What is the point of humans going into space, what good....

[missionunknown]

...has ever come out of it? How has it benefitted us back on earth?

 

[MeteorWayne]

Since this is not related to a Mission or a Launch, Moved to Space Business and Technology.

 

[PiotrSatan]

It clearly states that we are sentient species. We begin to know about substances acting in low gravity environment and what is space composited of and which of these materials can we use. With time we might learn how to mine asteroids, make colonies not only in-orbit like the moon, but also on other objects. We might even get to know few-years terraforming process so instead of making mars habitable years of years and so on with current technology, we can make mars earth-like "in a minute" compared to the growth of humans. If we settle ourselves on other planets, moons etc. Earth will no longer be needed as much. We wouldnt have to worry about asteroid hitting Earth when we'd have like 100 other planets. That is beneficial. Now, we cannot do practically anything and if we will not practice space travels, space research (ISS) we will not get anywhere and in next 400 years the nature will die with us. Indeed it might trigger some conflicts like planetary rebellion or nuclear war, but then again, if one planet gets destroyed and we would posses the technology to get another planet within our bounds, who would care?

 

[missionunknown]

It clearly states that we are sentient species. We begin to know about substances acting in low gravity environment and what is space composited of and which of these materials can we use. With time we might learn how to mine asteroids, make colonies not only in-orbit like the moon, but also on other objects. We might even get to know few-years terraforming process so instead of making mars habitable years of years and so on with current technology, we can make mars earth-like "in a minute" compared to the growth of humans. If we settle ourselves on other planets, moons etc. Earth will no longer be needed as much. We wouldnt have to worry about asteroid hitting Earth when we'd have like 100 other planets. That is beneficial. Now, we cannot do practically anything and if we will not practice space travels, space research (ISS) we will not get anywhere and in next 400 years the nature will die with us. Indeed it might trigger some conflicts like planetary rebellion or nuclear war, but then again, if one planet gets destroyed and we would posses the technology to get another planet within our bounds, who would care?

Understood and please understand that i am playing devils advocate here but what has actually been achieved so far by manned space ventures that has actually benefitted the human species in any way?

 

[Polishguy]

It clearly states that we are sentient species. We begin to know about substances acting in low gravity environment and what is space composited of and which of these materials can we use. With time we might learn how to mine asteroids, make colonies not only in-orbit like the moon, but also on other objects. We might even get to know few-years terraforming process so instead of making mars habitable years of years and so on with current technology, we can make mars earth-like "in a minute" compared to the growth of humans. If we settle ourselves on other planets, moons etc. Earth will no longer be needed as much. We wouldnt have to worry about asteroid hitting Earth when we'd have like 100 other planets. That is beneficial. Now, we cannot do practically anything and if we will not practice space travels, space research (ISS) we will not get anywhere and in next 400 years the nature will die with us. Indeed it might trigger some conflicts like planetary rebellion or nuclear war, but then again, if one planet gets destroyed and we would posses the technology to get another planet within our bounds, who would care?

Understood and please understand that i am playing devils advocate here but what has actually been achieved so far by manned space ventures that has actually benefitted the human species in any way?

Velcro, and other space spin-off technologies developed for the Space Program. Science has benefitted from Apollo astronauts on the moon (far more efficient than rovers could ever be).

And if we go to a world we can actually colonize, like Mars, we provide the human race with a place to survive if earth gets hit with a giant rock. Or nuclear war. Or ecological catastrophe.

In addition, Earth has limited resources. Livescience ran an article a few weeks ago about innovation being stunted by the rarity of some metals. The Asteroids have many, many metals we can use, as do other planets.

You could just as easily have asked how Columbus's voyage benefitted Europeans in 1493. By 1520, you'd be laughing at those who question the value of exploring a new world.

 

[Gravity_Ray]

...has ever come out of it? How has it benefitted us back on earth?

There is a lot of scientific research that is conducted by the national space exploration agencies such as NASA and RKA that can alone justify the government expenses. There is National prestige. Most economic analyses of NASA programs often showed on going economic benefits (from things such as spin-offs), that generate many times the revenue of the cost of the program.

