Exploratory Prospects.

Greetings. The process of exploring outer space offers some amazing rewards, and some daunting challenges. Let's take a look at some potentialities. 

As the space age dawned, it quickly became apparent that the roads ahead were peppered with unforseen roadblocks, above and beyond the technical challenges we were already painfully aware of. The situation has not changed. Starting with the efforts of Robert Goddard, Hermann Oberth, Konstantin Tsiolkovsky, Wernher von Braun, and Robert Esnault-Pelterie, the space age dawned, and our collective abilities have improved as the decades have passed. By the 1960's substantial progress had been made towards placing humans in space, under the guise of Mercury, Vostok, Gemini, Voskhod, Apollo, and Soyuz. The names are familiar, depending on which side of the geopolitical divide one happens to reside on. By the 1970's, with the moon landings having occurred, and the effort to establish space stations in low Earth orbit fully underway, the focus on manned explorations beyond Earth orbit took a backseat in the space age arena, a seat that is still occupied. December 19th of 1972 has become an infamous date, it being the last day that a human being walked on the surface of another planetary body, the Moon during the Apollo 17 mission. Since then, nothing, not even a failed attempt. 

The Space Shuttle, and its main accomplishments, the Hubble Telescope and the International Space Station, has come and gone, with the shuttle retired, the Hubble closing in on its final date of operation, and the International Space Station getting on in years. What next? China and the United States are planning to send humans to the lunar surface in the next few years, but then what? Will the exploratory effort stall like it did back in the early 1970's? Will humans continue on to the next closest planetary destination, Mars? I have no idea, but I strongly believe that the progress that humans make in the effort to explore outer space improves our species as a whole, helping us to increase our knowledge of the universe we reside in, and allowing us to work together, although not completely, to attain goals once thought unattainable and beyond the reach of humankind. Mars, Ceres, Europa, Titan, Enceladus, and some of the other terrestrial bodies in the solar system await, offering unknown possibilities, all fascinating to ponder and/or consider. Mars with its ice caps, deep valleys, and massive volcanoes, with its weather patterns and dust storms. A place, not just another planet, but a place with its own character and long, storied history. Further out lie the dwarf planet Ceres and the large moons Europa, Titan, and Enceladus, possible homes for extraterrestrial life forms with their atmospheres and caches of water and other elements which may support life. All attainable goals for manned explorations, herculean but certainly worthwhile endeavors. 

How difficult? How herculean? Quite. The process of sending unmanned probes into deep space is far easier than sending humans, with no need for food, water, or oxygen to sustain a crew. Mechanical devices need no such supplies, which makes the logistics of unmanned exploration far easier, and far cheaper, which has always been a primary concern for NASA and other space agencies around the planet. Sending humans into deep space costs far more from a financial standpoint, and has a high price tag for those brave people onboard the spacecraft. Since faster-than-light travel is impossible, and since our technology is woefully incapable of reaching speeds that would shorten the time it takes to complete the journeys to the aforementioned destinations, it will likely take years of a person's lifetime to make the journey, arrive at the designated destination, and return home safely. Years. 

Despite the challenges, the journeys are worthwhile, indeed, perhaps necessary to the survival of the human species. If we choose to remain here on Earth, satisfied to continue waging wars, and happy to continue the effort to separate ourselves from our fellow humans, then we may end up going extinct, as 99% of all life forms have in Earth's history. We need to continue improving ourselves as a species, and as individuals, to continue acquiring knowledge, to continue learning about the awe-inspiring universe we reside in. Human curiosity demands that we explore our surroundings, we have always done do, we need to continue to do so.

Thank you for your time and consideration.