It is exciting to see China enter the space race and for the US
to propose new ventures to the moon and Mars. Yet there is a
lack of vision behind human space projects which has prevented
sustained support and progress. We have a motivating purpose
behind a sustained drive into space: the purpose of space
research should be to secure human destiny by moving off Earth,
beyond our solar system, and into It's clear large portions of
life on earth have been destroyed by meteorite strikes and
possibly even gamma ray bursts from dying stars. Our sun, too,
will die taking our solar system and all life with it. Life has
always bounced back. Humans may not. Humans are at the top of
the food chain which means we will be the most impacted by an
earth or solar system wide calamity. What will save humanity is
our intelligence. Our intelligence, however, must be applied. It
sounds silly to worry about a dying sun, that is so far away. In
millions of years surely we'll have the technology to save
ourselves. But there are no