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Op-Ed; AS YOU WERE SAYING . . . To better understand Earth, we must explore outer space

Posted on: Saturday, 31 January 2004, 06:00 CST

Centuries ago Copernicus declared the Earth's center is not the center of the universe. We seem to have forgotten this lesson.

Since the end of the Apollo program, the U.S. space program has literally been going around in circles, stuck in low Earth orbit. But early this month, President Bush announced a dramatic new space initiative that will finally move us out into the solar system. The plan has met with some resistance.

Critics would have us think that the money used to fund this effort will be taken directly from education, medical research and the homeless. Actually, most of the proposed funding will come from within the expected NASA budget. This is a far cry from the $1 trillion figure that has been floated - a figure that is pure fiction, particularly in light of the fact that NASA's budget is less than 1 percent of federal spending.

Why should humans explore space? We will never fully understand Earth until we start understanding the solar system. We do not live in isolation. While robotic probes serve a vital role, they are only good for preliminary research.

If we were to send a few robots to various places on Earth, would they have a full understanding of our planet? Of course not. One astronaut can do in a few hours what dozens of robots would take years to do. They can help answer such questions as: Did life ever exist on Mars or elsewhere in the solar system? If Mars was once a warm, wet planet, what happened? Could the same thing happen here? Can humans settle on other planets?

If science and discovery aren't enough for us, surely the substantial side benefits should convince us that our nation should be engaged in space exploration. Virtually everyone in the nation and the world benefits directly and indirectly from space technology every day. These technologies - technologies such as medical imaging equipment and portable apparatus carried in ambulances - have saved millions of lives. Through the space program, weather forecasting has been revolutionized. Fire detection equipment, communication and global positioning have been developed. Environmentalists would be blind without Earth-observing satellites.

While programs like Apollo provided us with countless benefits, the most impressive has been the intellectual capital amassed. The moon program inspired millions of children around the world to pursue science and engineering in hopes of taking part in a new age of exploration. Many ended up great contributors to the technology revolution in the '80s and '90s.

The payback we've received from the space program vastly exceeds the investment we put into it. This is nothing new. Exploration has always been a catalyst for innovation and advancement. It played a major role in the creation of this nation. If humanity had decided to wait to explore until all of its problems had been solved, we would still be living in caves.

It is a certainty that many more of the world's problems will be solved if we engage in ambitious goals. And in this age of instant gratification, it will be difficult for some to wrap their minds around a program whose dividends may take decades. This is an investment for our children and our grandchildren.

We could choose to be timid. We could choose to deny our tradition of exploration and challenge. But if we do, we will deny a driving force in human advancement.

As author Stephen Hawking put it, "To confine our attention to terrestrial matters would be to limit the human spirit."

Chris Carberry is Massachusetts political director of the The Mars Society. As You Were Saying is a Herald feature. We invite readers to contribute pieces of no more than 600 words. Mail to Boston Herald, P.O. Box 2096, Boston, MA 02106-2096, fax to 617-542- 1315 or e-mail to oped@bostonherald.com. Submissions are subject to editing and become Herald property.

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