Reaching for the stars
It's a moral imperative that we venture into the unknown
We need more entrepreneurs working on space-related technologies. We need more funding and more government subsidies. In the 1960s, NASA paved the way for the computer, the iPhone, and most electronics we take for granted today. The original “Space Race” fueled innovation that transformed economies. We’re embarking on a new “Space Race” except that this one is coming from the private sector.
Practically speaking, we're all the beneficiaries of the R&D that comes from reaching for the stars. And venturing into space is unlike other endeavors because of its ability to capture the attention of most humans. So when space is more viscerally part of our everyday lives, it will change us by shifting our priorities and perspectives. It may unify nations and help us set aside our differences if we had a common goal.
So, what does this look actually like over the next handful of decades? Imagine space hotels where tourists can circle the globe glimpsing both space and the beauty of our planet in zero gravity. It looks like a permanent base (probably several bases from various nations) on the moon. It’s the beginnings of a colony on Mars—humans working and living and playing on the red planet, with rockets coming and going from Earth on a regular basis.
We'll have a global mesh of satellites (probably Starlink) around Earth that gives anyone internet at any time—a good thing as it would act as a backup in case grids go down, and not to mention the fact that we’ll inject another 3 billion people into the global economy. This future also looks like rovers exploring planets like Venus and the moons of Jupiter with planned manned missions not too long after that.
By reaching for the stars we’re able to innovate by creating new technologies that extend our reach, not only by helping humans explore the solar system (and eventually the galaxy), but they’ll help us preserve and hopefully reverse the effects of climate change here on Earth. This proposal isn't an all or nothing deal. We don’t need to choose either Earth or space. Earth is central to the equation for exploration.
It is in our DNA to explore. We've crossed mountains, we've crossed oceans, and we’ve barely made it into space. We're a curious species, yet despite all of our flaws there's still something beautiful in our innate curiosity that pushes us to want to be more, to be bigger, to try and understand the unknown, to glimpse the gods, and to glimpse the infinite. Reaching for the stars is a moral imperative that isn’t a betrayal against the planet. In fact, it’s a way of saving it. It’s a way of saving ourselves (from ourselves).
