The second thing was this quote by President Obama. He said this in 2009:
“Reaffirming and strengthening America’s role as the world’s engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation is essential to meeting the challenges of this century."
So my thought is this: let's reaffirm and strengthen America's role as the world's engine of scientific discovery and technological innovation by going to space as much and as often as we can. Let's go to the moon--we did it once, we can do it again (maybe this time we'll find the giant metal aliens that like to pretend to be cars). Let's land on an asteroid and pick up some platinum or palladium or some element we've never seen before. Let's go to Mars and set up a place to live (and hopefully not get infected by an intelligent water virus). Let's go to another planet and find life--micro or macroscopic--let's find that the universe, which seems so huge and empty, is actually teeming with life and possibilities.
And in the meantime, let's find a way to take care of our beautiful Earth.
And in the meantime, let's find a way to take care of our beautiful Earth.
Pinwheel Galaxy, NASA:
I absolutely agree! I think we are vastly underperforming in our potential to discover so much more. I hope it's appropriate to share here, I wrote my own thoughts on the same thing, here, if you might be interested, http://elistanley-wanderingsofacuriousmind.blogspot.com/2011/07/mankind-belongs-in-space.html
ReplyDeleteSorry it's taken so long to respond; I read your blog post and I couldn't agree more. We do belong in space, whether or not we are the only life in the universe or not. I am actually working on a project right now to try to increase public awareness and emphasize the need for public support, so we'll see how far that goes. :)
DeleteThanks for your comment. I always enjoy receiving feedback from people who are interested in this issue.