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Top Ten Reasons to Inhabit Outer Space
By Yasha Husain
Special to SPACE.com
posted: 01:51 pm ET
21 July 2000
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reason_10_000723 10. Meeting the Challenge Madhu Thangavelu, who conducts a Space Exploration/Architecture Concepts Synthesis Studio at the University of Southern California, said that we have a whole generation of trained thinkers dealing with ideas like space exploration, changing weather patterns and geostationary satellite systems. He feels strongly that it is time they are utilized. Richard Godwin said, "Its time to commercialize low Earth orbit. NASAs done a great job there and now its our turn to get up there for commerce." Many experts agreed that we should begin the process of inhabiting space with settlements in low Earth orbit, then an industrial settlement on the moon, eventually colonizing Mars and beyond. These experts, including Godwin, George, Maryniak, Thangavelu and others, are fans of MirCorp, a company that has used private funds to initiate commercial operations on Mir -- the Russian space station that is now commercially available to any individuals seeking to access it. They hope companies like MirCorp will help them meet the challenge of building a space tourism industry and commercializing space. Godwin also thinks going to Mars makes sense, as its very different from the moon. It may take about two years to travel there and back, and you have to be able to live off the land for the time you are on Mars. But, he believes finding water and other important substances there will be hugely beneficial. Astronaut Steve Smith said we should move into space incrementally -- to start our efforts in low Earth orbit and eventually go on to Mars. Though Smith said he felt surprised at how wobbly his body felt the first time he returned from a spaceflight, he said that even in space your body gets used to travel. Hes very excited about the idea of others experiencing what he feels so lucky to have done. Congressman Rohrabacher thinks space travel will mean a better understanding of the human body, and that new methods to bolster its functioning under stress will be discovered in space. Congressman Berman summed it up this way: "The underlying and most important reasons for space exploration are rooted more in the fundamental definition of mankind. Part of what makes us uniquely human is that we have an insatiable thirst to know and explore the unknown. Space exploration is one of the most important ways that we collectively quench that thirst." The Space Frontier Foundation's James George echoed those sentiments, "Opening space and moving outward allows us to grow -- to learn to evolve and transform. The human spirit must move out to grow."
To Secure a Future for HumanityTo Build a New FrontierTo Find New Energy SourcesTo Build an Industrial Settlement On the MoonBetter Quality Images of the Universe -- and More of ThemThe SETI EffortMiningLearning the History of Our Universe On the MoonEnvironmental BenefitsMeeting the Challenge
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