Rocket and Space Exploration Technologies Essay example

We have always dreamed about reaching the heavens. From ancient civilizations to the modern day world, our obsession of going into space has grown from studying the stars to actual exploration of space. We have come a long way since primitive charts of constellations. From telescopes to satellites, we as a population have progressed greatly in the world of technology. In a mere forty years, we have had more technological advances than the Industrial Revolution. The Space Race has affected our everyday lives; we use the same technology that the astronauts used during their missions for example digital clocks (Dismukes http://spaceflight.nasa.gov). Many industries have benefited, communication companies, industrial manufacturers, and the

is the air resistance on any given object that is moving in the presence of air. In the

Billions of dollars go into space exploration projects every year. Some people feel that this money should be used to solve problems on Earth. All of the “NO” arguments come from people who seem to know nothing about space. First off, the most widely used argument that does not support space exploration is “We have too many problems on Earth, so why go into space?” This argument is definitely not appropriate. While there are many problems on Earth, a lot of them can be solved using the technologies that we develop for space exploration. For example, NASA helps on research into cancer and preventing, treating, and even curing it.

the company. The CSX mission is “To be the safest, most progressive North American railroad,

After SpaceX took off, many other companies have joined in, eager to get into space. While SpaceX, founded in 2002, did not make its first launch until 2008; the company as a whole has been generous in sharing portions of their research and discoveries with other companies. This sharing of information is creating a bond between not only the companies as individual units but across the space exploration industry as a whole and the funding persons within the NASA organization. This is only part of what is giving SpaceX the lead among all of the private space exploration companies.

On September 6th of 1944, mankind’s aspiration to reach the stars slammed into the Earth in the form of the V2 rocket striking Paris (Britannica; Hollingham). The V2 rocket was a new sort of weapon: it combined the elegance of rocket science into the brutality of war, with it enabling Nazi Germany to claim thousands of lives. The man responsible for designing such a perversion of human ambition, Werner Von Braun, would later become indispensable to the United States’ mission to put a man on the moon. The moon project not only showed the vast capability of the US science program, but also revolutionized many fields of technology and thus bringing a new sense of pride to all mankind in human achievement. From Von Braun’s actions, a paradox arises:

The mysteries of space and ocean have always struck our attention. The question “what’s out there, what creatures live there, do water monsters and aliens exist, always pop up. However, could the risks become a barrier to our curiosity? I believe that major exploration could be a benefit for our society and our way of life. I think that major exploration could benefit us because we have a chance of finding resources, predicting the future of the planet, and provide us with advanced technology.

5,4,3,2,1 that is the sound that most americans hope to hear again, and same with NASA. NASA believes that american citizens should fund space exploration so that they could fulfill the dreams of the moon landing but instead with Mars. The funding of space exploration has helped the U.S. in many ways. Funding for space exploration maybe difficult and costly but it will work out in the long run. For example NASA plans to develop more into their Mars mission in 2020. This goal though can only be achieved if NASA receives the right funding they need to create the technology. Space exploration should be funded by the U.S. because there are many benefits to the space exploration like discovering materials such as new medical knowledge and creating new useful technology.

NASA has taken many giant leaps in spaceflight since Neil Armstrong first stepped on the moon: The International Space Station was built, multiple rovers were sent to Mars, a spacecraft has landed on an asteroid, and we even have pictures of Pluto for the first time. NASA has accomplished some incredible projects that have inspired many and benefited the entire world with the research it has found. Unfortunately, it has recently encountered some setbacks that make it nearly impossible for the administration to continue in these ambitions. Due to cost, interests, and efficiency, it is time for the private sector to take control of the future of spaceflight.

There are a couple viewpoints to consider when it comes to the topic of space exploration. The Earth is constantly changing and is not going to live forever, but does this mean that humans have a moral obligation to find and explore habitable worlds outside of our own for the soul purpose of inhabiting them? According to Colin Barras, fossil records indicate/predict that Earth still has about a whopping 3.5 billion years until it dies (Barras, 2015). That is more than just a spec on even Earth's timeline. However, even though some scientists estimate that Earth has a couple billion years left to live, that doesn't necessarily mean that the living beings that thrive off of Earth's natural resources are going to be able to live on this planet for 3.5 billion more years. Serious negative effects of global climate change can grow to be extremely devastating and could kill off the human race as well as other plant and animal species. So, searching for another planet to live on is not such a terrible, far-fetched idea after all.

Five Space Shuttles were built. They were called Challenger, Discovery, Atlantis, Columbia, and Endeavour. These shuttles were used to fly cargo and people to the ISS or International Space Station. It was also used to launch the Hubble Space Telescope, which was well known for discovering many things.

The SpaceX program designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets. The company current has 3 vehicles forty plus manifest and over four thousand employees. SpaceX program maintains launch sites at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS), Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Vandenberg Air Force Base (VAFB) in California, and Boca Chica, Texas. The company is current working on the most powerful operational rocket in the world. The rocket will have the ability to lift into orbit over 53 metric tons (117,000 lbs), a mass equivalent to a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel. Falcon Heavy can lift more than twice the payload of the next closest operational vehicle, the Delta IV Heavy.

Companies such as Space Exploration Technologies offer NASA a cheaper, and overall better to reach Earth orbit and interplanetary space than any projects currently in development by NASA. When Elon Musk founded Space X, he wanted to radically change how rocket launches worked. He had the idea to recover the first stage of rockets, and then reuse them. He believed that this would allow him to offer launches at a considerably reduced cost when compared to non-reusable rockets. As it turns out, Musk was right. The current Falcon 9 version costs at lowest 49 million dollars to launch, a large decrease over the average NASA launch cost of 200 million dollars. (Falcon 9) The main reason that SpaceX is able to offer these low costs is due to their

NASA has stopped space exploration because they don’t have anymore funding, so they’ll ask private organizations to give money. Many people believe that the government should spend money on anything else, such as fixing the environment, rather than funding space exploration. While I do support the fact that space exploration could take years before we get any type of new discovery, I also support the fact that the Earth is aging and we cannot stop that so we need another planet to live on before the Earth dies off. If the Earth is going to die off anyway, why not fund the space program so we find another planet? When we get to the new planet, we can either take care of that one or continue to find another planet to live on. Rather than spending

So many adults and young people alike are in awe of the seemingly limitless skies that are made visible on a clear night. But while we stare in wonder, without the help of space-borne telescopes, we could only imagine what threats the cosmos has to offer.