Human space travel, or focus on Earth?
Earth or Mars, which would you choose?
(Credit: Hubble Space Telescope/NASA)
Humanity has the technology for human space travel. But should we use it?
Frank Wentz: NASA is our best government agency when it comes to building space hardware and if they are, shall we say, distracted from the Earth climate mission by going to Mars then it just means less resources – dollars, man-power, talent are going to be directed toward Mars, and less is going to be directed toward studying our climate.
That’s Frank Wentz of Remote Sensing Systems in Santa Rosa, California. Wentz’ company processes the satellite data that helps humans measure Earth’s changes.
Frank Wentz: So I would think that, if you had to choose between the two in this limited budget environment that we live in, that the choice would be to better study our Earth with satellites than to send a man to Mars.
He said some of NASA’s 10 climate-studying satellites are near the end of their life-cycles.
Frank Wentz: I certainly support space exploration with the caveat: if there’s enough money to do both. It seems to me that it’s just, well, ‘Given your budget, go to Mars,’ and that means they have to take money from other programs.
And if we lose even some satellite coverage, Wentz said, we risk not getting the best science for understanding Earth’s changes. Which would you choose – human space travel to Mars, or satellite measurements of Earth? Tell us in the Comments section below.
Our thanks today to NASA: explore, discover, understand.
Astronaut’s-eye view of space tourism, space travel
Listen to the 15-minute Clear Voices for Science podcast.
Additional Teacher Resources
NASA: Cool Science: JPL Observes International Polar Year
Scientists believe the polar regions of our Earth contain clues that can help unravel some of the mysteries that drive our climate. That is because polar regions are sensitive barometers to climate change. They react quickly to a warmer environment, and the effects of these reactions are felt on a global scale. NASA and Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) are also “pole-vaulting” to Mars and the moon by studying, for example, the Martian polar regions, which may hold critical clues about the habitability of the red planet.
NASA: Slide Show on International Polar Year
This short slide show discusses the importance of studying the Earth’s polar regions and provides an introduction to the study of glaciers.
