Colonizing a new planet would open a vast amount of opportunities for humanity. First of all, the migration from Earth to the colony would allow the unemployed and poor to migrate in search of a job. This immigration would stimulate an infrastructural growth on the planet. While back on Earth, unemployment rates would go down and cause a decrease in the crime rate. Population densities would decrease which will help keep pollution and waste down. The Earth is over crowded as it is, so having another planet to go to will help spread out the population.
Another benefit is raw materials. The new planet will likely have a treasure trove of raw materials that could be used for manufacturing products. The price of these products will be low due to the abundance of material. This will help stimulate the economy on both planets Materials not found on Earth could also be harvested which will allows the production of expensive products that would otherwise not made in mass quantities without the colony. In addition to raw materials we do know of, there could be materials that no human has ever seen before. This new material could have special properties that would allow for super efficient solar panels or a new source to use for nuclear power.
Lastly, another apparent benefit of a colony is that it would be a learning experience on how to manipulate an environment to the point where humans can live in it. What is learned here could be applied elsewhere and open new potential colonies.
In addition to the benefits I have stated, there is likely to be a dozen more advantages to colonizing other planets that are not overly obvious.
Yes there are a lot of benefits of colonizing a planet but have you thought about how much it could cost or if its even possible? Planets that are similar to Earth are from the range of 3 light years to 20 light years away. We would have to travel hundreds and maybe thousands of years. Plus it would cost NASA hundreds of million dollars and I don't believe the government would let them use that much in the current state of the economy.
ReplyDeleteand I don't think we will have the technology for at least next 200-300 years to travel those distances
ReplyDeleteActually Sunny, we don't have to colonize a planet that far away right now, the main focus will be Mars and the Moon. We will first put bases on these two and learn from the experiences and use that for colonizing a planet out of our solar system. The planets that are good candidates for life may be far away at the moment, but there are countless planets through out the universe. Chances are by the time we are ready to venture out of the solar system, a new planet closer to home will be found, or the advanced technology of that time will make going to any planet a walk in the park.
ReplyDeleteNext, it would not take hundreds of thousands of years to travel a couple light years away. A light year is the distance light can travel in one year. If we really tired, we could accelerate to close to the speed of light. it would take quite a few years, but not hundreds of thousands.
As for budget concerns, according to NASA, every dollar that is put forth to fund them causes a return of 7 dollars in spin-off technologies in the private sector. This means that not wanting to give NASA as much money as possible will just slow the development of the technology and economy of the world.
Lastly, the technology to colonize a planet is closer than you think. NASA is in the final stages of their Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle that will be able to take any one tot eh moon, Mars, a nearby asteroid, and possibly beyond. While the private sector is making great strides in their own space program, Space X is a good example.
Spin-offs:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/index.html
Orion:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/index.html
Space X:
http://www.spacex.com/
Sorry I misunderstood you, I thought you meant we should colonize planets like Earth which are light years away. When I said hundreds or thousands of years I meant it would take that much time with the current technology but if somehow we come up with something that travels really close to the speed of light that would be a whole different situation. I agree NASA is a great organization for the world but with current debt and economy Obama has been cutting NASA's budget since last year and most likely for the next couple of years. And at the end I was talking about technology for traveling light years and I do believe NASA will be able to colonize a planet in a couple of years. Thanks for the links they are really interesting!
ReplyDeleteYour welcome, a true colony that anyone can go to is a ways off, but with a little determination, I believe we could have some sort of base on the moon or Mars within a decade or two. Although, that remains to be seen. All we can do right now is wait and see what happens.
ReplyDelete