Insights · February 5th, 2007
There has always been tension between space exploration and everything else. Expect that tension to become visible again soon. The fiscal drain of the Iraq war will be set against two needs with far greater long-term impact on our future than the war.
First, there will be more demand for funding for climate change mitigation. This is, thankfully, rising in tone and volume, and at least a vaguely bi-partisan initiative. The American public sees it. And climate change is unlikely to leave our immediate consciousness for awhile: weather, dying polar bears, and melting ice caps all make excellent copy.
Second, there is more pressure on the space program than there has been in a long time. What popular pressure exists is partly because media darlings like Stephen Hawking have recently suggested that we better prepare to leave, and space tourism is becoming real. But the real pressure is military. China, India, Europe, and others have viable space programs. President Bush has pushed through a more ambitious NASA agenda than we’ve seen for a long time, even though the shift has lacked the popular attention the moon race got. We won’t be able to cede space to foreign powers, especially during a time when climate change and increased industrialization, population, and demand is already starting resource wars (what, after all, is Iraq?).
Watch for this issue. Our home and our grandchildren need us to pay attention to climate change, and we won’t have a choice about space.
