10 Reasons why we should leave Earth and explore the unknown

Time, if you come to think about it, is never on our side.

We're all actually living on one SINGLE piece of rock, surrounded on all sides by the utter infinity we
know as The Universe. And this single rock, which incidentally is Earth, is not as safe as you'd think! Even
if it's relatively big and all, you’ll nevertheless come to realize just how many ways there actually are to
make our planet extremely uninhabitable, extremely fast.

There's the possibility of a meteorite hurling towards us at this exact moment and we'd be powerless to
stop it, or a Super volcano erupting, or even the start of a new Ice Age. Not to mention the high
probability of us killing ourselves with our own nukes, or better yet, by God knows what kind of Deadly
Virus.

There's nowhere to run. Not really. Not with today's technology in any case... There’s no savior out there
to rescue us, nor any emergency plan to get us off this planet and preserve our legacy in case of
something apocalyptic ever happening. Just for this reason alone we should think rather quickly about
finding good and reliable ways to "spread our wings" and leave home.

And there are many other great reasons for us to become more civilized and more prosperous as a
species and not just sitting here, squabbling like greedy children over petty resources while basically
running out the clock.

10. Becoming explorers again

From as far back as we can trace our history; man has always been on the move. Part of humanity left
Africa in search for “greener pastures” roughly 60,000 years ago, and it slowly settled the entire world.
Overcoming one obstacle after the other and adapting to various types of climate and environment,
people were able to reach places as far away as Australia and the American continents. No more than a
few of centuries ago, people began a process of rediscovering the entire planet and we are left today
with little else to investigate. That’s with the exception of space, of course!

This is a mission of incredible uncertainty and risk, with many yet unknown factors and incredible costs.
Take care that you don’t fool yourself into thinking that private corporations can accomplish this on
their own! Governments must go in first and take the risk, and only then will the private sector follow.
This is how it’s always been done, like in the case of Columbus, Marco Polo, Magellan or Apollo 11. They
were all funded by states, not individual people or private enterprises.
9. He3 and the Moon

Humanity was capable of both inventing the first ever airplane and flying a man to the Moon, in less
than 70 years. After the soviets decided to not peruse the space race any further, we lost the incentive
to go back to space in any meaningful way. Nevertheless, there’s no better, or more necessary time than
the present to go back. Even Harrison Schmitt (astronaut on Apollo 17) said that, “the 21st century is the
best time for humanity to revisit!”

He said this, knowing something most of us don’t. In all the lunar soil samples brought back from the
Moon, scientists have discovered large amounts of helium-3 (He3). This compound is a key ingredient
for nuclear fusion, capable of providing the world with enough energy to last us for centuries to come.
He3 was found on Earth in only very small quantities, not nearly enough to have any practical use.

The Sun produces large quantities of this element, but because of the Earth’s magnetic field, He3 never
reaches our planet’s surface. The Moon on the other hand doesn’t have one and so, it’s full of the stuff.
Unlike traditional nuclear reactors, the He3 reactor, when the technology becomes available, will be
more efficient while the problem of nuclear waste will become practically nonexistent.

If this ever becomes a reality, we can only hope that the governments or whatever private companies
that will be extracting He3 will have the common decency of mining only the dark side of the Moon, so
the rest of us back here on Earth can continue marveling its “never changing” face.

8. Space Tourism

Because our governments have already flown several manned missions into space, they have paved a
way for private companies to take advantage and find a way to make a profit by taking us up there.
This is something most of us can “theoretically” be part of. We already have the possibility of seeing the
Earth from really high up, but the price for doing so is beyond most of our individual means. The
Russians will be very happy to take you onto the International Space Station and fly you around the
world for a week or two, but you’ll have to leave behind somewhere between 30 to 35 million dollars.

As for the rest of us who don’t have that kind of money to blow off, there are a couple of alternatives
that we can consider. Currently there are about half a dozen companies working towards bringing us
into space. Companies like Virgin Galactic which is developing a spaceship (the SS2) capable of taking 6
people into outer orbit for a couple of minutes. The price for such a privilege?- $200,000. XCOR
Aerospace on the other hand, offers the intimacy of being just you and the pilot for half the cost.

Some want to take it a step further, like Robert Bigelow, owner of a chain of hotels in the US, who thinks
of building inflatable living quarters for tourists and astronauts alike. Or a guy by the name of Dennis
Hope who, at this exact moment, is selling chunks of the Moon as real estate.
7. Colonizing Mars

When it comes to colonizing Mars, we have to think of its future colonists like the pioneers of the Old
West. Once they leave, there is no coming back, but the chance to go to another planet and call it home;
for some is more than a bargain.

