MOTION #74: THIS HOUSE WOULD EXPLORE THE UNIVERSE
From the launch of Sputnik - the first artificial satellite - in 1957,
through to the first human space flight by Yuri Gagarin in 1961, the first moon
landing in 1969, and beyond, both superpowers in the Cold war invested huge
amounts of money in trying to outdo each other in the so-called ‘space race’.
At the time, this was a convenient project to choose: while it allowed the two
nations to compete in a supposedly peaceful area, proving their scientific
achievements, the work on rockets also fed directly into work on the inter-continental
ballistic missiles, which would allow them to strike at each other with nuclear
weapons in the event of war.Since the end of the Cold War, however, the future
of space exploration has become less clear. Russia no longer has the resources
to invest in a substantial space program; without an enemy to compete with, the
USA has also cut back on its exploration programs. The emphasis is now on
missions which are ‘faster, better, cheaper’ – grand projects such as the
Voyager missions of the late 1970s seem unlikely to be repeated. In particular,
the American commitment to manned exploration of space has diminished,
especially after the 2003 Columbia disaster, when all seven astronauts on the
Space Shuttle died during re-entry. President Obama has scrapped a planned
return to the moon, turning to private companies and foreign nations to
transport astronauts to the International Space Station. On the other hand,
China has been developing an active space program in recent years with several
manned flights, while India is also beginning to launch its own rockets.
Pros
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Cons
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State-sponsored space programs can utilize the
infrastructure built up in the last half-century, and therefore be
substantially cheaper. Since Sputnik was
launched in 1957, the space race has given rise to an infrastructure,
particularly in the United States and Russia, which can be exploited for
economies of scale. The cost of developing shuttles and training astronauts
is far cheaper in Cape Carnarvon where the necessary equipment and skills lie
to do so. Furthermore, the International Space Station costs upwards of $100
billion, however it serves as a terminal where shuttles can thereafter be
pointed to any corner of the universe1. The potential therefore is to save
costs by using the existence of the ISS as a stepping stone to elsewhere. To
not use fifty years of space development and technology is to render all that
investment meaningless.
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If only it were true. The typical shuttle mission to
the International Space Station costs $500-700 million. Private individuals,
space tourists, have managed it for just $20 million a head1. Therefore,
there is little in the argument that the existing space infrastructure is
driving costs down. Furthermore, whilst the ISS has been justified as a
terminal for the shuttles, the shuttles themselves have been justified as
means to reach the space shuttle; a circular argument that offers little hope
to the space explorer. Moreover, despite over fifty years of investment, NASA
specifically has maintained a shuttle program at the expense of new
materials, new fuels and innovative concepts1. As such, the technology has
not advanced significantly since the original missions to the Moon between
1969 and 1972. The infrastructure, in this case, appears to have been more of
a hindrance and intellectual barrier to development and cost-cutting than an
aid.
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Space exploration has improved communications on Earth. The exploitation of space has directly changed our
world. Satellites orbiting the Earth allow us to communicate instantaneously
with people on different continents, and to broadcast to people all over the
world. The Global Positioning System allows us to pinpoint our location
anywhere in the world. Weather satellites save lives by giving advance
warning of adverse conditions, and together with other scientific instruments
in orbit they have helped us understand our own world better. Research into
climate change, for example, would be almost impossible without the data
provided by satellites.
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Satellite technology has of course had a beneficial
effect on our world. However, there is a huge difference between launching
satellites into Earth orbit, and exploring space. Missions to other planets,
and into interstellar space, do not contribute to life on our planet.
Moreover, satellites are largely commercial - they are launched by private
companies, and are maintained by the profits which they lead to. True space
exploration could never be commercial, and requires huge government subsidies
- the Voyager missions alone cost just under $1 billion. This money could be
much better spent elsewhere.
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Space exploration serves as a stimulus for children to
enter the fields of science and engineering. Space exploration is about more than the end, what is
discovered or answered, it is also about the means, the process by which we
are able to traverse the Universe. In 1969, the Moon landing acted as the
catalyst for a whole generation of children's love for all things space and
the proliferation of young men and women seeking to become astronauts. Though
demand could not meet supply, many remained in the field and took up jobs in
civil engineering, scientific research and medicine. Such intangible benefits
to the fields of science and engineering, as John Logsdon argues, cannot so
easily be calculated and contrasted with the concrete figures that symbolize
the costs of space programs.
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There are far cheaper, more effective methods of
encouraging students towards careers in science and engineering than space exploration
programs. India, not yet a flourishing space power, turns out 350,000
engineers a year whilst China, only a recent member of the manned space
program club, produces 600,000 annually. Space exploration cannot both claim
to be responsible for the boom after the Moon landing and yet faultless when
the numbers drop to mediocre levels, all whilst continuing to spend billions
of state money.
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Space exploration leads to technological advancement. Space exploration has also led to many indirect
benefits. The challenge and difficulty of the space program, and its ability
to draw on some of the finest minds, has brought about great leaps in
technology. The need to reduce weight on rockets led to miniaturization, and
so to the micro-chip and the modern computer. The need to produce safe but
efficient power-sources for the Apollo missions led to the development of
practical fuel-cells, which are now being explored as a possible future
power-source for cleaner cars. The effects of zero-gravity on astronauts has
substantially added to our knowledge of the workings of the human body, and
the ageing process. We can never know exactly which benefits will emerge from
the space program in future, but we do know that we will constantly meet new
obstacles in pursuit of our goals, and in overcoming them will find new
solutions to old problems.
