The Significance of Space Exploration

Nothing is rich but the inexhaustible wealth of the nature. She shows us only surfaces, but she is a million fathoms deep. RALPH WALDO EMERSON

    A universe in which everything is known would be static and dull, as boring as the heaven of some weak-minded theologians. A universe that is unknowable is no fit place for a thinking being. The ideal universe for us is one very much like the universe we inhibit, which includes much that is unknown and, at the same time, much that is knowable. And this is not really much of a coincidence.

    Space exploration is Men's first step taken from the cradle of the Earth towards the mysterious universe. This is our road to the glory, survival and prosperity of mankind. This is our destiny as thinking beings. We must one day venture out of the aerosphere to discover the galaxy we live, to unveil the many secrets of the cosmos, to expand our habitation and eventually bring our civilization to a new era.

    Men with such passion and vision have made possible the rapid developments in astronomy and aerospace technology. As we were amazed by fire balloons and aero planes, flying in sky and flying in space differ a lot. The fluid dynamics and many other theories we apply on Earth become invalid in space. Turboprop works no more. We reached closer to that dream, but it seemed always far and unreachable like the stars. Only till the invention of space shuttles, rockets and satellites did we make the giant leap. We can observe the universe with unprecedented accuracy from satellites, and with space shuttles, we are now out of the aerosphere! Space tourism, habitation into new planets, space agriculture and even cosmos-power are goals no longer impossible. So you, our prospective space explorer, must be eager to set off now and begin the long-waited journeyˇ­

The Prospects of Space Exploration

    The space is not so empty as it seems, though there is neither air nor gravity. However, it is a proliferating and fertile ground to develop many space industries.

A. Space tourism

    Space tourism is the term broadly applied to the concept of paying customers traveling beyond Earth's atmosphere. It can be defined to include not only the vehicles that take public passengers into space, but also from the prospective of 'destination' paradigm. As such, the industry can be envisioned to include not only earth-based attractions that simulate space experiences such as space theme parks, space training camps, virtual reality facilities and telerobotic moon rovers controlled from earth, but also parabolic flight, vertical suborbital flights, orbital flights lasting up to 3 days, or week-long stays at a floating space hotel, including participatory educational, research and entertainment experiences as well as space sports competitions(i.e. space Olympics).

    Originally it was thought that our civil space program would undertake activities that would see this possibility realized. And, indeed, we did see one of the US senators, a congressman and an Arabian prince take a trip to space. In parallel, two private persons, one from the United Kingdom and one from Japan, traveled to/from the Russian space station MIR.
   

In the mid-1980's a few small companies were formed in the US that began to explore he possibility of creating viable private sector space tourism enterprises. However, the tragic Shuttle Challenger disaster of 1986, in which five professional astronauts and the schoolteacher, Christa McAuliffe, were killed, saw all government and private sector space tourism ambitions out aside. Activities in the space-related area remained moribund for a half-dozen years.

    Then professional and business interest in space tourism commenced in Japan, and it has continued since. An initial vehicle design concept specifically focused upon space tourism operations was arrived at, and a model thereof shown at an international aerospace exhibition.

    Market studies made there, and subsequently in the United States and elsewhere, during the past very few years suggest that when fully developed, space travel and tourism could become a new space-related business with annual revenues of as much as $10 billion per year. Already, 10-12 million people are visiting the Air and Space Museum, the Kennedy Launch site, space camps, etc. - a terrestrial space tourism business probably made some $1 billion per year in size.

    You may be wondering how far the prospects of space tourism are from reality. A half-dozen private space transportation vehicle development companies have been formed in the US - companies that expect to produce and operate smaller vehicles than the presently envisioned X-33 follow-on (an experimental model of single-stage-to-orbit vehicle), but all privately financed. At least one of these companies expects, within 4-5 years, to be able to carry people to an altitude 10 times higher than that reached by the highest flying commercial aircraft.
Two US private sector companies have just announced their intention to offer novel space trips to the general public:
        a. Space Adventures, Fairfax, Virginia; and
        b. Zegrahm Expeditions Inc., Seattle, Washington

So we are not far from taking a trip to the Moon or Mars, are you ready?

B. Space power plant

    If we build a space power plant 300km (the aerosphere measures150km thick) from the Earth's surface, it will be able to generate an electricity power of 10 million kilowatt, and its efficiency will reach about 80%, a value 25%-30% higher than that of an earth-based power plant.

    The survival of mankind relies on the discovery of new power source and new methods of power generation. Currently the main power sources are coal, fossil fuels, natural gas and nuclear power. Electricity is usually generated by water or combustion. However, we are running out of water supply (which is already very limited), and combustion causes series of pollution problems. Nuclear power is efficient but the risk of leakage involved is high and the recycling of nuclear wastes presents difficulties. While we are still searching for the ideal power source, the human population is estimated to hit 7 billion in the first two decades this century, and to satisfy the growing need for power without harming the environment ranks as a mission of top priority.
Space agriculture

C. Space mining

D. Habitation