ocean exploration vs space exploration

By Dr. Jyotika I. Virmani June 7, 2017 Ocean vs Space: Exploration and the Quest to Inspire the Public Both space and ocean exploration can boast world firsts, extreme risks, unknown challenges and mind-boggling discoveries that captivate our imagination and advance our understanding of our world and, fundamentally, of ourselves. Considering the importance of the ocean to the sustainability of all life on Earth, how can this possibly be justified? This question, however, does bring to mind a rather interesting thought: perhaps our indifference to ocean exploration is essential to ocean sustainability.

13 May 2016. We're using cookies to improve your experience. ", "It's not renewable energy, it's rational energy. Held during U.N. Week, the Social Good Summit unites a dynamic community of global leaders to discuss a big idea: the power of innovative thinking and technology to solve our greatest challenges.

Dr. Paul Bunje, senior director of prize development and ocean health at the XPRIZE Foundation, and Alexandra Hall, senior director of Google Lunar XPRIZE, met on the Social Good Summit stage to duke it out on Tuesday. Alternatively, exploring ocean floor topography in the depths of the ocean shares the explorational exuberance of investigating an 1,000 mile plot of wet sand with a magnifying glass in the dark.

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This discrepancy has led to skewed results: While 500 individuals have been sent into space, only three have visited the deepest part of the ocean, the Mariana Trench. So which wins in a battle between the two for the title of the final frontier? The simple fact that getting into space comes with a very large dollar sign must be taken into account when comparing the budgets.

In fact, a vast portion of the ocean is almost completely vacant.

In other parts of the world, the stats are equally as humbling. The ocean also houses some of the world’s most sublime landscapes, the Earth’s longest mountain range being the Mid-Ocean Ridge system, an underwater mountain range four times the length of the Rockies, Andes and Himalayas combined. And in reality, if you take all of the world’s oceans, that’s 99% of our living space on Earth, and we know almost nothing about it.". Bunje also said that there are three reasons why the oceans deserve more research love: food, jobs and oxygen. While 500 individuals have been sent into space, only three have visited the deepest part of the ocean, Finding out about the origin of our planet Earth and the rest of the solar system is something that that we have a deep need to know about, Better Business Bureau Accredited Business.

According to Robert Kunzig, a scientific journalist specializing in oceanography, humans have examined “perhaps a millionth or a billionth of the sea’s darkness.

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And the ocean will remain the balance in your bank account you’re too afraid to look at until the day your card gets declined. I mean, let’s be honest here, human exploration has been synonymous with colonization and resource extraction and historically has never been a friend of environmental health. Seeing Earth from space created a concept of Planet Earth. Mashable, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

We’ve got a mountain range, the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, that has thousands of peaks taller than the Alps are, for instance," he said. Space may be called "the final frontier," but anyone who has seen a picture of a goblin shark or a vampire squid will agree that the ocean can be downright alien. Space exploration captures our greatest curiosities and imagination.

Research to put astronauts into space has resulted in great advancements in technology and medicine, and has resulted in the creation of jobs and economic benefits.

Space, on the other hand, is relatively well explored compared to the ocean.

Maybe less. Despite centuries of ocean exploration, we’ve only covered about 5% of the ocean.

Additionally, billions of dollars in government funding go toward research projects every year, in the hopes that some of these innovations can become a reality.

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Explorers in the ocean could take water samples and bring them to the lab to receive results within a couple of days.

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Fruitful Frontier, The Case for Increasing Ocean Exploration”, Etzioni emphatically states that; “Space is a distant, hostile, and barren place, which has few major discoveries and an abundance of “Finding out about the origin of our planet Earth and the rest of the solar system is something that that we have a deep need to know about,” she said. ", "The future of 2030 depends on our decision to invest in adolescent girls. She insists that the reasons to explore space include economic benefit, national security and something that cannot be simplified down to a monetary amount: the satisfaction of our own curiosity. Space exploration captures our greatest curiosities and imagination. Works Cited "Dangers of Deep-Sea Exploration."

