ContinuingExplorationfinaldraft

Continuing Exploration 1
Continuing Manned Exploration
Jerome Jackson
April 1, 2013
Author’s Notes
Peer reviews are the most nerve cringing part of writing any paper. Having my paper read by my
classmates was the best thing for motivation. At first, I thought my paper was great, but as time
went on and I read my paper over and over I began to worry about whether I reached my goal.
To my surprise, the peer reviews were a motivating experience. Hearing people say that they
enjoyed my paper is one of the things I was aiming for, and the feedback on what could be
improved was minimal. I don’t think I’m that great of a writer, but I do appreciate hearing that I
did a good job. Peer reviews are a great way for me to get a different perspective of my paper.

Abstract
Human beings have been explorers since first setting their feet to the ground. We have traveled
across our own world and even entered worlds unknown to us. A great pride has been held since
the United States first sent man to the moon. Now, that pride is dying. Lack of funding and a
boom in robot technology has replaced the need for human explorers in our seas, our planet, and
the rest of the cosmos. We should not stop a new age of explorers. Instead, we should reach for
the stars, and continue manned space missions to learn more about our world and the history of
the universe in which we live.

Continuing Manned Exploration
Who do you see as the greatest explorer? Is it Christopher Columbus and his daring sail
across the seas? Is it Marco Polo, Lewis and Clark, or even Neil Armstrong? Exploring is a trait
that many humans carry deep within their character that makes them wonder what the world has
to offer. Since ancient times, nearly every species alive today has taken a daring leap of faith into
the unknown, whether migrating to a new land or simply peeking over the bush. Some people
believe that we have discovered most of what we need to, and will ever, know about the earth
and the universe itself. The importance of exploration, especially space exploration, has
decreased over the years because of the public’s loss of interest and funding cuts to NASA and
other exploration programs. We should not give up on exploring other worlds.
Many people throughout the United States, and other countries, had the opportunity to
witness both the launch and the landing of Apollo 11 in 1969 and other manned space missions.
Some believe the evidence found by Apollo 11 was a hoax, while others see it as a new hope for
mankind. Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. reached the surface of the moon for 21 hours and
made it back to earth safely after the 8 hour round trip (Asimov, 1994). Skeptics viewed it as
unthinkable to send a man outside of this world, but it had been done. Until this point the only
exploration that had been done was that of our own world, and what can be seen through
telescopes. It is important to reflect on our past successful missions that laid the foundation for
space exploration. Since landing on the moon, humans have taken many trips to space and have
launched countless probes and other research tools into orbit or the outskirts of the universe.

Thisinteriorviewof the Apollo11Lunar Module (LM) showsastronautEdwinE. Aldrin,Jr.,lunarmodule
pilot,duringthe lunarlandingmission.
UPI Photo/Neil Armstrong.
What makes us want to launch ourselves into space? A similar question may have been
asked to explorer Christopher Columbus in the mid 1400’s. According to the 1998 Encyclopedia
of World Biography, “In 1475 Columbus made his first considerable voyage to the Aegean
island of Chios, and in 1476 he sailed on a Genoese ship through the Strait of Gibraltar. Off Cape
St. Vincent they were attacked by a French fleet, and the vessel in which Columbus sailed sank.”
The fate of Columbus on that day is similar to what people today fear with space exploration.
The idea that we will fail, and waste billions of dollars in research and technology, hovers over
the public and creates a negative vibe; just as Columbus encountered in his time. Risk and failure
did not leave Columbus discouraged. After the death of his wife, Columbus dedicated his efforts
to exploration theories and the discovery to a new route leading to Asia. After many rejections
from powerful, wealthy, leaders like John II, Columbus finally found help through Ferdinand in
Spain. In 1493, he discovered what he believed to be new land, and sparked a new age of
exploration throughout the known world (Columbus, Christopher, 1998).

The story of Columbus is taught in classrooms around the world despite the historical
issues associated with it. Most people in the United States recognize Columbus as one of the
greatest explorers of all time. He is a role model for keeping an open mind and taking risks.
Today the fate of space exploration begs for an open mind. Citizens of each respective country,
and the funding parties for space programs, are trying to comprehend the risks such as cost,
publicity, politics, and effort in order to cut corners and risk less. Those who work in the field of
space science understand these risks, and as time goes on the risks become greater, and greater.
In the 2010 PBS production Space Dangers, Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson talks about the
risks of launching manned space shuttles from Earth in great detail. From the lift off to the
landing, putting human lives at risk is more than evident. Dr. Tyson talks about how the dangers
of simply leaving our own planet can jeopardize entire missions. Over time advancements in
technology have expanded, and mankind has launched thousands of objects such as radio,
communication, television, and world mapping satellites into orbit. This fact leaves explorers
with a problem. The impact of those satellites or space dust, thousands of small rocks the size of
a pea, can literally shred the space craft to pieces before it even completely leaves the Earth’s
outer atmosphere. The force of the takeoff, many times greater than the average aircraft, is a
danger that the crews aboard must also overcome. Years of training is required to overcome the
speed and stress required to get the shuttle off the ground. Lastly, crews must be able to safely
reach their destination, complete their mission, and return without harm; facing those same
dangers on the return trip (Space Dangers, 2010). This seems scary, but these are exactly the
kind of situations brought to Columbus when he set on his voyages. Space programs around the
world have seen many failures, but the success of even one mission can change the views of
everyone across the world and lead to new age of explorers. These new fearless explorers will be

