Exploration of Space

Space has always been a fascinating thing to me. The stars, moon, and planets are some of the most beautiful sites in the universe. It makes complete sense that the ancient roman astronomers named constellations and planets after Greek gods and goddesses. Space has been a very intriguing topic for many scientists for many, many years. Copernicus was one of the first scientists that had scientific evidence that the sun was in the middle of the solar system. Because of his discovery and theory his face has been put on Polish money and has a crater on the moon named after him.

Scientists, astronomers, and astronauts are not the only people interested in space. Virgin galactic airlines are interested in commercializing space flights in the next two to three years. Each ticket would run for about $200,000 to $300,000. They licensed the technology from the spacecraft that won the X-prize. This was a space competition that offered 10 million for a non-government organization to launch a reusable man spacecraft into space twice, within two weeks. Some believe that commercializing space lights is space exploitation and making space move into the private sector.

Space is also being looked at for planetary resources. Companies are applying commercial innovation to robotic space exploration. The water from asteroids could be turned into liquid

oxygen and nitrogen, and they have started to look at mining asteroids to obtain nickel, cobalt, and platinum. I never knew that mining could take place in space or that we had the technology to do such a thing, but since natural resources are becoming limited on Earth this may be a solution. The moon has been called the Persian Gulf of the 21^st century because the possibility of mining helium-3 for fuel.

This technology shows how far we have come with our exploration of space since Copernicus’s time.

Images:

• Moon mining: NASA's Plans for Mining Water From the Moon. Digital Image. The Higher Learning. Web.
• Plasma Mythology. Digital Image. Web.
• Spaceflight is Ready For Blastoff. Digital image. Spacebio.com. Web.

Resources: 

• "Helium-3 Mining on the Lunar Surface." European Space Agency. Web. 29 May 2015.   
• "Human Spaceflight." Virgin Galactic. Web. 29 May 2015.
• "International Space Hall of Fame :: Inductee Profile." New Mexico Museum of Space History. New Mexico Department of Cultural Affairs. Web. 29 May 2015.    
• "Market for Metals in Space." The Asteroid Mining Company. Planetary Resources. Web. 29 May 2015.
• Vesna, Victoria. "Space Exploration + Art Lectures." Desma 9 Lecture. Los Angeles. 29 May 2015. Lecture. Online