Going to space is hard. The main reason is that it takes a lot of energy (read: fuel) to take us off the planet. The more fuel you need to pack, the heavier you are, so the more fuel you need to fight gravity. It’s a self-defeating cycle.
The answer is, of course, more efficient fuel – fuel that packs more energy per mass.
Why should we care about going to space? It’s not like we don’t have enough problems down here, right?
Here are a few reasons:
- This planet has limited resources. We’re in a pretty good place right now, regardless of what the scaremongers would have you believe. But as resources get depleted, getting into space gets harder, not easier.
- As stated above, the key to getting us into space is energy efficiency – more power through fewer resources. If we figure that out, a lot of our other problems will go away, too.
- As a species, we are getting restless. Our history is a history of exploration and conquest. We’ve (mostly) run out of places to explore and contest, so we’re stewing in our internal, petty conflicts. Off-planet exploration could work as a way to positively channel our energy as a species.
People are working on this, right now. But not nearly enough.