Plans are already unfolding. Projects like Mars One are set to begin around 2024. It will take the
astronauts 7 months to get there. Once there, it’s not going to be called Exploring, but Surviving. You
have to keep in mind that these people will not get any assistance from anyone, not in terms of supplies
like food, water, oxygen or basic aid from Earth. Nor in terms a breathable atmosphere or temperatures
above -70 C from Mars itself. They have to make due with only what they brought from home and their
strong will to endure.

Living space could be called claustrophobic at best and, as time passes, they’ll lose touch with nature
and a stress-free life. That’s why these first colonists will bring plants with them. In an extremely
unforgiving environment, one must be extremely self-sufficient and plants are a great way of doing just
that. They provide the settlement with food and oxygen, and also with entertainment. With no real
free-time, the colonists will, most likely, look forward to tending these plants, since it will remind them
of home in a way.

Scientists back home have designed a model of a somewhat perfect Martian settlement. It will be a
dome-like structure, with a fairly stable atmosphere and more sophisticated equipment. This, off course,
will not be the case for our first colonists. Nevertheless, the Curiosity Martian Rover has discovered ice,
near the Arctic regions, just beneath the surface, which kinda solves one of their major
problems…water. Some even talk about terraforming Mars at some point, but that’s a reality which will
not happen in our lifetime.

6. …And Venus

Knowing exactly how Venus is as a planet, the word “colonize” is quite far from our minds. A fiery
inferno of molten rock, with actual oceans of liquid methane and sulfuric acid rain, all pushed down by
an atmospheric pressure greater than a kilometer (3000 ft.) of water. Not quite the paradise we were
hoping for and by no means, a good place to “put up shop”.

However, its atmosphere is quite different. Fifty kilometers above the surface, conditions are far more
similar to those here on Earth. Unlike the Moon or Mars, the Venusian atmosphere can shield us from
most of the Suns UV rays and the pressure is very similar to home. One can say that besides Earth, this
place is the most favorable for human life in the entire Solar System.
While the surface of Venus reaches temperatures of over 450 C (842 F.), the high atmosphere is just
above 0 degrees (32 F.). Together with the fact that the pressure inside is similar to outside conditions,
has led scientists to believe that the future “floating city” doesn’t need a heavily reinforced outer shell
(just enough to withstand sulfuric acid droplets). Breathable air inside the colony will serve a double
purpose of both keeping the astronauts alive and maintaining the ship at the right altitude.

Resources needed to sustain the base and its people can be found all over, either in the “air” or on the
ground. Manned missions to the surface are next to impossible because of the hellish conditions on the
surface, but mining for resources can be done remotely from high up.

5. What about the Asteroid Belt?

Next on the list is the asteroid belt situated between Mars and Jupiter. Scientists believe that its
existence is due to Jupiter’s high gravitational pull, not allowing a fifth rocky planet to form. The size of
these asteroids varies from small dust particles, to bodies 940 km (530 mi) across.

The amount of resources found on these celestial bodies is staggering. There is over one billion times
the quantity of platinum, iron, gold, silver and other metals than there can be extracted are here on
Earth, not to mention all the water we will ever need.

Mining these asteroids should be better left in the hands of future robots. They don’t need food, water
or life-support and, if need be, they can be left behind. It would be a waste to bring these resources
back to Earth and instead, they should be used to expand our colonies on Mars or Venus. These kinds of
operations are something which will be done by our future generations, and will most certainly be the
fuel and resources for humanity’s next step in conquering the Universe.

4. Exoplanets

When talking about our own galaxy, the Milky Way, we know surprisingly little. We, for example, don’t
know its shape. Because we are part of it, our view is similar to that of a rat in a maze. We lack the big
picture. Scientists debate whether the Milky Way has two or four arms swirling around its core. Our
perspective of galaxies is based on others that we can see, like the Andromeda Galaxy which is 2.3
million light years away and the closest to our own.

We do however know that our Solar System is situated somewhere between the galaxy’s middle and its
edge. It’s a good distance away from the core where huge amounts of deadly radiation are being
produced and not far away enough into the outskirts where no heavy elements (like carbon, calcium,
iron etc.) can be created. These heavy elements are formed in the bellies of stars. When these stars die
and go Supernova, they produce all the elements in and around us. Our Sun is a second or third
generation star, meaning that other stars before it called this region of space their home at some point.
The edges of the galaxy have fewer stars and thus fewer heavy elements, leading to fewer planets.

The thing about other habitable planets rotating around their own stars follows the same principle as
solar systems inside a galaxy. They have to be at the correct distance from their star, in order for their
temperature to be just right. This region is called “The Goldilocks Zone”, not too hot and not too cold,
but just right.

With present day technology, scientists have discovered around 2000 other planets in our galactic
“neighborhood”. Even with Kepler, our most powerful space telescope, planets are just beyond our
sight. We do however have the capability to detect their presence by looking at the gravitational effect
they have on their parent star and at the intensity of that star’s light when the planet travels in front of
it. Through these methods we can determine the size, their distance from the star and what those
planets are made out of.

