I know it seems like it could be something that we thought would take about a 100 years. Robert Zubrin explains that our space technology has actually deteriorated since the 80's. It's funny how something like that could actually happen. But if NASA hadn't decided to concentrate their R&D on unmanned satellites, and if the Government hadn't decided to cut their budget on space travel, there would be a colony of people on Mars TODAY!
It frightens me when I think about space travel. Soon enough, traveling out of the Earth's atmosphere is going to become something like traveling to another country. Easy, short, and commercial.
I adress 'Outer-space' in my entry today because i feel that it is important for us to take this step. We have always been explorers. A civilization rises, reaches its peak, and then goes on to conquer new lands.
Lets take the example of Chinese who in 1421 had seven masted intercontinental sailing ships and had even reached Madagascar with a vast exploration fleet. They were at their peak and instead of discovering and dominating Europe and the rest of the world, not only did they turn back but also destroyed the ships and stagnated. Their empire started to deteriorate because of all the attention that was shifted unnecessarily on itself. Other conquerors (from EU mostly) took up the task and prospered.
Even though this is just one example taken from our history, It teaches us so much about growth and how we need to go about it.
We are becoming a global community. We will come upon the task of taking the next step into unknown worlds, just like our ancestors did a million years ago. whether we will grow and become a species that will boldly question the mysteries of the universe or stagnate and destroy itself is the decision that we will have to make sooner than we think.
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