 | Marisa Honomichl is Vice President of Marketing and Development at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. The Cosmosphere houses one of the largest collections of space artifacts in the world including the Apollo 13 space capsule. The mission of the Cosmosphere is “Honoring the Past and Inspiring the Future of Space Exploration.” This is accomplished through educational programming such as space exploration camps for students in the summer. Feel free to contact the Cosmosphere for more information on their camps and programming at (800)397-0330 or visit www.cosmo.org. |
Science
2009-05-01 11:45:00
Why go back to the moon?
Question: Why is NASA going back to the moon?
Answer: Many people are starting to hear about the next major manned space program, Constellation, which will take humans back to the moon. A number of people wonder, “What’s the point, haven’t we already done that?” In a recent presentation at the Cosmosphere, William Parsons, former director of NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center, was asked that exact question. His response was rather simple. “It is in the nature of our species to explore and there are many things left to explore on the moon…and it will provide the perfect training ground for us to prepare to go to Mars and beyond.”
It’s true we are a curious species and exploring our environment and what lies beyond seems to be a trait that has driven us to take great risks and spend vast amounts of time and money to accomplish. Since before man had a written language, we have been tracking the heavens and dreaming of what lies out there. Some of the earliest and greatest monuments built by man were created to try to better understand and predict the universe we live in. Even today, what we know about the universe in which we live, is very limited and constantly amazing the researchers who dedicate their lives to the subject. We know what we have learned thus far, and what we expect to learn in the not too distant future, but we have no idea how much we have not yet imagined might be out there to learn.
For those who want a more practical reason for returning to the moon, that exists as well. The innovation that is generated by the unique needs of the space program, particularly manned space programs, is something we can all benefit from in a very real way. In fact, the early manned space missions through the Apollo era were such a whale of innovative ideas that we are still feeding off that catch today. But it is time to go fishing again for some fresh, new, possibly even more amazing technology and scientific findings from which we can all benefit.
Our next moon missions are intended to do more than collect rocks and prove we can get there. NASA hopes to establish habitats that can sustain groups of people living there for extended periods. This is necessary to accomplish extended human space travel such as a trip to Mars, which it is expected would take space travelers about two years to complete. Six months to get there, a year on the planet and six months to return is the current thinking. These lessons would not only help us learn to survive in the harsh conditions of space, it can also teach us how to better use our resources here to sustain our environment and reduce our impact on the earth. There are hundreds of lessons we expect to learn by returning to the moon before going on to Mars, and there are thousands more that we will learn along the way that we never expected. Those will probably be the most significant.