To me manned space exploration is a necessity to mankind and that staying on our home planet will lead us to extinction (use dinosaurs as an example). There will be a natural lack of resources, big rocks that go boom in the night, nuclear war, pandemics that will surely kill this species if we only exist on the surface of this planet, since there are just too many accidents that can befall life on a single planet.

As Arthur C. Clarke stated humanity’s choice is essentially between expansion off the Earth into space, versus cultural (and eventually biological) stagnation and death.

 

[halman]

missionunknown,

What good was it to find out what was in the next valley, or on the other side of the river? What good was it to find out what was on the other side of the ocean, or over the mountains? Learning, that's what it was good for. To acquire knowledge. Sometimes, the process of learning is more important than the knowledge that we gain, because learning keeps us youthful, looking outwards, seeking new things.

Space flight is in its infancy. To ask what good it has brought is premature, selfish. Wait a couple of hundred years, until the sky is full of factories, energy is beamed down to Earth from orbit, and there are people living places besides Earth, and then ask that question.

 

[missionunknown]

Ok so velcro, almost everything else i've gotten has been doomsday scenario's that could be in a very long time. What other scientific discoveries and inventions have helped us as a direct result of manned space faring?

 

[aaron38]

It's a frontier. It's THE frontier. It's a pressure relief valve, a place for innovation, exploration, and yes, colonization.

Even if only a very few people live off Earth on a permanent colony, think what that would mean. Are you tired of seeing Hollywood churn out sequel after sequel, becuase there's just a lack of new ideas? Do you get the sense that we're going to spend the 21st century just doing the exact same things we did in the 20th? Don't you wish there was an entire new open world for human settlement? Where things can be done differently, and hopefull better? Something new besides another Facebook app?

We need a frontier, a place where the restless human spirit can find an outlet for it's energy that doesn't involve blowing eachother up.

 

[Woggles]

"...has ever come out of it? How has it benefitted us back on earth?"

http://seds.org/archive/technology/spinoffs.shtml

 

[Jazman1985]

Cordless drills were greatly improved for use in space - just one I thought of off the top of my head.

If(when) we go back to the moon or explore other planets/NEO, Earth science will be greatly improved, much more with humans than by sending "dumb" rovers to these places. If you determine that it takes 3 minutes on a good day for communication between Mars and Earth, and it takes a human a split second(we'll call it one second) to make a decision, then humans are more than 180 times more efficient than remotely controlled machines. Also factor in that we breakdown far less often than most machines, have greater dexterity, have the ability to reason and solve unforeseeable problems and I think the answer is obvious that humans > robots

If you want to ask what any specific science that we would learn in space would do for you, imagine that without geology or related fields, we would not have cell phones or TVs. Sometimes the link between science and usefull applications is very real, just difficult to see immediately.

 

[menellom]

I'm not sure what's more disappointing, the OPs blatant troll attempt or the fact that so many people are indulging him.

 

[samkent]

Velcro, and other space spin-off technologies developed for the Space Program.

Most of the things we associate as coming from the space program, do not.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Velcro

The hook-and-loop fastener was invented in 1941 by Swiss engineer, George de Mestral[5][7][8] who lived in Commugny, Switzerland.

 

[CoreDave]

The truth is of course that as of right now the space program doesn't provide much material benafit to the human race. Most of the return on the investment will be in the future, of course to really see that happen we need to bring down the cost of access to space a huge amount.

Now thats no reason to stop, but it is worth thinking about when planning how to spend the worlds space budgets in the future. Reducing the cost of access to space should be priorities 1, 2 and 3 as far as I can see.

 

[rockett]

All the doom and gloom stuff notwithstanding, it's actually evolution of us as a species.
We would all be swimming if the first land animals hadn't gone through all that effort and evolution to become land dwelling, as a parallel example.

As for support of that effort, you take people out of the equation and the general public loses interest. They can relate to people being up there, no matter how much we get from the machines and probes. When they see anything on humans like themselves in space there is always that "I wish..." at the back of their minds.

I agree with the previous posts that point out, we will eventually loot and destroy this planet or ourselves if we don't have any motivation to go elsewhere. When we turn our focus inward instead of outward, historically wars seem to result, whether they make sense or not.

Finally, stagnation is death.

