A Big Step for Mankind and a Little One in the Milky Way.

Europe Group.
Week 7: "Space Colonization: We have to search new worlds and create new colonies?"

A Big Step for Mankind and a Little One in the Milky Way.

The Unknown. The biggest fear and the biggest goal of the whole of Mankind. It’s the biggest fear because we are instinctively scared of the Unknown, that really it’s often full of dangers and sufferance; but we are also so attracted to it. We absolutely must always know what’s there. In our souls we are all little Ulysses, and we want to go over the Pillars of Hercules.

But that human attitude for exploration on the Earth is almost no longer possible, so we looked up in the sky. So many planets, so many stars, so many galaxies are waiting for us. All the time we look up at the sky and think of the universe, we feel really scared and excited by it. I remember when I was little I used to read books about space, and every time I reached the part about black holes and the final destiny of the Universe I was always freaking scared. But on the other side, I was really excited to read about the possibility of going to live on Mars, Venus or Europa, and I always dreamed of how it could be to wake up under a new sky, an alien sky.

The landing of man on the surface of the Moon, on 20 July 1969, is considered one of the biggest achievement in the entire history of Mankind. On that remote day, everyone all over the world was stuck to the television, watching Neil Armstrong jumping on the moon ground, and everybody listened when he said the eternal words: “Here men from the Planet Earth first set foot upon the moon, July 1969, A.D. We came in peace for all mankind”. On this day, celebrations exploded all over the world for the first men to ever reach a new planet, and they were welcomed back as heroes of the Earth.

After that moment, entire generations were inspired to become astronauts. The first International Space Station (ISS), where the space agencies of the USA, Canada, Europe, Japan and Russia collaborate together, was created. Lots of probes and space observatories are scanning and exploring the universe around us.

All over the world, space agencies are planning to build bases on the surface of the Moon and to land on Mars. The Aurora Program of the European Space Agency (ESA) has planned human missions to the Moon for 2024 and to Mars for the 2030/2033. But, the USA, China, India and Russia are also rushing for human missions to those places.

There are great advantages for the colonization of new planets, like new mineral resources, great scientific breakthroughs, new living spaces, new frontiers; but on the other hand, there are enormous problems like food, air, water and the astronomic prices for the transports. But after all, there is something a new space colonization will give to the entire mankind: A new hope. The hope that we are not going to be stuck here forever, the hope that there is an exit, the hope that we can reach the stars, the hope that everyday our actions will improve the worlds where we’ll go to live and especially, the refunded feeling of community and participation, that every one of us is necessary for something in the new planetary communities. Frontier life will be hard, fucking hard, every day will really be a fight against death, a little error and a lot of people will lose their lives; but people will feel like they are living full lives and are part of something bigger. They will be a part of mankind’s history.

Even if that seems really harsh, private companies all over the world are creating programs to create orbital hotels or space stations. Others, like Mars One, are planning to create a permanent human base on Mars by 2025, which for them would not provide the opportunity to turn back.

As you can see, all over the world nations and private companies are trying to make it possible to allow mankind to make its first steps as an interplanetary society, like the ones described in sci-fi novels. It will be a really long process and will require a lot of resources and lives, but it will allow us to be a better society and to better understand our world, because, when we see it from afar, we understand how little, weak and precious is it, allowing us to save it and make smarter choices for the future.

The seed for a new hope and future is going to be sprout. Our time has arrived to reach the stars!

By F.P., Italy
20 years old