Maddy Klapp

Intern/Mentor G/T
25 March, 2019

Evolution of Space Propulsion: Ensuring the survival of mankind

Earth will eventually become uninhabitable for humans. There is only one way to ensure
the survival of mankind: inhabit other celestial bodies and explore the universe. It is essential for
humans to hastily evolve deep - space propulsion systems so that celestial bodies other than
Earth can be explored and inhabited; inhabiting foreign planets/moons will increase human's
chance of survival.

Earth will inevitably become uninhabitable for humans, so inhabiting other celestial
bodies is essential for human survival. There are many space threats that Earth faces everyday;
and eventually Earth will be too hot to live on. In fact, asteroids enter Earth’s atmosphere quite
frequently; In a study, more than 500 asteroids entered Earth’s atmosphere within a 20 year
period (Byrd). Even though asteroids are a common occurrence, an asteroid impact that can
result in mass extinction is very rare, however inevitable (Alan). It is essential for humans to be
prepared for such an event because the result would be catastrophic and could potentially end all
life on planet Earth. Another inevitable space threat is the expansion of the sun. The sun is
expanding and is increasing the amount of energy it is emitting, which means that one day, Earth
will become too hot to live on. In only 2 billion years, the sun will heat up Earth so much, that all
of the liquid on Earth will vaporize (Siegel). Without water, life will cease to exist on Earth. Not
only will the sun superheat Earth, but it is likely that the sun will expand so much that it will
reach Earth’s orbit and consume the planet completely (Williams). The last space threat that will
end all existing life is the cooling of Earth’s core. The enormous amounts of heat is undergoing
convection in Earth’s core creates the magnetic field that protects everything from various space
threats. A weakened magnetic field would expose the Earth to harmful electromagnetic waves
and solar winds that can potentially sweep all of the water off of the Earth, making the existence
of any life impossible. Not only are space threats an issue to the habitability of Earth, but
humans themselves are negatively impacting Earth, which is slowly making Earth uninhabitable.
The rate of global warming is increasing due to human interference with the environment; This
greenhouse effect will contribute to the super hearing of Earth and its future uninhabitability.
Humans depend so heavily on the burning of fossil fuels for energy, and these actions are
emitting enormous amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. All of this carbon dioxide is
acting like a greenhouse and traps all of the heat that is entering. Barely any heat is leaving
Earth, so this results in climate change and contributes to the overheating of Earth. If the Earth
continues to heat up at the same rate, then the oceans will begin to evaporate in less than one
billion years from now (NASA). Humans are not only heating up the Earth like an oven, but are
destroying the environment for many species, and this will impact the food chain; which will
make it hard for humans to survive. Deforestation is a huge issue regarding destruction of the
environment; over 30 million acres of forests are destroyed every year, yet billions of people rely
on the forests to survive (Makki). When forests are destroyed, all of the animals and plants that
live there lose their habitat and will cease to exist. When the animals and plants that live in the
forests die off due to human interference, the humans will lose major food sources, and this will
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affect the food chain greatly. Humans only have a limited time here on Earth, and it is time to
start planning for the evacuation of the planet to ensure the survival of mankind.

The Earth is already becoming very overpopulated, and there are very catastrophic effects
that can result from this in the future. Overpopulation of humans is contributing to the extinction
of thousands of different species across the globe; humans kill many species by means of
hunting, fishing, poaching, and harvesting. In less than 30 years, humans will run out of seafood
due to overfishing (Clover). Hunting is another a major issue since over one million animals are
hunted and killed per year ​(Delaware Action For Animals). Humans are deliberately killing
animals for food and resources such as ivory from elephant tusks and rhino horns since more
resources and food are needed for more people. In addition to directly killing these animals,
humans are ​destroying habitats for their resources and/or land. Around 80 percent of the original
forests have been dismantled, and it continues to be destroyed at an alarming rate (Animal
Matters). Humans are clearing the way for modern architecture such as housing, roads, and
pipelines. All of this industrialization is demolishing all different types of habitats (WWF).
Another result of overpopulation is the rapid depletion of nonrenewable resources. Many of
Earth’s natural resources are non-reusable, so one day, they will run out. Many resources that
humans use everyday are non-renewable such as coal, to provide power and electricity;
Petroleum, to run cars; and Natural gas, for heating and cooking (Morse). Nearly 85 percent of
power is provided by either oil, coal, and natural gas, and the more humans there are, the more
resources that will need to be extracted and used (Landers). Since all of these resources will run
out soon, humans will need to find another source of energy which could potentially be provided
by other celestial bodies. It is very important that humans get off of Earth while the planet can
still provide the resources to do so, since it takes a lot of fuel and energy to send people to space
(Levy). The usage of natural resources is exponentially increasing while the abundance is
decreasing, so they will run out even quicker then we think. According to ​The ​BP Statistical
Review of World Energy​, there is only enough oil to last 46 years, and 188 years for coal with
the current population and production rate (Ruz). Even though those numbers look bad, in
reality, it is even worse because the population is continuing to increase exponentially. By the
year 2025, the world population will reach 8 million, and as the population increases, the demand
for natural resources will increase as well (Cairoli). One of the most important resources for life
is water, and overpopulation means that freshwater is even higher demand than ever before. The
average person uses 80 to 100 gallons of fresh water per day since food, clothing, and almost
everything else humans interact with involves water. (Perlman). Humans use a lot of water, but
water is just another nonrenewable resource. Freshwater only makes up about 2.5 percent of the
water on Earth, and soon, the demand for water will exceed the supply and a predicted 1.8 billion
people will live in places where water is scarce by 2025 (Ruz). It is inevitable that the resources
that humans need to survive will run out on Earth, and humans will need to find resources
somewhere else.

It is natural instinct for humans to explore new civilizations and benefit from the
resources provided by the new habitat or celestial body in this case. There are many resources in
space that are not being utilized by anyone or anything, so humans should take advantage of
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them. Asteroids, comets, and even the moon contain a significant amount of different metals and
gases such as​ iron, nickel, tungsten, cobalt, ammonia, nitrogen, hydrogen, and heavy water
(SPACERESOURCES.LU). ​Humans need water to survive, so humans need to come up with a
way to extract water that is already on the moon. The moon acquired its water from its original
formation, comets, and solar winds. One of NASA’s projects is to study physical rock samples
from space. Another project focuses on study space rocks by using satellites since humans can
not easily get rock samples at any time. The last project is focusing specifically on the amount of
hydrogen in the minerals on the moon (Cahill). Humans must learn to extract and make use of
these unutilized resources from space in order to survive. Not only are resources a major
incentive to space exploration and inhabiting other celestial bodies, but humans are natural-born
explorers, and now it is time to start exploring deep space. Humans like ​Pytheas of Massalia,
Zheng He, ​Christopher Columbus, ​Bartolomeu Dias, David Livingstone, and Roald Amundsen
all explored the unknown while venturing the oceans and coming across undiscovered and
uninhabited land (Patenaude). ​“​Exploring space is an opportunity not only to discover new
worlds and build advanced technologies, but to work together toward a larger goal irrespective of
nationality, race, or gender. If we stop exploring, we stop being human.” (Whitwam).

In order for humans to survive, the exploration and inhabiting of space is necessary. Earth
will become uninhabitable sooner than one may think due to space threats, climate change,
depletion of resources, and overpopulation. It is human nature to explore the unknown, so it is
time to start exploring and colonizing space, and this can not be done without rapid evolution of
space propulsion systems.
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​ tranger
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