The next 20 years will be vital for the long-term future of humans in space.

This essay was composed in November 2024 and uses MLA documentation.

It can be difficult to comprehend the idea of space. It is an empty expanse devoid of light, air, and gravity. In stark contrast, life on Earth provides us with the sun’s light, an atmosphere for breathing, and a planet that gives us gravity. Open space, however, offers none of these comforts. While world powers have historically sought to control space, humanity’s reach has barely extended beyond the moon. Scientists plan to send human expeditions to Mars within the next two decades, yet whether these missions should proceed remains debatable. This debate is fueled by a range of concerns from multiple stakeholders, each highlighting different risks and rewards of space exploration. On the one hand, the financial costs of space missions are staggering—launching a shuttle into orbit is extremely expensive, and traveling to another planet would cost even more.

On the other hand, with people aboard a ship, the risks to human survival are immense. While humans can make critical decisions in real-time and repair machines in ways that autonomous systems cannot, space travel requires addressing complex challenges to ensure human survival. Astronauts depend on life-support systems for oxygen, food, and water, and they must be shielded from the vacuum of space—exposure to which would result in certain death. Additionally, astronauts’ physical and psychological health must be safeguarded, so engineers must find a delicate balance between human and spacecraft needs.

In deep space, there are almost infinite things that can go wrong. Life support could fail. Thrusters could fail. Navigation could fail. And if an astrophysicist’s calculations are even slightly off, they are dooming astronauts to a cold, dark, empty grave. The government already has plans to reach Mars with the Artemis mission plan, but there are many obstacles, including politics, money, and occasional backlash from the citizens. Most Americans support the idea of space exploration, even though it costs billions of taxpayer dollars, but some find the idea ridiculous.

Humans in Deep Space

Scientists have never really been able to make space safe for humans. They make it survivable, giving astronauts the bare minimum of what they need to stay alive and doing their best to maintain it. Space is one of the most dangerous places to visit as a human, especially deep space, where astronauts are closer to another planet than the Earth. Deep space offers no backup or extra supplies; everything that is supposed to keep astronauts alive is on the spaceship with them, all while hurdling away from Earth at incredible speeds. Deep space travel means “extended mission durations, increased distance from Earth, prolonged isolation and confinement, reduced size of crew quarters, lack of privacy, communication latency, need for increased autonomy in decision-making processes, and lack of short-term rescue possibilities” (Pagnini et al.).

The psychological impacts of a person spending multiple months and possibly years in deep space cannot be easily predicted, but they are scary to think about. Physical distress often causes or worsens psychological stress, and when astronauts enter space, they can experience something called space sickness. The physical effects of space sickness include vomiting, nausea, disorientation, and stomach discomfort. These symptoms are known to go away within a week or so of being in space. However, spending extended periods in space can have severe physical consequences. Muscles will often deteriorate due to the lack of gravity, and some loss in muscle mass has been measured in astronauts’ hearts on long-duration missions (Logsdon). Bone density also has decreased due to the lack of gravity, and astronauts must train so that the effects are not detrimental.

The astronauts will not have trouble navigating space in these conditions, but returning to Earth is where the problems arise. Upon returning to Earth, astronauts experience discomfort and motion sickness for a few days, but muscle and bone deterioration can last months to years. It is difficult to know exactly how the human mind and body will react in deep space conditions, but humanity will likely find out in the next two decades if the plans to launch human expeditions to Mars are realized.

Artemis Space Program

In 2025, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is launching the Artemis II mission, bringing astronauts to the moon’s orbit for the first time in over 50 years. Fourteen major points of failure could make the mission a tragedy, but if it is successful, “Artemis II will be the first flight with crew aboard NASA’s deep space exploration system: the Orion spacecraft, Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the ground systems at Kennedy Space Center” (Carruth). The mission is vital to the success of the Artemis space program, which plans to build a moon base to support further deep space exploration. Suppose one of the systems fails during Artemis II, and the astronauts are killed. In that case, the entire program will be delayed and possibly canceled.

