Space for Earth
The first article in the Space to Explore series introduces why we explore and tackles the question: Why should we spend resources on Space Exploration when we have many important issues to solve on Earth?
A very warm welcome to my new series of space articles. This new series: Space to Explore will delve into the universe of Space Exploration and take you on a journey of discovery to understand more about current and future global exploration missions. The articles will provide details on what we’re exploring over 400km above the Earth, and when we’ll embark on future missions to the Moon, Mars and beyond to further regions of the Solar System. They will analyse why we’re working towards a Martian future and how we’re going about getting there.
Every article will be tiered in two levels: firstly with an introductory layer called BASE CAMP, which will provide a summary of the key messages for readers who want a quick overview of the topic, followed by a second layer called THE SUMMIT, which will provide the reader with additional detail, analysis and insight. It’s a very exciting time to be working in the area of Space Exploration and my aim with these articles is to shed light on current missions and challenges in a comprehensive and insightful manner. It’s important to note that these articles require no previous understanding of the space industry, as the series has been scripted to take you on the journey with each article building on the previous.
For your convenience, I will post the articles direct to Medium. However please do take a minute to check out my Space to Explore website, where you can read the latest Space Exploration news: THE SPACE HUB and find lots of other information about what I’m up to.
Even before I began working at the European Space Agency (ESA), a question often asked by friends and one that is prevalent in debates about space exploration is: why should we invest time and money into Space Exploration programmes when we have such significant problems to solve on Earth, such as Climate Change, healthcare, social welfare, and education? It’s a fair question and one that colleagues and I address at ESA in the Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration directorate through our Benefit Realisation analysis. The question represents a good place to start this series of articles and answering it allows us to examine why we explore and what we get in return from our endeavours.
Let’s start our journey of discovery. Welcome to the series!
Space Exploration is the physical exploration of outer space and can be characterised as human or robotic missions beyond the Kármán line — 100km above the Earth’s surface.
BASE CAMP
To explain why we explore, it’s important to consider that there exists two sides to the Space Exploration coin. On one side of the coin there are practical, tangible benefits that result from Space Exploration, notably scientific discoveries and technological advancements. On the other side of the coin exists the non-tangible benefits, including the drive to explore, inspiration from human achievement, and desire to push the boundaries of what’s currently possible.
Human and robotic Space Exploration is a natural extension of our innate human desire to explore. Humankind has long been driven by a desire to explore the unknown — the yearning to understand more about our who we are and where we came from lies deep inside every one of us. Throughout our evolution, humankind has strived to push the boundaries of our scientific and technological limits to explore uncharted territories, as we’ve expanded across lands, oceans, air, and in the past 60 years, across space. We flew in space, we walked in space, we lived in space, and now serious efforts are ongoing to see humankind settle in space, on another celestial body–the Moon and eventually on to Mars.
We flew in space, we walked in space, we lived in space, and now serious efforts are ongoing to see humankind settle in space, on another celestial body–the Moon and eventually on to Mars.
We can classify the benefits of Space Exploration in different ways: Human, Inspiration, Cultural, Scientific, Environmental, Economic, Political, Educational, and Technological (see Figure 1). These benefits are overlapping, as human and robotic Space Exploration responds to the deeply rooted quest of humankind for answering questions on the origins and nature of life in our Universe and extending human frontiers. Space enables us to conduct science experiments to understand more about human biology in microgravity (in the absence of Earth’s gravity). This quest for exploration has led humanity to build the infrastructure in space, namely the International Space Station, where unique science is carried out on board, such as experiments to examine the microgravity effects on the growth of cells and crystals that are distorted on Earth by the presence of gravity.
Space exploration has made significant contributions to technological developments in disciplines including robotics, software, electronics, and has generated technology spinoffs back on Earth in various fields from medicine to agriculture and beyond. These spinoffs help stimulate economic growth in high tech sectors where investment multipliers (the multiplicative return from an amount of money invested) are high. Job creation and economic growth have been accelerated by private investments in the space sector — an area expected to grow with the emergence of space companies, most notably SpaceX and Blue Origin.
Space Exploration is a grand endeavour pursued by nations seeking to gain new knowledge, inspire and drive innovations.
