“Public opinion won’t allow spending on space exploration. Not when we’re struggling to put food on the table.”
Professor Brand (Interstellar, 2014)
After watching Interstellar on a 70mm IMAX screen yesterday, I came out of the theater squinting against the bright and harsh reality that Earth is becoming unlivable. Once again, I questioned whether all the resources we spend on space exploration are worth it while our world, the one in which we our species was custom made, is burning and dying. On top of that feeling, a few weeks ago I was laid off from NASA JPL, where I worked on Mars rover engineering operations, so it’s tempting to get salty, throw up my hands, and say “exploring space is a waste of time let’s focus on our burning Earth.” But that view is facile and plainly false. Exploring space, even remote planets like Mars, can help us fight climate change through direct application of climate science, indirect technological advancement, and through inspiration and motivation.
A lot of what I have to say here focuses on Mars, because 1) that’s where my experience is and 2) it’s where “focus on Earth” maximalists direct their ire. The arguments and facts here translate well to other planetary bodies, although there’s no denying Mars is special in its proximity and similarity to Earth (relative to other planets and moons).
Yes, we explore other planets like Mars in search of extraterrestrial life. However people forget that the other reason, and the one that actually brings in the federal money, is that what we learn about other planetary bodies directly informs our understanding of Earth, and how life arose here. For example, Mars used to have water on its surface and an active magnetosphere which protected the surface from radiation (much like Earth has now). So of course we are looking for signs of life there, but we’re also trying to understand what happened to make it transition from a place where habitability was confirmed (by the Curiosity rover) to a place where, in its current state, it’s unlikely that life would spontaneously arise on its own.
“We used to look up at the sky and wonder at our place in the stars. Now we just look down, and worry about our place in the dirt.” — Cooper
The other major piece of the “why care about other places” puzzle that makes spending money on space worthwhile is the technological advancement that comes with it. Famously, space technology design has resulted in inventions such as water filters, insulin pumps, foundational tech for CAT scans / MRIs, scratch resistance glasses, and vastly improved hearing aids (howstuffworks). It’s a mistake to claim this kind of tech never would have existed, but it’s an undeniable fact that going to space spurred the innovation that significantly sped up the process. Additionally, a good chunk of NASA’s budget is literally dedicated to Earth observing satellites that monitor temperature, sea level rise, hurricanes, and other critical climate variables.
“But Kevin! NASA’s budget is huge and we could be spending that directly on tech that will solve climate change.” I like where your heart is at, but buddy your brain is confused. NASA’s budget is approximately $25B per year (.5% of the federal budget Planetary Society), and is sandwiched between the Small Business administration ($44B) and the Railroad Retirement Board ($17B) when ranking federal agencies by spending total (Federal Agency Spending). In terms of specific projects and their cumulative budgets over longer timelines, here’s a comparison on a few key recent ones.
- James Webb Space Telescope $10B = one (1) Ford-class aircraft carrier
- Europa Clipper $5B (launched a few months ago to explore Jupiter’s icy moon Europa, the likeliest place in the solar system to harbor life) = Hoover Dam
- Mars Sample Return (MSR) $10B+ (originally $5B, delayed due to budget overrun, and also the root cause as to why I was fired) = rerouting 3.5 miles of I35 through a tunnel in Boston
JWST has already made fundamental contributions to our understanding of physical reality, Europa Clipper is exploring the most scientifically valuable place in our solar system other than Earth, and MSR may literally confirm the existence of microbial life on another planet. So yeah. That shit matters.
We’ve always defined ourselves by the ability to overcome the impossible. And we count these moments. These moments when we dare to aim higher, to break barriers, to reach for the stars, to make the unknown known. — Cooper
Alright I’ve avoided the corny “space is inspiring and motivating” portion for as long as possible. But it’s true. Around 5% of kids want to grow up to be an astronaut. A childhood interest in space often sublimates into a real, durable interest in STEM. NASA increases the STEM talent pool overall, this isn’t a zero sum game.
One overlooked aspect of the “inspiration” argument is that NASA serves as an example of a group of passionate public servants efficiently doing complex and valuable work. It is a shining example of what the government can do when the right motivations and systems are in place, a central piece of evidence against the “government is bad and inefficient” crowd that happens to be coming into office right now. Speak of the devil, Elon Musk has done a tremendous amount of work to turn the general public off of the idea of colonizing Mars. His noxious brand now dominates any conversation about investment in space exploration, when in fact, instead, it’s the methodical and consistent work of great engineers across public and private organizations that will be what gets us to the red planet, not his “genius” (possibly ketamine-fueled) visions about where humanity is going.
In Interstellar, Plan A was solving Brand’s gravity equation to make large scale evacuation from Earth possible, while Plan B was starting a colony on another planet with fertilized eggs. The parallel to our situation is obvious: Plan A is solving climate change and preserving the beautiful, unique Earth which we evolved to live on, while the Plan B analog is settling Mars with a few thousand people. The difference between our reality and the movie version is that every step we take toward Plan B assists our Plan A efforts. So let’s invest in NASA, explore space, and cool our pale blue dot, all at the same time.
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