Let Robots Take to the Stars

B Let Robots Take to the Stars NOTICE & NOTE As you read, use the side margins to make notes about the text. Should robots lead the journey to outer space? This writer says yes. ANALYZE ARGUMENT Annotate: In paragraph 1, mark the author’s central claim and mark the reasons the author will use to support the claim. Interpret: What will the author’s argument be? How does the title of the selection help clarify the author’s argument? 1 T he lure of human space travel is undeniable. We’ve all grown up on endless types of entertainment set in the future that portray adventures on distant planets. Imagine yourself as an astronaut, a part of the first manned mission to Mars. Beyond that, there are generations of people who have been working to make space and space travel look cool, even inevitable. But high aspirations and romance aside, we need to face the harsh realities. Our notions about the inevitability and wonder of human space travel need to be checked, and any plans need to be reconsidered. Some of the best reasons to curtail space exploration come down to economics, human cost, and technology. Space Travel Is Expensive 2 3 Space travel is extremely expensive. To get humans to Mars, it would take $1 trillion over a 25-year period. Obviously, no single government would want to take on that kind of funding. A Mars mission would require international cooperation at a significant cost to each partner nation. A Mars mission might foster international cooperation, but it would consume funds that could be used for other things. Some people suggest that the only way to get to Mars would be with the help of private companies. Because of this, the space exploration industry is made up not only of government agencies but also private companies headed by dreamers and people interested in profits over practicality. But these organizations are often badly managed. They don’t work for the government, so accountability could be a problem. Even wellrun companies are unlikely to have enough money to launch a Mars mission on their own. There are some experts who say that it wouldn’t be possible to launch a mission to Mars without funding from commercials that would run during coverage of the project. That would turn a scientific mission into a reality television show. Would you want to trust a scientific mission to the people who run reality TV? Don’t forget to Notice & Note as you read the text. ANALYZE ARGUMENT Annotate: In paragraph 5, mark an opposing viewpoint. Analyze: What are the author’s counterclaims to this viewpoint, as explained in paragraphs 5 and 6? Space Travel Could Harm Our Polluted World 4 5 The risks of space exploration could be grave for a planet already plagued by pollution. There is an extra result of space travel: black carbon from rocket exhaust that’s deposited in the outer atmosphere. The launch of a suborbital tourist craft is said to produce less carbon emissions than a standard flight from New York to London. However, once the rocket is above the atmosphere, the black carbon it releases can be pretty damaging. Try to imagine the black smoke from a diesel truck sitting above the sky. With no weather to wash it into the oceans, black carbon can stay put for up to ten years. Many space boosters are suggesting that being able to leave our planet once it’s exhausted of resources is a priority. They seem to be proposing that we have some sort of Planet B. Somehow they think that a colony on Mars or the moon could take the pressure off our world. Many of these people planning to profit from two things at once are also fans of the dubious technology of geoengineering. plague (pl∑g) v. To plague is to cause hardship or suffering. dubious (d◊´b∏-∂s) adj. If something is dubious, it is questionable or not to be relied upon. NOTICE & NOTE NUMBERS AND STATS 6 When you notice the use of specific quantities or comparisons to depict amount, size, or scale, you’ve found a Numbers and Stats signpost. Annotate: In paragraph 7, mark specific numbers that identify amounts. Analyze: What purpose do these specific numbers serve? As covered earlier, the essential ingredients for space exploration are international cooperation, vast investments of money, technological advances, global regulations, and the buyin of the general population. Yet those ingredients may well be what’s needed to tackle the problem of Earth’s pollution. Space Travel Is More Suited to Robots 7 8 NASA recently collected data from the Mars Curiosity rover. The data were used to estimate the radiation impact on an astronaut traveling to and from Mars for 365 days and spending 500 days on the surface. It was determined that during that trip an astronaut would get a radiation dose that was about five percent of what he or she would get over a lifetime on Earth. That significantly increases the risk of cancer. There is also the danger of running low on supplies. Once on the Red Planet, humans would eventually run out of food and materials. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study guessed that agriculture would make too much oxygen for the small colony 9 10 to support inside its dome. Without enough carbon dioxide, the colony would not be able to grow what it needed. Earth would constantly be sending supplies to the colonists. It’s obvious that without that resupply, there would be no hope of agriculture supporting a manned station on Mars. Considering the extreme risks for humans, some scientists assert space exploration should be strictly robotic. Think about the achievements of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars Pathfinder and Opportunity. Their exploratory missions have captured the public imagination, and all of us love to see images from those robot explorers. When Opportunity landed safely on the surface of Mars, NASA’s Mission Control Center erupted in as loud a cheer as greeted any human mission. There are scientists who say that robots can’t accomplish space travel as cheaply or efficiently as humans. But, as is often the case, those ideas are based on data from the distant history of space travel. As you might guess, the future of space exploration presents a very different picture, one in which robots will replace humans as the better pilots and researchers. Don’t forget to Notice & Note as you read the text. erupt (∆-r≠pt´) v. When something erupts, it develops suddenly. ANALYZE RHETORICAL DEVICES Annotate: Mark an example of direct address in paragraph 10. Infer: Why does the author use direct address here?