Slashdot Mirror
Van Allen Questions Human Spaceflight
An anonymous reader writes "James van Allen - the discoverer of the Van Allen radiation belt - has called into question the motivations and expectations of space exploration and research, particularly manned space exploration. Van Allen comments that 'the only surviving motivation for continuing human spaceflight is the ideology of adventure.'"
Because many people (including apparently Van Allen, and I'm inclined to view myself as standing on the same side) doubt whether being adventurous is worth billions of dollars and the risk of human lives. As Van Allen says in the article, comparing human space flight with the journeys of Columbus is not entirely fair; Columbus could be fairly sure to encounter habitable land (in fact, he wanted to reach Japan and China; contrary to a popular myth, the idea that the earth was round was reasonably well spread in his time). The only prospect we have (at least until Zephram Cochrane appears) is to establish a manned base on Mars. I'm wondering if that's a very good prospect in view of the lack of success of the ISS.
The majority of Slashdotters (including myself) seems to find the billions the Bush administration is pouring into Iraq a terrible waste of money. According to Van Allen, the ISS will have cost 80 billion dollars when it is completed, but I doubt it will benefit humanity any more than even the tiny positive aspect of the Iraq war.