 

[neutrino78x]

I think the problem is that many people want humans to go into space for purely scientific reasons. Clearly, if all you want to do is gain scientific information, that can be done with robots/probes.

The purpose of sending humans is to colonize. To form new civilizations. To trade with those new civilizations. This expands the economy and improves quality of life for all.

Look at how life improved vastly in Europe once they started exploring and trading with the rest of the world. Look at how the USA benefited from the Louisiana Purchase, when we suddenly had vastly greater natural resources.

As I have pointed out several times, Eros alone has 20 trillion dollars in natural resources, including 1 trillion dollars in gold. The USA could erase our national debt by selling that gold.

--Brian

 

[rockett]

Yes, it might have that much gold. But think what would happen to the price of gold (not to mention currencies based on it) if you dumped that much in to circulation. Probably would drop considerably. :shock:

But I do agree with you, the ultimate goal is colonization, and best to use materials already there to do it.

 

[Valcan]

Also think or rare earths. They are used in alot of alloys of only a very small amount are available each yr. This would bring the price down and make many products more feasable and accessable by the general public. Also the value in medical research, materials etc is worth far more than the cost of a station.

 

[Space_Architect]

Well for starters some of the greatest benefits our space program have been and are currently giving us are:

• Networked television
• Satellite television
• Satellite radio
• Satellite telecommunications
• Satellite weather
• Satellite remote sensing
• Geopositioning System
• Commerce - geotracking has empowered business JIT operations, freeing up thousands of companies from maintaining costly inventories (a major contribution to economic growth)
• Improving our understanding of our environment (magnetosphere, plate tectonics, Earth weather, and space weather)
• Stellar evolution and cosmology - understanding our origins in the universe
• Space medicine - understanding the frailties of the human body
• Chemistry - understanding the behavior of chemicals free from gravity
• Manufacturing - many new improvements and innovations come from space research
• HVAC/Insulation/Fire suppression systems - much of this field depends on space technologies

(For the current list of recent contributions, check out NASA's Spinoff program http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/.)

Some of the potential benefits to come are:

• Energy - the largest fusion reactor around is the sun, we just need to improve how we tap into it
• Telecommunications - streaming HD photorealistic VR MMORPGs (our steampunk telecom net isn't going to keep up with the next 2-3 generations of computing)
• Space resources - there's more gold and platinum in a single asteroid than everything that's ever been mined in human history, and there are millions of asteroids. Plus the lunar surface is primarily made of aluminum and titanium. Couple that with glass made from our deserts and an endless supply of energy, we can build cities where every home is as big as a hectare.
• Survival - as more and more nations are champing at the bit to get nuclear weapons, the probability of nuclear exchange keeps increasing, and the safest place to be is off-world.
• Colonies - you'll have the option of choosing a surface variety on the Moon and Mars; or the orbital variety above Earth or any planet, or the sun (asteroid belts or the lagrange points).

 

[Cosmicvoid]

I'm not sure what's more disappointing, the OPs blatant troll attempt or the fact that so many people are indulging him.

Considering that he said that he's palying the devil's advocate role, I would cut him some slack. It is somewhat dissappointing that there isn't a huge list of material benefits that have been had from space projects. A lot of knowledge has been gained that could translate into future benefits. Space_Architect has a nice list, but most of them didn't involve "humans going into space". Or should "humans going into space" be interpreted more generally as "humans sending things into space"?

Is Tang (the fake orange drink) a benefit of the space program?

 

[EarthlingX]

Haven't you people heard of a Lebensraum ? This one is most notorious, but hardly alone, do i have to point with finger ?

Arguing about this tiny piece of something in the middle of infinite space ? How silly is that ?

I will repeat this, it's neat :

Well for starters some of the greatest benefits our space program have been and are currently giving us are:

* Networked television
* Satellite television
* Satellite radio
* Satellite telecommunications
* Satellite weather
* Satellite remote sensing
* Geopositioning System
* Commerce - geotracking has empowered business JIT operations, freeing up thousands of companies from maintaining costly inventories (a major contribution to economic growth)
* Improving our understanding of our environment (magnetosphere, plate tectonics, Earth weather, and space weather)
* Stellar evolution and cosmology - understanding our origins in the universe
* Space medicine - understanding the frailties of the human body
* Chemistry - understanding the behavior of chemicals free from gravity
* Manufacturing - many new improvements and innovations come from space research
* HVAC/Insulation/Fire suppression systems - much of this field depends on space technologies

(For the current list of recent contributions, check out NASA's Spinoff program http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/.)

