Why We Choose to Go to Space: Human Survival
Troy Morris, Director of Operations
5 minute read
As reported in Failure Is Not an Option by Gene Kranz, “When reporters asked [Alan] Shepard what he thought about as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he had replied, 'The fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder.'” And his response doesn’t account for where this explosive ship is heading: to an empty, unforgiving, uncompromising, and in almost-every-way hostile void. As this topic is becoming an unofficial series, the literal question comes to mind of why would anyone choose to go to space themselves?
Thankfully recent history provides a most remarkable example with William Shatner, of fictional space experience as Captain James Tiberius Kirk in Star Trek, recently taking a flight to the edge of space. The well-spoken actor at 90 years of age had tried to prepare, but following the journey to weightlessness, “when I was there, everything I thought might be clever to say went out the window.” After returning to Earth, Shatner spoke with tearful emotion, “What you have given me is the most profound experience I can imagine, I am overwhelmed. I had no idea.”
This explanation is merely the most recent anecdotal evidence of over 60 years of human spaceflight. Yet in seeking an answer to why a human would choose to go to space, even seeking confirmation from artists or astronauts feels incomplete. Hundreds and thousands of scientists don’t labor for just getting an individual to the moon, in either the Apollo or Artemis programs. No bureaucratic system would continue to spend the effort exerted for personal epiphanies and eye-opening experiences. The optimists and dreamers might thrive on these tales and inspirations, but the nihilists and cynics would have won the war over spacefaring long before this author was born.
Humanity has chosen, continues to choose, and for as long as possible will carry-on choosing to go to space for human survival. Depending on the defined goal line of survival, this can be as abstract as inspiration and imagination (as covered in a previous column), or tangible with measurable improvements from filtration to memory foam (as covered in an even earlier column). Even between these extremes are the steps of survival made possible in space itself, not just the artistic or engineering products brought back to Earth.
The list of medicine and biological discovery occurring in orbit is ever-growing, a thankful improvement for many lives. But my example is not within the artificial environment of the International Space Station, an oasis of humanity in the harshness of space. My evidence of human survival being reliant on space is made by the satellites above our planet observing its shifting surface.
From navigational imaging to weather tracking, geological research to geographical positioning, what modern life depends on for many comforts and conveniences is also essential for future life to exist. The satellites that study our planet seek to improve the slices of survivable territory we’ve kept with agricultural information collected across thousands of acres in a repeating cycle. The details and data to support food supplies are in increasing need due to the rising demand and continuing challenges to successful harvests. These challenges exist in many ways - disease, ground nutrition, aquifer depletion, and more - but none as obvious, or impacting other aspects of humanity, as weather.
Whether the predictions are of the next few hours, days, or weeks, few modern outside activities occur without strong consideration for the powerful and petulant systems circling our planet. While impressive success occurs from ground-based observers, it is orbital platforms that provide early warning, long term analysis, or full visualization of the storms, systems, and sunny days humanity can expect. As hurricanes increase in ferocity and frequency, millions of people will have further reliance for their physical safety on satellites and the scientists who operate them.
Of the longest satellite programs, Landsat stands at the vanguard of information, with 9 launches in the nearly 50-year program, providing millions of Earth images and irreplaceable data. Data that has guided high yield fisheries, ecological forestry, studies of wildfires, glacier retreat visualization, and tracking of urban development. This long-standing observation has and continues to guide regional planning and anthropogenic activities on our fragile planet.
In navigating this planet, a critical tool of emergency services, personnel and freight transportation, tourists, or any unsure of the way, is the near-ubiquitous modern convenience of GPS. The Global Positioning System is the United States satellite navigation service that established the practical and widespread availability of modern navigation. GPS has become so essential that the term has slipped in meaning, used loosely for almost any navigation, whether using satellites or not. In either getting to somewhere or knowing where someone is, humanity often relies on information from among the stars, a technological upgrade to the ancient celestial navigation of ancestors.
Therefore, a major component of the modern experience is made possible and relies on the orbital assets and the information they provide. As the continued impacts of human activities are studied and seen around the planet, survival from storms, famine, fires, and other calamities hinge on the access to and information from satellites. How humans survive into the 21st century is by both the technology we create, including some of the most clever ingenuities for surviving that most hostile environment of outer space, but also the information we gather to guide these technologies.
For as much as humanity relies on space and satellites, these technological creations and the orbital environment rely on humanity. As both the creators of satellites, and unintentionally their most pressing threat, there is an intrinsic duty, a selfish desire, and a logical understanding that our continued actions in space require our maintenance of it. Of no surprise to any who have read these columns before, the orbital debris issue has been a coming disaster that might still be avoided. If humanity can create ways into space, to survive in space, and to increase the health and happiness on Earth, we are due to keep space clear for all, or doomed to lose the benefits of our modern era.
Recommended column to read next: Why We Choose to Go to Space: Human Imagination