Track 19

Unit 7

Astronomy

Mission to Mars

Page 70

Extend the topic

Part A

Michael, what would you say to those people, often politicians, who argue that space exploration is an unnecessary extravagance, that the huge sums of money invested in space projects could be better spent on schools, hospitals and poverty issues?

Well, I’d say this: it’s a fact that exploration is an important survival strategy in evolution. Species migrate to find new food sources and save habitats. They also migrate when population pressures and environmental factors force them to. Just look at endangered species like polar bears. Increasingly they’re showing up in human settlements which are not natural to them but they’ve got no choice. As their environment is shrinking so too are their natural food sources.

So, are you suggesting that the same pressures or factors will eventually force the human species to look for new habitats, new worlds in order to survive?

That’s exactly what I’m saying but that’s not the only argument for space exploration. There’s also what I call the curiosity factor. You see, humans have an intellectual urge to explore the unknown. In the past, that’s meant Mount Everest, the polar caps the Americas and so on. In the 21st century, the ultimate frontier for exploration is space. Satellites and so on can only tell us so much and so if we really want to find out about other worlds, we’ve got to go there. It’s as simple as that.