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These spin-off advantages could come from any
'blue-sky' project - they are a result of the huge amounts of money and
manpower devoted to the space program, giving people the resources they need
to solve problems, rather than a result of the program itself. For example,
many of the leaps forward in miniaturization were in fact the result of
trying to build better nuclear missiles; this is not a good reason to
continue building nuclear weapons. It would be far better to devote similar
resources to projects with worthier goals– for example cancer research, or
research into renewable energy sources. These too could have many spin-off
benefits, but would tackle real problems.
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It is a moral imperative to constantly seek to expand
the boundaries of knowledge. Mankind must
always struggle to expand its horizons. The desire to know what lies beyond
current knowledge, the curiosity that constantly pushes at the boundaries of
our understanding, is one of our noblest characteristics. The exploration of
the universe is a high ideal - space truly is the final frontier. The
instinct to explore is fundamentally human; already some of our most amazing
achievements have taken place in space. No-one can deny the sense of wonder,
world-wide, when for the first time a new man-made star rose in the sky, or
when Neil Armstrong first stepped onto the moon and uttered his infamous
words. Space exploration speaks to that part of us which rises above the everyday.
The future question is not whether humans should be exploring space, but, as
former NASA Director G. Scott Hubbard suggests, 'to be sure that they
accomplish meaningful exploration.'
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Space exploration expands the boundaries of travel, but
it does not expand the boundaries of knowledge. Knowledge is defined as
possessing a quality beyond information, a utility. Space exploration
increases the amount of information we have, but has not yet provided
knowledge that is applicable and useful. Neil Armstrong walking on the moon
was a momentous moment for mankind, but that does alter the fact that there
was little of practical value to Earth that resulted from their mission. The
instinct to explore does not promise an inevitable expansion of the
boundaries of knowledge.
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Since the "historic handshake in space" when
a US Apollo and Soviet Soyuz capsules docked in 1975, the two countries have
in fact grown increasingly close. This relationship involves sharing
technology (which is almost all 'dual use' i.e. it could be used for military
purposes as well as civilian, thus requiring a high degree of trust),
scientific knowledge and working side-by-side to build and support the ISS.
With the involvement of the 11 member states of the European Space Agency as
well as Canada, Japan and Brazil in the project, space is one of the few
spheres where governments have been able to put aside their differences in
pursuit of something more fundamentally important to humanity.
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The 'space race'
fuels nationalistic sentiment and antagonism. Sending humans into space or to other planets so that they can erect the
flag of a particular nation is a distinctly nationalistic act and one that is
likely to create aggressive 'races' in the future just as it has before.
China's manned program is openly intended to challenge the US dominance of
space for the Communist regime's huge propaganda benefit. George W. Bush's
pledge to boost spending on NASA and to restart the manned mission to Mars
program was a direct response. This is damaging not only because of the
potential for space race conflicts to escalate into greater international
hostility, but also because of the way such races could result in the
militarization of space, thereby turning something which should be preserved
for the common good of humankind into a neo-colonial battlefield.
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The positive benefits of space exploration are
innumerable and profound. As Joan Vernikos describes, '43 countries now have
their own observing or communications satellites in Earth orbit.' Such
satellites provide the G.P.S that directs our transport, meteorological
forecasts, global monitoring of the environment, as well as surveillance and
intelligence for our national security. Furthermore, the common misconception
that NASA has a huge budget is just that; in 2007, the NASA budget of $16.3
billion was dwarfed by the overall G.D.P of $13 trillion.
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The cost of space
exploration exceeds the positive benefits. NASA during the 1990s spent over a third of its budget simply keeping
the ISS manned and the Space Shuttle working1; it will now spend $60 million
per seat to use Russian transport to the ISS2. The vast majority of its
spending on scientific research comes through ground based research,
telescopes and unmanned missions. China has made no claims that there is a
scientific benefit to its manned mission and nor has Russia in recent years.
There are few experiments so important that they can justify the huge cost
needed to allow them to be carried out by humans in zero gravity. NASA made a
lot of noise about growing zero-gravity protein crystals as a potential cure
for cancer when it was trying to justify building the ISS but has since
dropped the claims as experiments have shown the claims were overstated.
There are few experiments so important that they can justify the huge cost
needed to allow them to be carried out by humans in zero gravity.
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Space exploration gives back more than it takes from
the treasury. Dr. Joan Vernikos, a former head of NASA Life Sciences, argues
‘economic, scientific and technological returns of space exploration have far
exceeded the investment…royalties on NASA patents and licenses currently go
directly to the U.S. Treasury, not back to NASA.' Furthermore, as Keith
Cowing points out, the funding for space exploration is insignificant
compared to our other discretionary spending: ‘Americans spent more than $154
billion on alcohol (in 2006); We spend $10 million a month in Iraq; all of
America’s human space flight programs cost around $7 billion a year."
Cowing also points out the fact that ‘the money is spent on the earth – it
creates jobs and provides business to companies, just as any other government
program does’ (Dubner, 2008).
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Space exploration
takes resources away from more worthy causes. High ideals are all well and good, but not when they come at the expense
of the present. Our world is marred by war, famine, and poverty; billions of
people are struggling simply to live from day to day. Our dreams of exploring
space are a luxury they cannot afford; U.S. Senator Joseph Lieberman stated
in the wake of President Bush's 2004 proposals that money was needed 'right
here on Earth to give health care that's affordable to everybody, to improve
our education system and do better on veterans' benefits and homeland
security.' Instead of wasting our time and effort on macho prestige projects
such as the space programme, we must set ourselves new targets. The money
spent on probes to distant planets would be better invested in the people of
our own planet. A world free from disease, a world where no-one lives in
hunger, would be a truly great achievement.
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