Another area of overlap concerns Environmental benefits. Space science and technology has been helping tackle major environmental challenges through advanced weather monitoring and prediction. An ability to observe our planet from space has led to a greater understanding of our planet and its environment, which is helping humanity tackle Climate Change. Science on board the International Space Station is teaching us how to create closed-loop life support systems with the aim of achieving zero waste. Future missions to settle on the Moon and venture to Mars will require the development of improved renewable energy systems which can help tackle energy consumption challenges on Earth.
More broadly, space activities directly contribute to improving the daily living standards of humans through satellite services such as GPS and satellite TV, for delivering communication infrastructure (and in the near future internet connectivity) to remote areas, and helping respond to international crises such as natural disasters. Our desire to spread out beyond the surface of our planet has driven us to put the infrastructure in orbit around the Earth to improve life on Earth.
From Figure 1, two areas that have broad tangible and intangible benefits are political and educational spillovers (externalities that arise). Space activities have contributed to the development of knowledge-based economies. There are significant educational spillovers from space activities, in terms of direct science and technology knowledge (tangible), but also intangible benefits including how to live and work in difficult environments, creating efficient communication channels and models, and how to work across political agendas. The excitement and enthusiasm generated by space exploration attracts young people to careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), and increases public interest and support of science and exploration.
“We came all this way to explore the Moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the Earth.” — William Anders, Apollo 8 Astronaut.
The Political benefits can be tangible, for instance, if an ESA astronaut was invited to join Taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) aboard the upcoming Chinese Large Modular Space Station, this would facilitate collaborative working between the two agencies and an exchange of work methods, skills, and resources. Note: To be confirmed but it is likely that one ESA astronaut will be invited aboard the new Chinese Space Station every four years. The political benefits of Space Exploration can also be less tangible, such as partnerships to show unity, the demonstration of diplomatic soft power and intention of peace between States.
To conclude this overview, I strongly believe that every person on Earth would see the world differently if in space. As William Anders, the Apollo 8 astronaut put it: “We came all this way to explore the moon, and the most important thing is that we discovered the earth.”. The knowledge and technologies derived from Space Exploration expand our understanding of the Universe, create economic opportunities and help address grand challenges faced here on Earth.
Space Exploration serves as a great beacon to bring people together, to create solutions for many of the world’s challenges, and to write history as humankind continues to explore the unknown and understand more about our place in the Universe.
THE SUMMIT
For the explorers among you, we will now leave behind BASE CAMP, which I hope has provided a good introduction to the importance of Space Exploration, and make our way to THE SUMMIT. In the following sections I will provide further detail, insight and analysis.
First, I want to introduce you to an important reference point for this series of articles and a group I represent on behalf of ESA: The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG). The ISECG consists of 14 space agencies including the world’s biggest space agencies: NASA (United States), ESA (Europe), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA (Japan), CNSA (China), and CSA (Canada), which has been set up to coordinate plans, lessons learned, and activities among the agencies. Whilst next week’s article will look in detail at The Future of Space Exploration and provide more detail about the ISECG, I want to introduce you to the following global goals which were established to guide Space Exploration activities:
These goals have been brought to your attention to show that the high level exploration objectives of international space agencies connect with the aforementioned benefits of Space Exploration. The benefits of Space Exploration are not just spillovers from scientific and inspiration fuelled pursuits, but rather targeted objectives that are incorporated into the identification and planning of missions and the subsequent evaluation of their success.
The main driving force for Space Exploration is Science! This is where we’ll start our tour. Science undoubtedly drives the space agenda. To give you an example of how much so, at the European Space Agency, an organisation of 22 member States that fund space programmes (along with the EU), the only compulsory opt-in programmes are Science missions, not human exploration, communication, or navigation. Science is the first objective for every mission. Luckily for people like myself dedicated to Human Exploration, the two are rather complementary. The majority of the best science, whether planetary science, fundamental physics, or astrobiology–the study of life in the universe, is carried out away from the environmental distortion and impact of gravity on Earth. To push the boundaries of scientific discovery, we must also push the boundaries of human and robotic Space Exploration.
What is the physical nature of the Universe? Is the destiny of humankind bound to Earth? Are we and our planet unique? Is there life elsewhere in the Universe?
