It is not all ignorance. Going to Mars, well nice plan but it takes time and resources. It is still a Future Tech. So much more needs to be done down here.
Building a sustainable city on Mars is nice, and a good insurance, but does not solve the issues here on Earth.
// Going to space has already benefitted life on Earth in literally thousands of ways! It’s a fact: astronauts on the International Space Station are spending hundreds of hours every week working with scientists on the ground while they perform experiments in their unique environment that lead to new materials, new manufacturing techniques, purer protein crystals, new drugs to fight cancer, new tissue growth research — thousands of benefits to help us on Earth that, ironically, could only be started off of it.
Home | NASA Spinoff Spinoff highlights NASA technologies that benefit life on Earth in the form of commercial products. We’ve profiled more than 2,000 spinoffs since 1976 — there’s more space in your life than you think!
https://spinoff.nasa.gov/• Our climate goals involve managing carbon dioxide.
• Mars goals involve managing carbon dioxide.
• There is a 100% chance that technology developed for going to Mars will help here on Earth, in that aspect alone. Massively carbon-emitting jet airplanes burn Jet-A kerosene, long-chain hydrocarbons sourced from fossil fuel. Starship burns methane, a simple three-carbon molecule, easily made sustainably by cracking carbon dioxide using the Sabatier reaction.
Switch Jet-A transport to sustainable methane and you’ve just eliminated a huge source of carbon emissions. The fact that a different vehicle is required is just the way it is. Starship is relatively cheap (made of steel) and easy to make. SpaceX has already built a bunch of them, and plans to build thousands more in the coming years.
Not starting decades from now.
Carbon-neutral transport is not a requirement for going to Mars. But it is one example of the side benefits that the challenge of this next frontier will bring. And, it’s happening soon: Reusable Starships will be flying customers’ cargo to space regularly within the next three years, and will supplement, then start to displace, jet airliner trips soon after. Fast enough for you?
New tech doesn’t just happen; it requires smart minds working hard on what is currently “impossible.” It makes perfect sense to dedicate some portion of our human budget to the incredible potential that going to space offers us “down here.” One percent has been suggested. —-
And hardship and risk of death well that does sound more like an adventure then a solution, doesn´t it?
// Working aboard the ISS is an adventure AND a solution! Science is often both — Antarctic Station is another example: an adventure for those who choose to go, which generates an invaluable source of knowledge for the world. Stepping outside of our comfort zone is exactly what is required to come up with the solutions to the climate crisis we don’t see from the comforts of our daily lives.
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As too the first part we should be really have at least one proper ExoBiology mission (current ones are ExoGeology) to check out if there is live there before we contaminate it.
// A valid concern. Studies, and decontamination, will be important. NASA documented it in the requirements SpaceX must develop for the lunar Starship’s Human Landing System. Life which evolved over millions of years to survive on Earth has little chance of surviving the harsh Martian environment. But what if there really is no Martian life? It doesn’t make sense to stifle what could be humanity’s last hope because of an imagined fear that “dragons be there.” If there is Martian life, that would be profound. But we won’t know until we go and look closely for it, with tools and minds more advanced than rovers.
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Short version: A lot of people think that the notion that this space adventure actually helps us along on the short term important climate goals is bonkers.
// Then those people should take a moment to learn how
it does exactly that, rather than dismissing out-of-the box thinking by some of the brightest minds in the country; precisely what we need to develop solutions that don’t currently exist.
It’s clear that to solve the climate crisis, we need new thinking, new tech, new habits — and we need them quickly. In “the short term,” the Space industry is probably the fastest evolving industry we have. It makes perfect sense to look for solutions there.
