Lessons from Terrestrial Exploration for Earth Orbit

Interesting Historical Parallels........

Lessons from Terrestrial Exploration for Earth Orbit

By Roger D. Launius | Oct. 21, 2013

It is a truism known to all that the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and
Isabella, funded Christopher Columbus's voyages of discovery as a national
program for the good of their emerging European power. It is also trite to
enumerate the many expeditions, from Henry Hudson to La Salle to Lewis and
Clark, that various national leaders supported for the public good with
blood and treasure. In every case, I hasten to note, these European monarchs
sought tangible results - usually wealth, often geopolitical advantage, and
sometimes less-specific positive outcomes - that accrued to the nation
through the exploration paradigm.

Wherever they went, explorers sent out by their sovereigns incorporated new
territory and resources into the normal realm of their nation's everyday
activities. Sometimes it took centuries for the full realization of this to
be accomplished; in other cases the results were virtually instantaneous.
The wealth acquired by Spain in the Western Hemisphere during the first
decades of the 16th century, for instance, catapulted that nation from an
also-ran in the European community into arguably the greatest power in the
world. Similar spectacular results remade France, Great Britain and even the
Netherlands.

In the Space Age we have not seen a corresponding infusion of wealth to the
nations undertaking its exploration in comparison with that obtained by the
exploring European nations of 500 years ago. The United States was already a
superpower when the Space Age began and has remained one to the present, but
not directly because of space exploration. The Soviet Union collapsed from
economic overstretch and both internal political turmoil and external
pressure, but its space exploration agenda had little do with that collapse.
Both nations, and others that have become spacefaring since that time, have
gained geopolitical advantage in certain ways and a modicum of monetary
returns on commercial activities in space - especially communications and
other applications satellites - but none has reaped a harvest anywhere near
as great as Spain enjoyed in the 1500s.

What has happened, however, is that certain parts of space are now well
incorporated into the normal realm of human operations, just as European
explorers incorporated the Western Hemisphere into the continent's normal
realm of activities. In an irony of the first magnitude for those who insist
that humans are not truly engaged in space exploration because they have
been confined to low Earth orbit for the last 40 years since the end of
Apollo, the space shuttle turned orbital space into a place that was no
longer a frontier. The first astronauts and cosmonauts, of course, truly
were explorers in the traditional sense of the term, pushing back the
frontiers of knowledge about this unusually strange, harsh and hostile
environment. They learned how to operate there and to do useful things in
the region.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/opinion/37793lessons-from-terrestrial-explo
ration-for-earth-orbit

Interesting HistoricalParallels........

Lessons from TerrestrialExploration for Earth Orbit
By Roger D. Launius |Oct. 21, 2013

It is a truism known toall that the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, funded ChristopherColumbus's voyages of discovery as a national program for the good oftheir emerging European power. It is also trite to enumerate the manyexpeditions, from Henry Hudson to
La Salle
toLewis and Clark, that various national leaders supported for the public goodwith blood and treasure. In every case, I hasten to note, these Europeanmonarchs sought tangible results - usually wealth, often geopoliticaladvantage, and sometimes less-specific positive outcomes - that accruedto the nation through the exploration paradigm.

Wherever they went,explorers sent out by their sovereigns incorporated new territory and resourcesinto the normal realm of their nation's everyday activities. Sometimes ittook centuries for the full realization of this to be accomplished; in othercases the results were virtually instantaneous. The wealth acquired by
Spain
in the
Western Hemisphere
during the first decades of the 16th century, forinstance, catapulted that nation from an also-ran in the European communityinto arguably the greatest power in the world. Similar spectacular resultsremade
France
,
Great Britain
and even the
Netherlands
.

In the Space Age we havenot seen a corresponding infusion of wealth to the nations undertaking itsexploration in comparison with that obtained by the exploring European nationsof 500 years ago. The
United States
was already a superpower when theSpace Age began and has remained one to the present, but not directly becauseof space exploration. The Soviet
Union
collapsed from economic overstretch and both internal political turmoil andexternal pressure, but its space exploration agenda had little do with thatcollapse. Both nations, and others that have become spacefaring since thattime, have gained geopolitical advantage in certain ways and a modicum ofmonetary returns on commercial activities in space - especiallycommunications and other applications satellites - but none has reaped aharvest anywhere near as great as Spain enjoyed in the 1500s.

What has happened,however, is that certain parts of space are now well incorporated into thenormal realm of human operations, just as European explorers incorporated the
Western Hemisphere
into the continent's normalrealm of activities. In an irony of the first magnitude for those who insistthat humans are not truly engaged in space exploration because they have beenconfined to low Earth orbit for the last 40 years since the end of Apollo, thespace shuttle turned orbital space into a place that was no longer a frontier.The first astronauts and cosmonauts, of course, truly were explorers in thetraditional sense of the term, pushing back the frontiers of knowledge aboutthis unusually strange, harsh and hostile environment. They learned how tooperate there and to do useful things in the region.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/opinion/37793lessons-from-terrestrial-exploration-for-earth-orbit