Human Space Exploration inherently makes no sense but it inspires us anyway. Let’s break it down-

Human + Space + Exploration

And let’s dive in backwards

Exploration– for millennia humans have been asking each other ‘Why?’ In this case, why go to inhabit worlds the human body was not created for? Worlds so different from Earth that our squishy, frail bodies would not survive unassisted for more than a couple of minutes. And especially, Why, when robots can do the job?

First the ‘Why?’ Question- I am not really going to answer except to say, it has always been this way. Us yearning for the unknown, unmapped, and sometimes the unimaginable. The same questions have been asked of every explorer and while some have been driven by pure greed, others have been nothing more than to say, ‘I did it!’ Or ‘We did it!’. Why inhabit Antarctica? Why climb Everest? Why explore the deepest oceans? Answer: ‘It is there and I have questions I need answered’.

Space – what questions do we have about Space given how far we have already explored. Voyager I and II continue their journeys outside the solar system and we have visited every planet, every significant satellite moon, (albeit from afar) and ‘I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.’ To quote a famous U2 song. What are we looking for?

Human– we are looking for life or at least an explanation of life as we humans have come to experience it here on Earth. Can it exist elsewhere in different form? Are we and our shared DNA earth dwellers unique or does the very definition of what it means to be alive get redefined with the next discovery?

But I haven’t why postulated why humans and not robots to find life? Honestly because we want to see if for ourselves. We want to witness it, connect with our cosmos on a fundamental level that the camera of an exploration robot, not matter how adorable that robot is, cannot achieve. To this ephemeral desire we can of course, attach practical reasons – the human mind is still more adept at complex thought and responding to to unplanned events, making it an ideal exploration partner. Soon that may change. And maybe our technological advance here on Earth that have already disconnected us from ‘Real Reality’ would have so required us that this desire to be present may fade before we achieve the technological leaps needed to put us on Mars.

Personally, my why is captured in a single song, ‘To dream the impossible dream…And to run where the brave dare not go….To reach the unreachable star’

Onwards we go!