Space Exploration Articles

This section contains a number of articles I wrote on space exploration about 20 years ago. There have been developments and missions since, of course, and I might at some point get around to updating the articles. But for now I'm putting them up so that they aren't lost.

Do We Need Space?

Humans are explorers. We’ve walked, driven, ridden, climbed, sailed, and flown over just about the whole of Planet Earth. Even the deepest oceans are being explored. What happens when we run out of frontiers? Will humanity just settle back into a cultural rocking-chair and dream about past days?

To avoid stagnation we need new mysteries, new challenges, new places to explore and new difficulties to overcome in order to get there. Space offers limitless possibilities for exploration and progress.

Besides, humanity hasn’t exactly been doing Planet Earth a lot of good lately. Offworld exploitation offers us the chance to replace our planet’s dwindling resources. Asteroid mining for metals, petrochemical extraction from gas giant atmospheres, zero-g precision industry... the business and industrial opportunities are there if anyone dares to take them. It might not be long before it becomes imperative to develop offworld industry.

And the spin-off technologies from space industry have already improved our lives. Each time scientists develop a new technology to meet some space-related challenge, we get the benefits in our homes, workplaces and environments.

Economically, scientifically, culturally and spiritually, we need the challenge and the opportunities presented by space exploration.

So yes, we need Space.