NASA currently plans to put humans on Mars by the 2030s. This plan depends on all missions leading up to its success and on using the currently non-existent moon base as a checkpoint. Even if these two factors go according to plan, the program still has an uphill battle. In a CQ Press report, Val Ellicott explains, “[T]he Artemis program still faces daunting technological, budgetary and political hurdles. Some experts even question whether a crewed mission to Mars is worth the trouble, especially when robots can explore the planet without risking lives and at a substantially lower cost” (Ellicott). Humans may not fare well in deep space, and NASA is sending billions of dollars worth of equipment with them. Suppose a given mission is catastrophic, and the shuttle is destroyed. In that case, it will be American lives and taxpayer dollars that are destroyed with them.

Politics and Government Influence

Space exploration is rarely funded privately. While a few exceptions apply, such as SpaceX, world powers fund and control space exploration. The United States, China, and Russia all have massive space programs, and they are funded solely by the governments of those countries. During the Cold War, the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union was incredibly important, and even now, there is power associated with being the leader of space. NASA is the most extensive space program, and in 2023, the Biden administration requested “$26 billion for NASA … — a $2.7 billion increase over the enacted 2021 budget — and includes $7.5 billion for the Artemis moon program” (Harwood). These numbers show that the United States government is willing to pay a lot of money to explore space and to claim that they are the superior space force.

According to a study done by the Pew Research Center, “44% [of Americans] think the U.S. will definitely or probably fight against other nations in space in the next 50 years” (Kennedy et al.). There is fear involved with the concept of a space war, where the country that can launch the most missiles from space will be the victor. If this were the case, the nation with the most developed foothold in space would win. However, if nuclear missiles were launched, there would be no true victor. This is why the U.S. government continues to fund NASA generously and another reason why the Artemis missions are so important.

Conclusion

The next 20 years will be vital for the long-term future of humans in space. Whether or not livable conditions can be created and maintained in deep space will impact how space programs move forward. If humans cannot make it to another planet in the next 20 years, or they find it useless to do so, we will likely stay confined to Earth. After all, humans are not adapted to space; they are adapted to Earth, where the ideal conditions for human life have been achieved. However, it is difficult to predict what our planet might be like 200 years from now. Many problems here on Earth, such as climate change, overpopulation, pollution, and CO2 emissions, make the future seem unstable. Even researchers are unsure of what the future holds, and when conducting research, it is important to keep in mind that nobody knows the future. As far as deep space travel is concerned, we may find out in the future that humans will die or mentally break in deep space conditions. Some discoveries may also lead to humanity thriving in space and leaving the Earth behind. Even with information from various sources with multiple perspectives and present-day knowledge and technology, there is no way to be sure what deep space travel will mean for humanity. There are infinite possibilities, but humans should not rely on deep space travel with the current information. Earth will remain what we make it, regardless of what happens in deep space.

Works Cited

Carruth, Alivia R. “Artemis II Map – NASA.” NASA, 28 Feb. 2023, www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/artemis-ii-map/. Accessed 24 Oct. 2024.

Ellicott, Val. “The Mars Mission.” CQ Researcher, 21 Feb 2020. CQ Press, doi: https://doi.org/10.4135/cqresrre20200221.

Harwood, William. “Biden’s 2023 Budget Request Gives Boost to NASA’s Artemis Moon Program.” CBS News, 28 Mar. 2022, www.cbsnews.com/news/nasa artemis-moon-program-biden-budget-2023/.

Kennedy, Brian, et al. “Americans’ Views of Space: U.S. Role, NASA Priorities and Impact of Private Companies.” Pew Research Center, 20 July 2023, www.pewresearch.org/science/2023/07/20/americans-views-of-space-u-s-role nasa-priorities-and-impact-of-private-companies/. Accessed 26 Oct. 2024

Logsdon, John M. “Space Exploration.” Encyclopedia Britannica, 20 Oct. 2024, https://www.britannica.com/science/space-exploration. Accessed 25 October 2024.

Pagnini, Francesco, et al. “Human Behavior and Performance in Deep Space Exploration: Next Challenges and Research Gaps.” NPJ Microgravity, vol. 9, no. 27, 2023. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41526-023-00270-7. Accessed 28 Oct. 2024.