Everyone from Hollywood, to environmental groups, to the government to, yes, even scientists are recognizing that our time on Earth may be limited. As a species we face the very real truth that we will not be able to stay on Earth forever if we hope to survive.
The threat of extinction may not be imminent, it could take billions of years, it could be hundreds. Nonetheless, preparations need to be underway now to prepare for that inevitable future.
With the exception of the Apollo Moon missions, man has yet to set foot on a world beyond our own. Why?
Cost and Technology
There is a simple reason that we haven't been back to the moon in nearly 40 years: the scientific benefit to such missions could be accomplished more cheaply and with far less risk by using robotic probes. Since the idea of deep space missions was not on the radar (i.e. going to Mars or beyond), then returning to the Moon was unnecessary.
This, naturally, leads us to the topic of whether we should return to the Moon again. If we have designs on Mars, then the Moon is a logical first step to testing new technologies. However there are those that would see that as perhaps an unneeded detour.
In fact, there is a push not just to go to Mars, but to establish a permanent base from the very start; send people there to live out the rest of their lives on the surface.
A recent symposium on this exact topic has gathered scientists to discuss what stands in the way of such an endeavor.
Propulsion technology is obviously an issue if you want to get astronauts there in a reasonable amount of time. And if we ever hope to go beyond our solar system, warp drive-type technologies would almost certainly be necessary.
[As an aside, there was much discussion of the recent data from CERN that indicated, at least for the time being, that neutrinos created during particle collisions were traveling faster than the speed of light. While it could take months or years before a consensus is reached on what is actually happening, many have reported that if found to be accurate that this would pave the way for faster-than-light travel in general. This isn't necessarily true. There is a great deal that we don't understand about neutrinos to begin with, so this finding may not create quite the paradigm shift in relativistic physics as some are claiming. More later, stay tuned.]
Survival of the Human Race
There are even more fundamental issues to address though. Suppose that technology existed where we could travel to distant stars using some form of warp drive. Those aboard the starship would be onboard for years, perhaps decades or centuries, before arriving at their destination.
Weightlessness would be a serious issue. Without some form of artificial gravity muscle and bone degeneration would be difficult to combat.
Then there is the issue of copulation. In a weightless environment, the simple act of human intimacy becomes dicy.
And if pregnancy occurs? Well a forming fetus is not likely to survive very long in the absence of gravity.
So if humans are ever to stray very far from home a better understanding of gravity is essential.
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