This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (August 2009) This article may be in need of reorganization to comply with Wikipedia's layout guidelines. Please help by editing the article to make improvements to the overall structure. (August 2009)

Space and survival refers to a position advocated by some^[who?] that the long-term survival of the human species and civilization requires proper use of the resources of outer space.^{[citation needed]} Its investigation is justified by the fact that space colonization and space science could prevent many human extinction scenarios. A related observation is the limited time and resources thought by some^[1] to be available for the colonization of space.

Uses of space annexation [edit]

Extinction can be prevented by improving the physical barrier or increasing the mean distance between people and the potential extinction event. For example, people may survive imminent explosions by being in a bunker or evacuating. Pandemics are controlled by putting exposed people in quarantine and moving healthy people away. The human lineage of genus Homo has reduced from several species co-existing on Earth to just one — all others went extinct before the end of the last Ice age.

At the latest, when the Sun will become a red giant in about 4 billion years, mankind has to leave the Solar System to ensure survival of the human species.

This illustrates that Homo sapiens is not immune to planetary disaster and that human survival may be better assured through the colonization of space.

Barrier [edit]

Life support systems that enable people to live in space may also allow them to survive hazardous events. For example, an infectious disease or biological weapon that transmits through the air could not infect a person in a closed life support system, as an internal supply of air and a physical barrier would exist between the person and the affected environment.

Location and distance [edit]

Expanding the living area of the human species increases the mean distance between humans and any hazardous event. People closest to the event are most likely to be killed or injured; people furthest from the event are most likely to survive.

Multiple locations [edit]

Increasing the number of places where humans live also helps to prevent extinction. For example, if a massive impact event occurred on Earth without warning, the human species could possibly become extinct; its art, culture and technology would be lost. However, if humans had previously colonized locations outside Earth, the opportunities for the survival and recovery of the species would be greater.

Uses of space science [edit]

The observation and study of space protects Earth, as space hazards can be seen in advance and, if discovered early enough, acted against.

Near-Earth objects [edit]

Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) are asteroids, comets and large meteoroids that come close to or collide with Earth. Spaceguard is the collective name for some of the efforts to discover and study NEOs, though these efforts are not highly funded.^{[citation needed]}

Opportunities for space colonization [edit]

Human Space colonies do not exist. It can be said, however, that humans have had a continuous space presence since 2000 due to the International Space Station. There is concern that the human species may lose its organized societies or its technological knowledge, deplete resources or even become extinct before it colonizes space.

The author Sylvia Engdahl wrote about the "Critical Stage", a period of time when a civilization has both the technology to expand into space and the technology to destroy itself. Engdahl states that the human civilization is at a Critical Stage, but that the funding for space exploration and colonization is minuscule compared to the funding for weapons of mass destruction and military forces. Similar ideas have been discussed in terms of the Fermi paradox and the great filter.

Objections [edit]

Creating a backup colony in space would be a very costly method of ensuring human survival in the event of catastrophe, and it is likely that other ways of creating an independent colony could be more cost efficient. While extinctions occur on the order of tens of millions of years, major damage to the structure of the Earth itself is likely on the order of billions of years. As a result, an independent surface colony or an oceanic or sub-terrestrial colony may be a cheaper way to obtain a similar but less robust result.^{[citation needed]}

The survivability and sustainability of a hey could potentially be less than the survivability and sustainability of Earth's population, especially during a colony's infancy. Creating colonies that can reliably withstand the rigors of space and unpredictable extraterrestrial environments for thousands of years may be very expensive. The creation of a colony that not only survives but also grows to a scale where it can create its own new colonies is a far more difficult and expensive task.^{[citation needed]}

See also [edit]

Spaceflight portal

• Human outpost
• Effect of spaceflight on the human body
• Planetary habitability
• Solar analog
• Space colonization
• Space habitat
• Terraforming

References [edit]

Further reading [edit]

• Our Final Hour: A Scientist's Warning: How Terror, Error, and Environmental Disaster Threaten Humankind's Future in This Century - On Earth and Beyond (UK title: Our Final Century), Martin Rees, 2003, ISBN 0-465-06862-6
• Pale Blue Dot: A Vision of the Human Future in Space, Carl Sagan, 1994, ISBN 0-679-43841-6
• Realspace: The Fate of Physical Presence in the Digital Age, On and Off Planet, Paul Levinson, 2003, ISBN 0-415-27743-4
• The Survival Imperative: Using Space to Protect Earth, William E. Burrows, August 22, 2006, ISBN 0-7653-1114-3
• Space (also called Hyperspace), BBC documentary narrated by Sam Neill, 2001 (BBC web site)

External links [edit]

• Essays and Manifestos about the Colonization of Space at the Open Directory Project
• Spaceflight or Extinction Academics and other leaders explain that we should colonize space to improve our chance of survival. Authors include Stephen Hawking and Carl Sagan.
• Space Quotes to Ponder Quotations from scientists, engineers, authors, astronauts, leaders, journalists and others
• Space and Human Survival: My Views on the Importance of Colonizing Space Sylvia Engdahl's essay, links and books
• Alliance to Rescue Civilization Non-government organization founded by William E. Burrows, Robert Shapiro and others
• Back up civilization Robert Shapiro's response to Edge's hypothetical request from the American President: "What are the pressing scientific issues for the nation and the world, and what is your advice on how I can begin to deal with them?"
• Space and Civilization William E. Burrows's op-ed article from The Wall Street Journal
• Colonies in space may be only hope, says Hawking Article about Stephen Hawking
• Sagan's rationale for human spaceflight Article about Carl Sagan and human spaceflight
• Molecular Manufacturing and The High Frontier from the Foresight Nanotech Institute

v t e Spaceflight General Astrodynamics History Accidents and incidents Records Space Race Animals in space Applications Earth observation satellites Spy satellites Weather satellites Private spaceflight Satellite navigation Space archaeology Space architecture Space colonization Space exploration Space medicine Space nursing Space tourism Human spaceflight General Astronaut Life support system Extra-vehicular activity Space suit Hazards Effect of spaceflight on the human body Space adaptation syndrome Health threat from cosmic rays Space and survival Space weather Weightlessness Major projects Apollo Gemini International Space Station Mercury Mir Shenzhou Soyuz Space Shuttle Voskhod Vostok Spacecraft Launch vehicle Robotic spacecraft Rocket Spacecraft propulsion Spaceplane Destinations Sub-orbital Orbital Geocentric Geosynchronous Interplanetary Interstellar Intergalactic Space launch Direct ascent Escape velocity Expendable and reusable launch systems Launch pad Non-rocket spacelaunch Spaceport Space agencies CNES CNSA ESA ISRO JAXA NASA RKA List of space agencies