the definition of what it means to be human, and tell us more than we could ever know about our
own world and the world around us.
Deep sea explorers are also struggling to maintain an influence on what we know about
our planet, and the history of mankind. In a Newsweek article on piloted dives, researcher James
Cameron states:
The quickest way to destroy ocean science… is to take human explorers out of the water.
The issue is not one of robots versus piloted vehicles, it's one of national will. The U.S.
public is not engaged in deep science and exploration. And the quickest way to get even
less interest and engagement is to take human explorers out of the vehicles, and have it
all done robotically (Cameron, 2013).
This is not only the perspective of deep sea divers, but of space programs and other
exploration programs alike. One factor that may be influencing the interest of the public is the
big spenders funding the programs. Without the positive interest of the public, the funding
parties see no need to continue keeping a sinking program’s head above water. If nobody wants
to know what lies at the bottom of the sea, what happened to our distant ancestors, or if there’s
life outside of our own planet, then there is no investment to be made. “They avoid criticism
while funding science and exploration only when the public believes this is something good and
necessary, and that only happens when the public is engaged and excited by the exploration
itself” (Cameron, 2013).
Sylvia Earle, an oceanic explorer, also feels the heat of less funding in a similar fashion.
In her Newsweek article, she revisits her last expedition inside of the submarine Pisces IV with
great detail. She states that, once the public looked away, their exploration suddenly ceased. Less

money was spent on dive missions, giving robots the chance to shine in the spotlight (Dokoupil
2013). The cost of human diving is a great expense, and the risks are far from being overlooked,
but we have found a great deal of treasures through deep sea exploration. Recently, explorers
have found many treasures in a land mass off of the coast of Egypt, which they believe used to
be a thriving city. Scientists and underwater explorers have been finding underwater relics of
what they believe to be remains of the very city that Cleopatra use to rule. The present issue is
that the “city” they found requires explorers to risk going into the deep to retrieve the fragile
objects by hand. The article also states that the researchers may also have the key to life and
death of Alexander the Great. Imagine how much of our own history is beneath the surface, and
how much is left to be found. We can find the same kind of treasures with manned space
missions. Who knows what we may find even on our own moon. This can completely change
how we view our planet, our human lives, and even life itself as we know it (Ezzat, 1997). Can
this be enough to spark a new interest among people today? People still want to know what is out
there, but we are changing how we get that information.
Current advancement in technology has encouraged humans to unconsciously replace
themselves with automated machines. Explorers bring a new perspective to this idea. Their jobs,
training, and everything that they have worked and dream for, are instantly taken by an object
that is cheaper, faster, and more efficient. Instead of explorers, scientists can send unmanned
machines into an unknown world and retrieve data with far less people to pay and easy on-site
data. What these robots lack is the senses that every human is born with. Everything the scientist
sees may only be through micro cameras and substance monitors mounted aboard the machine.
The human element of the project will lack validity of evidence and an experience that the public
can connect with (Lakdawalla, 2012).

ThisNASA image takenonFebruary3, 2013 showsa self-portraitof NASA'sMarsroverCuriositycreated
by a combinationof dozensof exposurestakenbythe rover'sMars Hand LensImager(MAHLI),on the
surface of Mars, February20, 2013.
UPI/NASA
In contrast, some believe robots are the future of modern exploration, and many machines
have already been launched to investigate other worlds.
The $2.5-billion Curiosity rover was sent to…examining a location containing rocks
more ancient than any previously studied by a Mars lander. With a suite of 11 science
instruments, aided by a dozen engineering cameras, and with a total size twice that of
Spirit and Opportunity combined, Curiosity will investigate whether those ancient rocks
preserve evidence for habitable environments (Lakdawalla, 2012).
The capabilities of Curiosity are close to what can be done in a science lab here on earth.
Instead of risking lives to bring back live samples to earth, the rocks and soil samples of Mars
can be examined by the robot on-site, and that data is then sent to the earth without making a
dangerous round trip (NASA EDGE, 2012). The public seems to be more on-board with this

process. Even with a dwindling interest, news media across the world receive updates from
NASA to broadcast to those who may be interested, and lately the response has been
encouraging.
With the lack of support from the public, and the takeover of robots for our exploration,
human beings are speedily being replaced because of decreases in funding, lack of public
interest, and an explosion of advanced technology. We may no longer see a new age of great
human explorers. Has the need for manned exploration been replaced by a promising outlook in
robot technology? Manned missions to other worlds teach us more about the world we live in,
the history of ourselves, and give us a new direction to unlimited human capabilities. There
should be no halt, no seize, and no decrease in our efforts to send live volunteers to worlds we
wish we could understand. Mankind’s history is deeply rooted in exploration, and it seems we
have lost connection with what it means to be human. We should never give up on exploring
other worlds.

References
Asimov, I. (1994). Human beings on the Moon. In Asimov's Chronology of Science &
Discovery (p. 708). HarperCollins Publishers. Retrieved from
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Cameron, J. (2013, January 11). Don't Give Up on Piloted Dives. Newsweek, 161(02), 5.
Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezp-
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Columbus, Christopher (1451-1506). (1998). In Encyclopedia of World Biography. Detroit:
Gale. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezp-
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Dokoupil, T. (2013, January 11). The Last Dive. Newsweek, 161(02), 1. Retrieved from
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International. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezp-
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Lakdawalla, E. (2012, November). Touchdown on the red pallet: Curiosity's spectacular landing
paves the way for new discoveries about Mars's ability to support life. Sky & Telescope,
124(5), 20+. Retrieved from http://go.galegroup.com.ezp-
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Mars Rover Curiosity On Mars. (2010). In UPI Photo Collection. United Press International.
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