Space exploration offers many benefits to humanity, mainly in the form of driving forward technological advancement. The best example of space exploration spurring technological innovation is NASA's Apollo Moon missions, which not only developed many valuable commercial products such as portable television cameras but also provided a critically important market for the first generation of computer chips.
But it's hard to understand the stubborn determination among many space exploration enthusiasts for sending manned missions to Mars. Humanity has unfinished business on the Moon, literally. Developing mineral resources and energy production on the Moon has the potential to generate economic activity valued at trillions of dollars.
The announcement this week that multimillionaire space tourist Dennis Tito is planning a privately funded manned fly-by of Mars is the latest misguided, and probably ill-fated, proposal to send humans to the Red Planet. Tito is expected to provide details about this so-called "Mission for America" during a Feb. 27 press conference.
The Inspiration Mars Foundation, a nonprofit group Tito created, provided a rough outline of the Mars shot on Wednesday:
- The mission would launch in 2018 and last 501 days
- Existing technology would be used, specifically the SpaceX Dragon capsule, which would be thrust toward Mars at the tip of a powerful rocket SpaceX has under development
- The journey would be a no-frills ride for the two-member crew, which would be expected to live on survivalist rations and clean up with sponge baths for a year and a half
Tito's foundation provided the following justification for the daring mission: "This 'Mission for America' will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration. It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and motivation."
While I admire Tito's noble aspirations, establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon could accomplish the same goals and probably make life better on our home planet. Simply put, generating inspiration from space exploration is very nice, but generating inspiration and cash from human activity in space would be even better.
Several proposals have been made in recent years to return humans to the Moon and put them to work. Here's a sampling:
- During his 2012 U.S. presidential campaign, Newt Gingrich announced a plan to establish a colony on the Moon by 2020. While the Georgia Republican's proposal drew widespread criticism over its grandiose goals and Made-in-America focus, Forbes magazine hailed the potential for scientific advancement and economic development.
- In 2009, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin called on the United States to lead an international effort to return humans to the Moon: "In a new global effort to use the Moon to establish a global space consortium with a lunar surface facility as its epicenter, America can gain new leadership, international respect, and technological progress by collaborating with emerging space powers, not merely competing with them."
- In 2006, NASA released a document listing nearly 200 scientific and commercial projects that could be established on the Moon or in lunar orbit, including Earth and solar observation posts, human health experiments, power generation, communications systems and mining operations.
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Any colonization of the Moon would require exploitation of lunar resources such as ice and minerals. NASA's recent GRAIL mission should provide insight into the lunar subsurface.
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