Humanity has had many difficult trials to overcome since time began, but none such as this. Humanity has been in a state of constant civil war, and we need to start to work together. Humans need to look up from the dirt, and from the blood, and from the dying, to the stars! Earth should use its resources for good, humans should work together toward a common goal where people can escape their addiction to violence by uniting the planet, to strive for space exploration. People have the ability to make this happen, but they are split because of their slight differences, humans need to admit to being humans, not nations. Humanity’s next step is not forward, its up into the stars to find the answers for age old questions. Carl Sagan quotes, “Across the sea of space, the stars are other suns, and those suns could provide life.”
The first step toward space is unification, people are not just German, French, American, or Japanese, they are human; they need to act like one species not separated as factions. People have a tendency to resort back to what they are familiar with when something seems impossible, like violence, they know it’s possible so they act it out. Humans need to believe it’s possible for it to happen! Even though humans have been in space before, they have made little effort to create new things to help them explore it. More than fifty years of human activity in space have produced benefits that improve the quality of life on Earth. The first satellites, helped connect the world, and together nations came together and contributed critical knowledge and capabilities for developing satellite communications, global positioning, and advances in weather forecasting (even though it’s mostly wrong). Space exploration initiated the economic development of space that today. The challenges of space exploration have sparked new scientific and technological knowledge of values to humankind, leading to better understanding of our Universe. Knowledge of space and our current technology could provide people around the globe with solutions as well as useful products and services. Knowledge acquired from space exploration could also introduce new perspectives on our individual and collective place in the Universe. Humans could achieve all of this if they just worked together a little more. J.D. Bernal quotes, “We hold the future still timidly, but perceive it for the first time as a function of our own action.”
Imagine what people could find if given the chance and means to search our galaxy for answers and new things, the possibilities could be endless! Future space exploration goals call for sending humans and robots to destinations such as the Moon, asteroids and Mars. Space agencies participating in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, are discussing an international approach for achieving these goals. That approach begins with the International Space Station, and leads to human missions to the surface of Mars. That is a huge step for humanity, the first step on another planet, a groundbreaking achievement, but imagine what humans could find! People could find the causes of so many things, as well as new things that humans could use to benefit society as we know it, technology and advancements have hit a wall, not a lot of things have been invented or created, if people explored space and found new things, life could and probably would be forever changed, it could bring the planet together even more so, by having everyone work for a common goal.
Lifestyle could, and probably will, change drastically, as all the new advancements people could have would become the new “Normal” of that era. Think what humans have today because of space exploration, solar panels, implantable heart monitors, cancer therapy lightweight materials, from water‐purification systems, improved computing systems, a global search‐and‐rescue system, the list goes on! Imagine how much more could be achieved if more effort be applied to space exploration now, in this day and age! . Space exploration offers a unique look on humanity’s place in the Universe, which is common to all. Everyday, space exploration missions fulfill people’s curiosity, producing new data about the solar system that brings us closer to answering questions that have been asked for millennia: What is the nature of the Universe? Is the destiny of humankind bound to Earth? Are humans and earth unique? Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? These questions could be answered if humans strived for space exploration, instead of waging minor conflicts that people have grown so accustomed to.
In conclusion, humans and earth would benefit so much from space exploration, people could gain, new technologies, new lifestyles, and new reasons to work together! Partnerships and capabilities could be developed through space exploration, it would create new opportunities for addressing global challenges. Space exploration is a global tool used to contribute trust and diplomacy between nations. Enhanced global partnerships and exploration capabilities may help advance international technologies for protecting the Earth from catastrophic events such as some asteroid strikes, advancing collaborative research on space weather and protecting spacecraft by developing new means for space debris removal. Knowledge derived from space exploration may also contribute to implementing policies for environmental development. Humans may even find the answer to the age old question, “Are we alone?”.