Is it necessary to discover space?

At the time of the landing on the moon in 1969, many sincerely believed, that by the beginning of the 21st century space travel became commonplace and the earthlings began to flee quietly to other planets. Unfortunately, it is not yet arrived, and people began to doubt whether they really need these space travel. Maybe the moon is enough? Nevertheless, space exploration gives us invaluable information in the fields of medicine, mining and security. And, of course, progress in the study of outer space has an inspiring effect on humanity!

Protection against possible collision with an asteroid is one of the most important reason to discover space. If we do not want to end like dinosaurs, we need to protect ourselves from the threat of collision with a large asteroid. As a rule, about once in 10 thousand years, some heavenly body the size of a football field threatens to land in the Earth, which can lead to irreversible consequences for the planet. We really should be afraid of such "guests" with a minimum diameter of 100 meters. The collision will raise a dust storm, destroy forests and fields, and doom to death those who survive. Special space programs are aimed at establishing a dangerous object long before it approaches the Earth, and knock it off the trajectory of motion.

Secondly, contribution to medicine and health care. The development of space has led to the emergence of many medical innovations for terrestrial use: for example, the method of introducing anticancer drugs directly into the tumor, the equipment by which a nurse can do ultrasound and instantly transfer data to a physician thousands of miles away, and a mechanical manipulator arm performing complex actions inside the MRI. Pharmaceutical development in the field of protection of astronauts from loss of bone and muscle mass in microgravity conditions led to the creation of drugs for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis. And these drugs were easier to test in space, because astronauts lose about 1.5% of bone mass per month, and the elderly terrestrial woman loses 1.5% per year.

For its survival, humanity will probably have to colonize outer space. We learned how to send satellites into space, and this helps us control and deal with pressing earthly problems, including forest fires, oil spills and depletion of aquifers.