It's not the billions
to go to Mars that we should use to rebuild the world after the financial crisis,
the pandemics, or to plant trees, fight climate change, feed the people that
suffer from starvation, etc. For those purposes, we should use instead the
billions devoted to military budget and subsidies to fossil fuels, the billions
in tax havens, the billions of the super-rich, etc. The breakthroughs in
science and technology that must be achieved to be able to fulfill the
challenge of going to Mars will improve incredibly life on Earth.
Unfortunately, until a few decades ago, such breakthroughs would only occur
“thanks” to wars, because it was only then that States would devote massive resources
to research in very short times (with the development of vaccines for COVID-19,
we have witnessed a clear demonstration of what science can achieve when adequate
resources are devoted to specific objectives). Now, the list of improvements of
life on Earth thanks to the money spent in space exploration is endless!
Without space exploration and space programs, we would not have nowadays cellphones,
computers and miniaturization of computers, satellite communications, satellite
data that have boosted the productivity of agriculture, fishing, mining, etc., have
allowed improving enormously meteorology, mapping, navigation, firefighting,
search and rescue operations, and knowledge of the Earth' crust, atmosphere,
ionosphere, magnetic field, etc., and knowledge of animal behavior, vegetation,
climate, and climate change, all of this so fundamental for many applications
on Earth, etc. Moreover, images taken by space observatories have allowed breakthroughs
in cosmology (confirm the Big Bang theory), planetology, etc. Even more, experiments
in space (in the International Space Station, for example) have also boosted the
knowledge on materials sciences, medicines, life sciences, growth of
vegetables, combustion, fluids, etc. So, I hope that now you see that life as
we know it nowadays on Earth simply wouldn’t be possible without what the
aerospace sector has given to society in return.
Please, I recommend you to see also the video 'Space Wanderers' in this link:
launch of Ariane 5 'Ciutat de Barcelona', European Space Port, Kourou, Guyane (French Guiana), France (2006)
