Space and survival

Space and survival is the relationship between outer space and the long-term survival of the human species and civilization. It is based on the observation that space colonization and space science would prevent many human extinction scenarios. A related observation is the limited time and resources thought by some to be available for the colonization of space.

Uses of space colonization

Extinction can be prevented by improving the physical barrier or increasing the mean distance between people and the potential extinction event. For example, people may survive imminent explosions by being in a bunker or evacuating. Pandemics are controlled by putting exposed people in quarantine and moving healthy people away. Our lineage, genus Homo, has reduced from several species co-existing on Earth to just one — all but our own going extinct before the end of the last Ice age. This illustrates that our species is not immune to planetary disaster and that our survival may be better assured if we proceed with the colonization of space.

Barrier

Life support systems that enable people to live in space may also allow them to survive hazardous events. For example, an infectious disease or biological weapon that transmits through the air could not infect a person in a closed life support system, as an internal supply of air and a physical barrier would exist between the person and the affected environment.

Location and distance

Expanding the living area of the human species increases the mean distance between humans and any hazardous event. People closest to the event are most likely to be killed or injured; people furthest from the event are most likely to survive.

Multiple locations

Increasing the number of places where humans live also helps to prevent extinction. For example, if a massive impact event occurred on Earth without warning, the human species could possibly become extinct; its art, culture and technology would be lost. However, if humans had previously colonized locations outside Earth, the opportunities for the survival and recovery of the species would be greater.

Opportunities for space colonization

Space colonies do not currently exist. It can be said, however, that humans have had a continuous space presence since 2000 due to the International Space Station. There is concern that the human species may lose its organized societies or its technological knowledge, use up resources or even become extinct before it colonizes space.

The author Sylvia Engdahl wrote about the "Critical Stage", a period of time when a civilization has both the technology to expand into space and the technology to destroy itself. Engdahl states that the human civilization is at a Critical Stage, but that the funding for space exploration and colonization is minuscule compared to the funding for weapons of mass destruction and military forces.

NBC News space analyst James Oberg commented that "It's just a matter of waiting until we get some kind of cosmic 9/11 that will make everyone say 'why didn't we see this before,' and then we'll have enough money to afford these programs."

Uses of space science

The observation and study of space protects Earth, as space hazards can be seen in advance and, if they are discovered early enough, acted against.

Near-Earth objects

Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are asteroids, comets and large meteoroids that come close to or collide with Earth. Spaceguard is the collective name for some of the efforts to discover and study NEOs; however these efforts are not highly funded.

Objections

Creating a backup colony in space would be a very costly method of ensuring human survival in the event of catastrophe, and it's likely that other ways of creating an independent colony could be more cost efficient. While extinctions occur on the order of tens of millions of years, major damage to the structure of the Earth itself is likely on the order of billions of years. As a result, an independent surface colony, or an oceanic or sub-terrestrial colony may be a cheaper way to obtain a similar but less robust result.

Also, a space colony could conceivably revolt and pursue its own independent self-interests. In terrestrial civilizations, this occurs on the order of every 10 to 100 years. Even a loyal colony may decide that it would be against its economic or political interests to aid a troubled Earth, or to recolonize Earth.

The survivability and sustainability of a colony could potentially be less than the survivability and sustainability of the Earth population, especially during a colony's infancy. Creating colonies that can reliably withstand the rigors of space and unpredictable extraterrestrial environments for thousands of years may be very expensive. The creation of a colony that not only survives, but also grows to a scale where it can support programs to create its own new colonies is a far more difficult and expensive task.

See also

• Colonization of Mars (Martian outpost)
• Extraterrestrial liquid water
• Human outpost
• Human adaptation to space
• In-situ resource utilization
• Manned mission to Mars
• Mars
• Mars Direct
• Mars to Stay
• Planetary habitability
• Lifeboat Foundation
• Recycling
• Renewable energy
• Solar analog
• Space colonization
• Space habitat
• The Case for Mars
• Terraforming of Mars
• Space habitat
• Timeline of Solar System exploration

Further reading

• Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind's Future in This Century - On Earth and Beyond (UK title: Our Final Century), Martin Rees, 2003, ISBN 0-465-06862-6
• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Carl Sagan, 1994, ISBN 0-679-43841-6
• Realspace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age, On and Off Planet, Paul Levinson, 2003, ISBN 0-415-27743-4
• The Survival Imperative: Using Space to Protect Earth, William E. Burrows, August 22, 2006, ISBN 0-7653-1114-3
• Space (also called Hyperspace), BBC documentary narrated by Sam Neill, 2001 (BBC web site)

External links

• Essays and Manifestos about the Colonization of Space at Curlie
• Spaceflight or Extinction Academics and other leaders explain that we should colonize space to improve our chance of survival. Authors include Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan.
• Space Quotes to Ponder Quotations from scientists, engineers, authors, astronauts, leaders, journalists and others
• Space and Human Survival: My Views on the Importance of Colonizing Space Sylvia Engdahl's essay, links and books
• Alliance to Rescue Civilization Non-government organization founded by William E. Burrows, Robert Shapiro and others
• Back up civilization Robert Shapiro's response to Edge's hypothetical request from the American President: "What are the pressing scientific issues for the nation and the world, and what is your advice on how I can begin to deal with them?"
• Space and Civilization William E. Burrows's op-ed article from The Wall Street Journal
• Colonies in space may be only hope, says Hawking Article about Stephen Hawking
• Sagan's rationale for human spaceflight Article about Carl Sagan and human spaceflight
• Molecular Manufacturing and The High Frontier from the Foresight Nanotech Institute