, earth monitoring, communication satellites.
And there comes a point, that when you bring the price down enough that humans do become cost competitive.
So, what opportunities could happen if we could actually drop the cost of doing spaceflight by a lot? I would submit there are a lot, if we start looking at them – everything from Microgravity research used to create new seed varieties, to big ideas like clean energy from space based solar power.
Now, you can ask “Is our investing in space focused on delivering real value, in a way that solves fundamental problems, like climate change, like useful medical research, etc” – that is a far more complex question. But the point I am making is that this isn’t about just spending money to make work jobs in space. It’s about using the resources of space to solve problems.