As mentioned in the introduction to the article, one of the biggest questions that humanity has strived to answer for thousands of years is to understand our place in the Universe. The innate curiosity we all have which drives us to ask questions such as: what is the physical nature of the Universe? Is the destiny of humankind bound to Earth? Are we and our planet unique? Is there life elsewhere in the Universe? All of these questions can be fulfilled through Science. Over the past century we have begun to uncover the foundation of knowledge to our universe — an understanding of gravity which quite literally shapes our Universe. Most accurately described by Albert Einstein in his General Theory of Relativity in 1915, gravity in the context of the Universe in not a force, as Newton’s law of universal gravitation postulates (which describes well the effects of gravity on Earth), but rather a consequence of the curvature of spacetime caused by the uneven distribution of mass. The most extreme example of this curvative is a Black Hole from which nothing can escape from its event horizon.
Understanding more about Gravity is just one of a series of significant breakthroughs we’ve made in our pursuit of knowledge about the Universe. Space Exploration has allowed us to build upon this platform of knowledge by enabling humans the visit other celestial bodies. In 2009, we learned that the Moon in fact has millions of tonnes of water ice below its surface. The lunar surface is a repository of the ancient history of the solar system. What else do we not know? Only via Space Exploration can we go and find these answers. It stimulates curiosity and the ability to see the bigger picture. By uncovering new information about the beginnings of our Solar System, space exploration brings us closer to answering profound questions that have been asked for millennia. Note: In a couple of weeks a special article will be dedicated to humanity’s return to the Moon: when we’re going, what we’re going for, and how we’re going to do it.
The scientific knowledge we gain from Space Exploration furthers humanity’s understanding and has a long history of creating Earth‐based applications for society. Space agencies have been tracking technology spillovers for years in the form of technology spinoffs (NASA) or technology transfers (ESA). Indeed, many of the products and services used everyday by people on Earth have technology roots in the space sector and have been born from the innovation driven approach necessitated by Space Exploration. You can find thousands of these spinoffs in all sectors including Health and Medicine, Transportation, Public Safety, Consumer, Home & Recreation, Environmental and Agricultural Resources, Computer Technology, and Industrial Productivity. Examples of products include more efficient solar panels, light‐based anti‐cancer therapy, cordless tools, implantable heart monitors, light‐weight high‐temperature alloys used in jet engine turbines, cameras found in today’s cell phones, compact water‐purification systems, global search‐and‐rescue systems and biomedical technologies.
Many of the products and services used everyday by people on Earth have technology roots in the space sector and have been born from the innovation driven approach necessitated by Space Exploration.
Space exploration is a driver for innovation because it involves humanity pushing the limit of what is currently possible. Assembling the International Space Station, a 420,000kg structure the size of a football field (109m in length) is a remarkable feat of engineering; no doubt humanity’s finest. Just like how the competition of Formula 1 (and Formula E: the electric motorsport equivalent) is at the forefront of driving innovation in the automobile industry, the ability for humankind to live and work in orbit around the Earth, and in the coming decades to the Moon, drives innovation and the creation of new technologies and approaches. Some of the most successful benefits from Space Exploration have come from the development of understanding how we can live in a confined, limited, environment in the harsh reality of space. Over 20 years of living on the International Space Station has helped us create solutions for problems on Earth such as the creation of:
- Clean Drinking Water
- Improved Agriculture and Food Distribution
- Telemedicine and Wireless Networks
- Environmental Monitoring and Management
- Disaster Warning and Relief
- Educational Resources
- Energy Storage
- Hazard Reduction
These benefits will only continue as humanity ventures deeper into space. For instance, enhancements in water recycling and environmental control are essential for crewed missions into deep space, such as a trip to Mars, and these technologies will be brought down to Earth for terrestrial use. There have been hundreds of science experiments carried out on the International Space Station that have allowed us to study over long periods of time the effects of microgravity (close to zero gravity experienced on the ISS which is in constant freefall around the Earth) on human physiology and plant biology, whilst also carrying out experiments in materials science and fundamental physics. Examples include experiments to help fight osteoporosis (or bone loss) and studies to better understand the ageing process.
Space Exploration may have started out via international competition. The ‘Space Race’ between the United States and Russia to put the first object into space (1–0 Russia), the first human into space (2–0 Russia), and the first human on the Moon (3–2 United States — worth three goals I reckon) was clearly a political contest of economic, political, and technological prowess. The Space Race changed the course of history from a geopolitical perspective. Whilst competition still remains, the current climate is far healthier and competition is overshadowed by great international cooperation between the world’s most powerful nations. It is widely accepted that the International Space Station would not be the scientifically and culturally successful orbiting laboratory it is today without this cooperation. Future Space Exploration missions to the Moon and Mars will require huge international collaborative efforts, even if NASA does appear to be jumping the sustainable cooperation gun to reland humans on the Moon by 2024 (for the first time since 1972). Note: there will be a lot more on NASA’s specific Lunar Artemis program in the weeks to come.
