The Impact of Space Exploration on Society
- Paper number
IAC-06-P.E.7.03
- Author
Prof. David Southwood, European Space Agency/Headquarters, France
- Year
2006
- Abstract
For 3 billion years and more, sustained earthly life has reached no further than a few kilometers above our planet’s surface. The present generation of humans is the first to carry our technology and occasionally ourselves into the solar system. This expansion to prospect and to settle beyond the boundaries of Earth has long inspired the public’s imagination and is now gaining the serious attention of several governments. It is fully comparable to the expansion of our distant ancestors when they broke out of the African continent and will happen only once in history. The plenary session will not examine the particulars of missions to the planets, but the big picture, as humankind extends its reach to the Sun’s other realms. Exploration of new frontiers has historically occasioned major shifts in our culture. What lies in store for us as the space age unfolds? What impact will such expansion have on human culture, its philosophy, psychology, sense of discovery and societal development? What will be the returns to Earth of expansion from Earth? The speakers will address the historical influences of major migrations on society and its subsequent development, the changes expected as a result of an expansion into space, the role of exploration and discovery as an inspiration and stimulus of society and the possibilities on Earth opened by ready access to the still untapped resources of the solar system.
- Abstract document