Some of the potential benefits to come are:

* Energy - the largest fusion reactor around is the sun, we just need to improve how we tap into it
* Telecommunications - streaming HD photorealistic VR MMORPGs (our steampunk telecom net isn't going to keep up with the next 2-3 generations of computing)
* Space resources - there's more gold and platinum in a single asteroid than everything that's ever been mined in human history, and there are millions of asteroids. Plus the lunar surface is primarily made of aluminum and titanium. Couple that with glass made from our deserts and an endless supply of energy, we can build cities where every home is as big as a hectare.
* Survival - as more and more nations are champing at the bit to get nuclear weapons, the probability of nuclear exchange keeps increasing, and the safest place to be is off-world.
* Colonies - you'll have the option of choosing a surface variety on the Moon and Mars; or the orbital variety above Earth or any planet, or the sun (asteroid belts or the lagrange points).

 

[trailrider]

Medical benefits that have accrued to humankind because of both human and robotic space exploration:

My wife's breast cancer could not have been detected at the early stage that has enabled her to be (so-far) successfully treated, without the enhanced digital imaging that was originally used by spy satellites. Five years ago, the imaging capability did not exist in the medical field...until declassified and adapted to x-ray imaging!

Fiber optics, used in everything from telephone cables to medical imaging, were originally utilized to borescope the interiors of jet engines and various launch vehicle components.

Telemetry used in medium-intensive care facilities in many hospitals allows a patient to be monitored for vital signs without having to be tethered to a hard-wired connection to the nurse's station. Likewise, telemetered vital science from paramedics/ambulances to hospital emergency rooms are a direct result of the necessity to monitor Joe Kittenger and astronauts who followed for their vital signs while out of reach of doctors!

I won't waste the bandwidth with further examples, but there are other reasons, many already posted, why Man (both genders included for those who no longer use the term "Man" for us bipeds that think...sometimes!) must "go out" beyond LEO! Curiosity with the capability to attempt to satisfy that curiosity is the thing that separates us from even the great apes! "What's beyond the next hill?" is the thing that keeps us from stagnating.

Some people say we can get better scientific data with robotic probes. But a robot can only do what it has been programmed to do. Yes, a robot on Mars can tell us the composition of soil within the range of detection and access designed into it. But a human can eyeball something that catches his/her eye and then decide how to go about investigating it! A human artist or poet can come up with things after observing a new environment that enriches us all.

Rest assured, if the United States becomes the Portugal of the Space Age, there are others from Planet Earth, who go out to explore and ultimately colonize new worlds, and CREATE new "civ-ill-eye-zay-shuns"!

Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra!

 

[neutrino78x]

Also think or rare earths. They are used in alot of alloys of only a very small amount are available each yr. This would bring the price down and make many products more feasable and accessable by the general public. Also the value in medical research, materials etc is worth far more than the cost of a station.

Indeed. There is also platinum, etc., on Eros. The article doesn't mention it, but there are probably asteroids with vast quantities of lithium, which is needed for lithium-ion batteries for electric cars.

--Brian

 

[StarRider1701]

Haven't you people heard of a Lebensraum? This one is most notorious, but hardly alone, do i have to point with finger ?

Arguing about this tiny piece of something in the middle of infinite space ? How silly is that ?

Lebensraum is a German word, literally translated means livingroom. Could also mean habitat.
However, the link you proveded goes to something that appears to be linked to Naziism??? Sorry, you will need much explaining of this post, EarthlingX, because I haven't a clue what you are trying to say here. Oh, and rather than providing more links or pictures, please just explain with words what your post means, because I do not understand any of it, especially how it relates to the topic at hand.

 

[StarRider1701]

Is Tang (the fake orange drink) a benefit of the space program?

Ah yes, Tang. Yes, it was developed for the space program, but also an experiment in alternative uses for petro-chemicals. I liked the grape flavor myself, but orange Tang is quite good mixed with lemon flavored Rum or Schnapps.