Future Space Exploration missions to the Moon and Mars will require huge international collaborative efforts, even if NASA does appear to be jumping the sustainable cooperation gun to reland humans on the Moon by 2024.
Not only does Space Exploration bring States together, it also provides an incredible platform for government, academia, industry, and institutions to work together to advance common goals. In the modern day all play a vital role in the ecosystem of stakeholders that enable current and future missions. Just as comparative advantage in the study of international trade teaches us of the benefits of working together and specialisation, States have showed to great effect the power of collaboration over the past decades of human spaceflight. For example, Russia providing the Soyuz rocket and capsule to transport all astronauts to the International Space Station from their Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Canada specialising in their robotic arm technology which has been so instrumental in manipulating objects for the Station, Europe and Japan in their science laboratories Columbus and Kibo respectively, all working with the United States who drive forward the Space Exploration programme and lead the international effort.
Even in times of political uncertainty between power States on Earth, the cooperation between space agencies on the ISS programme has been largely unaffected. Space Exploration is too important and too long term for the frictions between States on Earth. The emerging role of China as a Space Exploration power presents an interesting dynamic given the relationship with the United States. But even so, ESA (Europe) is playing a successful role of intermediary between NASA and CNSA (China), who have stated their intention to invite international partners to their impending space station to begin launch in 2020: The Chinese Large Modular Space Station — the world’s third multi-modular space station following Russia’s MIR station and the ISS cooperation.
Before we conclude our journey of why we should invest in Space Exploration, I want to pause to consider a few of the disbenefits. Whilst Space Exploration has many direct and indirect benefits and positive externalities, there also exist some negative externalities and challenges that must be overcome.
Even the smallest of debris, travelling at over 28,000km/h, has the potential to destroy satellites, spacecraft, and even the International Space Station.
One of the major challenges facing the space industry currently is that of Space Debris. In the coming months I will be writing an article specifically looking at this challenge and the steps being taken to tackle it. Currently there are over 29,000 pieces of space debris larger than 10 cm across in orbit. Even the smallest of debris, travelling at over 28,000km/h, has the potential to destroy satellites, spacecraft, and even the International Space Station. Of the 5,400 satellites placed into orbit, only 1,800 of them are still functioning — the rest are junk. As we put more objects into space, this debris becomes more serious, because despite the vastness of space, we only have a finite amount of space below Geostationary Orbit (~35,000km) where almost all the world’s satellites live. And as debris collides, thousands more pieces of debris are created which leads to the Kessler syndrome: a scenario whereby a high density of objects in orbit becomes high enough that the collisions between objects creates a cascading effect, generating further debris and increases the likelihood of a further collision.
Whilst most of the objects in space are not directly purposed for Space Exploration, we must ensure that exploration missions do not hinder efforts to tackle space debris — the stark example being the first Chinese Space Station which China lost control of in 2016 that fortunately safely disintegrated back to Earth over a year ago. There are other areas where Space Exploration faces challenges such as those surrounding human safety (risk of life for crewed space exploration missions), such as the death of three Apollo 1 astronauts. Other risks involve the relatively unknown long term impact of being in space for up to a year (aboard the ISS) and the effects of future longer missions of up to three years to Mars. Other risks include the potential for militarisation of space (a strategic emphasis on using space to fulfil military objectives). These themes, and others, will be addressed in future articles.
That brings us to THE SUMMIT of our first article. I hope that you leave with a greater understanding of the benefits of Space Exploration and the positive impact that investing in space can bring for life on Earth. Space Exploration missions are expensive and the opportunity cost is high. However, Space Exploration serves as a truly great beacon to bring people together, to create solutions for many of the world’s challenges, and to write history as humankind continues to explore the unknown and understand more about our place in the Universe.
Next week we will explore The Future of Space Exploration and examine the international roadmap for human spaceflight, with exciting near-term plans to venture beyond Low Earth Orbit and onto the Moon and Mars.
