Reasons why Humans want to Explore Space
Aug 18, 2019 6:21:47 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on Aug 18, 2019 6:21:47 GMT -5
Reasons why Humans want to Explore Space
Curiosity
There are various reasons why humans are very interested in space exploration. The reason that readily comes to most people's minds is curiosity, or an insatiable need to know. It is the same curiosity that motivates humans to venture into the deepest areas of our oceans, such as the Mariana Trench, or to travel into the unexplored areas on dry land, such as the Amazon Jungle and into to the vast, hostile, frigid interior of Antarctica or down into unexplored underwater caves.
It's the same implacable curiosity that impels us to probe the microscopic realities of the quantum universe, and moves us to hypothesize the existence of other dimensions and realms which might lie just beyond our meager senses. We need to know what is or there in that enigmatic, seemingly endless darkness of space, and so we reach out with our feeble instruments in order to get our answers and yearn to observe the yet humanly unseen wonders that might lie beyond.
Survival
Those who don't believe in a creator imagine some asteroid, comet, or even some rogue star, world or black hole might come barreling out of the darkness straight for us. They fear a that global disaster might render escaping underground, as humans are shown doing in the film Matrix, an impossibility.
Or perhaps some relatively nearby star might go supernova. Or maybe some super-volcanic activity that might render our atmosphere unbreathable. Or else some malfunction of our sun which might render earth uninhabitable. Or geological event such as extreme volcanism.
Geologists add to tis concern by telling us that global volcanism wiped out most of Earth's life before. So having somewhere else in our solar system or beyond in which to hide and survive as a species is areal concern for atheistic mankind.
Riches
The conquistadors of the Americas were motivated by dreams of becoming rich. In a like manner, modern humans are tempted by the tantalizing vast mineral resources out there. Of course, before such riches are gathered such riches, exploration to determine their location and abundance is necessary. The relatively near Lunar soil is one that offers a mineral, called Helium 3, that is useful in producing nuclear fusion.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lunar_resources
The mineral-rich Asteroid Belt located between Jupiter and Mars is another. The atmospheres of the Gas giants, such as Jupiter and Saturn, which are rich in hydrogen, are yet another.
Asteroid Mining the Race for Space Riches
Outer space has extremely rich mineral resources, especially in the form of nickel and iron from iron-nickel asteroids. The asteroid 16 Psyche, a 200 km (125 mi) wide asteroid that makes up 1% of the material in the asteroid belt, contains 1.7 x 1019 kilograms of ore, enough to supply the 2007 world production requirement for millions of years. A more modest asteroid, just a kilometer in size, could contain billions of tons of iron-nickel ore.
For reference, the annual world production of iron ore is about a billion tons. About 800 billion tons of iron ore resources exist worldwide, which seems like a lot, but if consumption rates continue to grow exponentially, it might be completely dug up in under a century, necessitating iron from elsewhere.
www.wisegeek.com/what-mineral-resources-exist-in-space.htm
www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/asteroids-contain-metals-worth-quintillions-of-dollars-but-mining-them-wont-necessarily-make-your-richer-than-bezos-or-musk/articleshow/83989878.cms
According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the belt alone is home to around $700 quintillion — that’s $100 billion for every one of the seven billion people on Earth.
The most valuable asteroid in the belt is Davida.
It has a diameter of 326 kilometers and has a resource value of almost $27 quintillion.
www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/asteroids-contain-metals-worth-quintillions-of-dollars-but-mining-them-wont-necessarily-make-your-richer-than-bezos-or-musk/articleshow/83989878.cms
The most valuable asteroid in the belt is Davida.
It has a diameter of 326 kilometers and has a resource value of almost $27 quintillion.
www.businessinsider.in/science/space/news/asteroids-contain-metals-worth-quintillions-of-dollars-but-mining-them-wont-necessarily-make-your-richer-than-bezos-or-musk/articleshow/83989878.cms