This feeds a dangerous trend, however an anti-scientific backlash against space exploration.
But, Im not dressed for the 19th century!
Journey with me as we imagine a theoretical past.
It is the spring of 1850, and 30-year-old Queen Victoriahas just awoken from her nap.
It’s free, every week, in your inbox.
We have just had a most fabulous dream, she states.
We dreamt of a box, with glass on the front.
Pictures moving pictures appeared on the glass, while sound came from it.
It was called television.
Then, she sets a lofty goal for her intellectual elite.
We command you to work together with scientists from around the globe, and make us a television.
The physics of a television set (and transmitters!)
Still, these took over 40 years to complete, and they were not experimentally proven until the 1890s.
The first transmitters were not constructed until experiments conducted by Heinrich Hertz in the 1880s.
All this theoretical work needed to be in place before any significant work could proceed on technology.
Investments in pure science plant a fertile field for technological and social developments we can never foresee.
By comparison, NASA received nearly 4.5 percent of U.S. government spending atthe height of the triumphs of Apollo.
Today, planetary exploration takes up less than one-third of NASAs budget.
Americans spend more every year on Halloween costumes and plant-based meats.
For this tiny investment, we receive vast amounts of new research, preserving and enhancing life.
Our food is now significantly safer, thanks to NASA.
The times they are a changin
We also inspire children to learn science.
This means far more than simply reciting facts, or memorizing the periodic table.
Scientific thinking is a mindset in itself.
These advances will bring the day when we are living on Mars a few steps closer.
Space exploration could even forever alter our relationship with each other as human beings.
Here on Earth, most people see themselves as members of nations, states, or cities.
Imagine a space colonist of the future, perhaps living on Marsinside an international space colony.
But, only if we invest in space exploration now.
Science develops new industries, ways of living, and paradigms, bringing us forward as a species.
The idea that all of human civilization would go back to pre-industrial lifestyles seems fanciful at best.
A zeitgeist focused on never leaving the Earthis counter-productive if one desires an intelligent, reasoned society.
To do so both requires and develops a vigorous educational web connection, allowing lifelong learning for all.
Learning genetics teaches one that race is meaningless.
History shows us that national borders and governments are, at most, transient and arbitrary.
Mathematics teaches us, at least something, about statistics, allowing us to better comprehend the world.
And, for a short while, the United States supported a vigorous crewed space program.
Spending peaked in 1966, three years before the first Moon landing.
By comparison, the war in Vietnamwas far more expensive than Apollo, and provided little benefit to humankind.
Today,China is leading the development of new solar cells, reducing the need for fossil fuels.
Space is for everybody.
Its not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts.
Thats our new frontier out there, and its everybodys business to know about space.
Christa McAuliffe
Fortunately, President Biden has recognized the importance of science for the future of the nation.
NASA is slated for a modest 6.3% increase, to $24.7 billion.
Living on Mars provides another backup plan for the future of the human race.
Science is the best investment we can make in our children, our planet, and our future.
This article was originally published onThe Cosmic Companionby James Maynard, founder and publisher of The Cosmic Companion.
you could read this original piecehere.
