The Importance Of Terraforming

With every advancement in science comes its own set of implications. Before terraforming starts, we have to realize that Earth will not always be the safe, warm, and tranquil place that it is right now (Krauthammer). The ultimate level of recognition is acknowledging that in order to survive as a species for a long time to come we have to get use to the idea of living elsewhere and in radically different ways from what we are accustomed to at the moment.
There is no true guarantee that our intelligence and reason, which separates us from other animals, could help us survive for a very long time on Earth. Take dinosaurs for example, they are much less intelligent than human beings, yet they managed to reign supreme on this planet for sixty-five million years before a large steroid struck and wiped them out. Geological history shows that such extinction events are routine. Mammalian species, on average, last just a couple of million years. Our parent species, Homo erectus, lasted about 1.6 million years, while Neanderthals died out after only 300,000 years. We might have conquered the planet but it is just a tiny island in the universe, and species confined to a single island are often found on the endangered list (Burnham).
There is never a one hundred percent assurance of any specie’s permanent survival on a planet. Therefore, instead of relying on Earth to house us forever, humans should look elsewhere. Scientists and astronomers believe that there may be as many as ten billion planets in the universe where conditions could support life as we know it (Space Communities). Living in these non-Earth environments would require manned space missions and future technology such as orbital habitats, slingatrons, space elevators, and th...

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...research how to construct such a device. Edwards estimates that he could build a space elevator for no more than $14 billion – a small price for space technology – once someone develops the nanotechnology necessary to fabricate the very thin, very strong tubes that would make up the elevator. Edwards also estimated that the space elevator could be completed within as little as fifteen years (Austen).

Without the roar of a rocket or its exorbitant cost, an elevator powered by a laser would quietly transport payloads and people to a space platform. And that may not be the end of the trip for some. The rotational energy of the platform's orbit could be used to fling a vehicle to the moon, Mars, or beyond. A space elevator would transform the economics of space travel, making ventures ranging from space spas to exotic scientific exploration more possible (Cowen).