Space colonization as the savior of Humanity

Posted in another forum.

HAPPY NEW YEAR. May the FORCE be with you.

Selvaraj

Dear Dr. Ajay

It is very important to keep the promise of space colonization on our
horizon. Planet Earth is the only entity in the Solar System which harbours
life, that too, in such glorious profusion. Astronomers believe that there
will be other similar planets in the Milky Ways galaxy (which consists of
more than a 100 billion stars), but then, it is also possible that the
conditions which allow a planet to harbour life in such profusion could be a
one in a 100 billion event. So what we need to focus on is saving planet
Earth from the depredation of a particular species. What I posted should
not be construed as 'Space colonization is not important'. It was just a
suggestion to apply related ideas to solve some of the problems on our own
planet.

Putting the problem in a nutshell, planet Earth is simply too fragile for
our human ambitions. It is very difficult for us indulge in our 'technology
stuff' - great monuments, roads crisscrossing our planet, facilities to
house and feed 6 billion (soon to be 9 billion) people; our ambitions in
biotechnology (where we would like to experiment with new life-forms) -
without coming to odds with NATURE.

There are two schools of thought concerning colonization of space. One
school, let us call them the 'romantics' would like to colonize Moon and
Mars. This group believes that it is technologically feasible to terraform
Mars, that is, make it just like earth, with a breathable atmosphere, and
with lakes and forests. The other group, they are the 'pragmatists' think
this idea is ridiculous. They don't like the idea of being caught in a
'gravity well' (a delta V of 11.2 Kps is required to escape Earth's
gravity, while incremental delta V of 3.2 Kps is enough to take us to
Mars). They would prefer free floating cities in orbit around the sun. This
group after doing their calculations have come to the conclusion that
hundreds of billions of people can be accommodated in these floating cities.

These two groups have not started a fist fight yet, but it could come to
that eventually : - ) ...... Colonization of space will make it possible for
us to
indulge our wildest technological fantasies. And, much, much more important,
protect the wild profusion of life on our planet.

Selvaraj

Ref: http://members.aol.com/oscarcombs/settle.htm

From: "Dr ajay"