Analytical Review

Source:

Kistler, Walter P. "Humanity's Future in Space." Editorial. The Futurist [Washington State] Jan. 1999. Science; Comprehensive Works, Technology: Comprehensive Works. Web. 2 Feb. 2012. http://search.proquest.com/docview/218565782/fulltext/13503C6DA9D7EEF54F/1?accountid=285.

Review:

            In the fourth major paragraph, the author states his thesis, "Exploring space and colonizing other planets is not an option. It is a necessity if humanity is to evolve and not become a stagnant species with no room and no incentive for further development." Prior to this, the author puts forth the different beliefs and agendas involved with the rationale behind each of the arguments in the debate over whether space travel should be something that we, as a race, are spending a significant portion of our resources on.

            The author structures the article into 5 parts: the first being the two different rationales that I mentioned earlier, the second is the decision that it is necessary for humanity to exist and explore space for the betterment of the race, thirdly, a list of short term goals that ought to be achieved in space, fourth, and somewhat a detour, the author includes a tangent relating to Space Tourism and what impacts it will have on the space scene and lastly, the longer term goals that humanity should once it has established itself in space.

            The author dwells on the short term uses of space as being in the realm of energy and resources. From putting massive solar energy panels into orbit to finding other sources of energy and income space can provide positive returns on investments.

            While space travel is expensive, opening it up to private entities will help to reduce the cost, as companies will increase efficiency and improve flight costs in order to attract more customers.

            When the author starts to look toward the long term goals, he gets somewhat pessimistic, pointing out that the long distances that must be traveled in space to get to the nearest star or planet inhibits a person from getting there during his / her lifetime. However, with advances in technology and with the help of space probes, humans will slowly but surely begin to branch out into other regions of space.

            The only problem I had with this article, even though I find it very useful still, is that the author doesn't explain why he believes that going into space is a good use of humanity's resources when we obviously could be using that large chunk of money on other things such as feeding people that are hungry or research toward curing incurable diseases. However, the ideas of this article still serve a very good purpose in the context of my research paper because I have other sources to help show why commercial and governmental branches of space travel are beneficial and what each of the two branches will lead to.