Some of these planets are quite “close” to us. The nearest exoplanet which is in the Goldilocks Zone is
just 13 light-years away (LINK 26), while the next one is 20.2 light-years. Reaching these planets is
something we cannot yet do, but in time and with the help of ever better technology we’ll probably get
there.

3. Killing two other birds with one stone

We currently live in a fairly globalized society. People can come and go as they please, reaching the
other side of the world in less than a day. Borders begin to melt away, like in the case of the European
Union and entire families can go and live in totally different places other than that in which they were
born into.

One major concern in a society like this is the loss of cultural identity. Many people are afraid that, in
time, no traditions will be left intact, and nations will forget what it truly means to be American or
Russian or German or even Catholic or Hindu.

Another key issue is a global plague. This one is more realistic and much more frightening. Back in the
Middle Ages, Europe was decimated by the “Black Death” brought there on boats from China. Over one
third of the entire population was wiped out. The same thing happened in the Americas with the arrival
of the Europeans who, through disease, killed over 90% of the indigenous population. This is known as
“The Columbian Exchange”. These unfortunate and unintentional events happened in somewhat
isolated circumstances, but in today’s world where everybody is connected to everyone else around the
globe, a Super-Virus can have dire consequences for the whole of humanity.
By leaving Earth and starting colonies on faraway worlds both these problems can go away. This doesn’t
mean that a deadly disease will never wreak havoc on Earth or humans will never blend into some sort
of unity of cultures, but by spreading into the galaxy, we can assure diversity in both our traditions and
genetic makeup.

2. Finding E.T.

The question: Are we alone? has been boggling man’s mind ever since he discovered that the Earth is
not at the center of the Universe and that there are countless other places out there which can be
similar to our own. There is no definite answer to this quarrel, but so far, evidence points to the
affirmative. In any case, “Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both
are equally terrifying.” Arthur C. Clarke.

The SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) institute has been keeping an ear out on outer space
for decades now, listening for potential transmissions coming from our possible neighbors via Radio
Waves. Little else besides static has ever come out of deep space with the exception of “the WOW!
Signal”. Back in 1977, a 72 second transmission was received from near a star in the Sagittarius
constellation, 120 light-years away from Earth. Further attempts to relocate the signal were in vain,
leading to much controversy about its origins.

We are probably looking at things the wrong way. When it comes to alien life, we really have to think
outside the box. We could be surrounded on all sides by signs from distant worlds and we would have
no idea of their existence. We don’t know what other intelligent life considers communication to be.

Recent discoveries have shown that information, be it in English, Chinese, French or Ancient Sumerian
has a distinct pattern. Some words are more frequent than others and when someone is talking or
writing, these words form a straight graph at a 45 degree angle depending on their frequency of
appearance. This experiment has been done on dolphins as well, and the same template emerges every
time. This shows us that animals can communicate with each other, but also, if alien information exists
in outer space, it will most certainly follow the same rules. We only need to know what to look for.

1. …Or A.I. finding us

Chances are that by the time we’ll ever find extraterrestrial life on distant planets, we will create
intelligent life of our own, right here on Earth. This artificial intelligence (A.I.) can take the form of many
of our current day jobs. This is something which is not part of our distant future, but our present.

Scientists have been developing vehicles that can drive themselves. Hundreds of such cars have been
tested on our roads for years now and the technology is getting better and better. These automated
vehicles don’t need to be perfect; they only need to be better than us. They don’t get sleepy, they don’t
text while driving and they don’t get distracted in any way. Insurance companies might call them, their
perfect drivers. Once this technology becomes viable, chances are that many of us will lose their jobs.
Millions of people worldwide are currently employed in transportation, a job that will most certainly be
automated in the near future. The same principle applies to airline pilots. We all know that almost all of
an average flight is done on autopilot, not to mention the military drones currently used in wars all
around the globe.

This is only the beginning. Bots that learn and teach themselves are used today to trade stocks on Wall
Street. There are also automated cash registers, bartenders and many other low-skill jobs done by
robots, which you might think people are better off not doing anyway. This technological revolution
we’re entering is something very different from what we’ve seen before. Progress in computer science is
done at a much faster rate than biology can follow. It will not only change human into mechanical
muscle, but also its mind.

White collar work will be next on the list, with many bots doing what most office workers do today.
Filling up forms and writing monthly reports is something which can be easily done by computer
software. There are even programs which can write articles like this one or compose music or even draw
a painting better than most of us ever could. No job or activity will be spared, simply because A.I. can do
it better.

Nevertheless, with infinite amount of space to travel into, competing for jobs (be it with machines or
other people) could be a thing of the past. We only need the capability of accessing that space !