Handwerk, Brian. There’s no doubt that the general public considers space … $17.8 billion dollars is going toward space exploration in 2013, compared to the $5 billion dollars that goes toward oceanic exploration. Location: 92nd Street Y, 1395 Lexington Ave., New York, N.Y.

Hidden within the ocean are also more historical artifacts than all of the world’s museums combined.

“Altogether less than a tenth of the ocean is considered naturally productive…Coral reefs, for instance, constitute well under one percent of the ocean’s space but are home to about 25 percent of its fish.” Says Bill Bryson. Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4,Figure 1, BY: MIROSLAV TOMOSKI A recent study out of Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health — published in the American Journal of Public H…, The budget for space exploration eclipses ocean exploration 150 To 1, Legalizing marijuana lowers the rate of drug-related car accidents, study says, Meet the nuns who are healing the world with marijuana, This travel company wants to pay you $9,000 to explore Europe this summer, The Plaid Zebra – Broadening The Horizons of Potential Lifestyle Choices. Both Bunje and Hall are working on million-dollar contests to increase research in space and in the ocean. Sources

When it comes to the knowledge we have of our planet, we’ve barely even scratched the surface. Both realms are ripe for exploration, offer extensive potential benefits and come at a hefty price. The goals of space exploration are visible from the Earth, so we can dream and imagine reaching into the heavens. These days, the fish are nearly extinct from the northeastern coast of North America. However, until we’re prepared to uphold the integrity of that which we discover, perhaps we’re not ready yet to explore.

Until then, I suppose we’ll keep pursuing space like the shiny new toy we’re willing to empty our entire bank account for.

Benefits of space exploration aren’t just about walking on the moon anymore. The ocean also produces 70% of Earth’s oxygen. Powered by its own proprietary technology, Mashable is the go-to source for tech, digital culture and entertainment content for its dedicated and influential audience around the globe.

Moreover, according to a study published in 2011 by PLoS Biology, a startling 91 percent of ocean species have still gone undiscovered. ", "Education isn't simply about literacy, it's about giving girls back their power. BONUS: 10 Moving Quotes From Day 2 of Social Good Summit, "It's absolutely absurd to treat the sky as if it were an open sewer.

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Image: Jonathan Smith/ Copyright BBC NHU 2017 Maybe much less.” Bill Bryson comically sums up this reality in his acclaimed novel, A Brief History of Nearly Everything, “It’s rather as if our firsthand experience of the surface world were based on the work of five guys exploring on garden tractors after dark.”. $17.8 billion dollars is going toward space exploration in 2013, compared to the $5 billion dollars that goes toward oceanic exploration. This is all not to mention the numerous oil-spills, nuclear power plant disasters, garbage dumping and plastic waste invading our oceans. In his article “Final Frontier vs. ", "In most parts of the world, when a girl is born, her wings are clipped.

Which area of exploration will result in the greater good for humanity?

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2012. Space has been the clear leader for a long time.

NASA has more money in its budget to be used towards Earth sciences than should go towards planetary sciences, and it has resulted in significant breakthroughs, including information on the melting ice caps, climate change and ocean surface temperatures. Beyond that, Hall insists, is the more romantic reason to continue space exploration: Space is inspiring.

New England’s fishing boats could once pull in twenty thousand pounds of halibut a day. These statistics, to Bunje and other ocean activists, mean that dangers like ocean acidification and climate change need our attention.

Space exploration is also more dangerous in terms of putting workers’ lives at risk. Of course, the romantic reasoning is understandable. In fact, 94% of life on Earth is aquatic and from blue whales to angler fish, the ocean contains our planet’s largest and most elusive creatures. The ocean makes up about 70% of the Earth’s surface and 99% of its living space. The Social Good Summit is where big ideas meet new media to create innovative solutions and is brought to you by Mashable, The 92nd Street Y, The United Nations Foundation, The United Nations Development Programme, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Ericsson. Of course, this does not nullify the possibilities that lie beneath our oceans’ surfaces. Web. Hall insists that the investment isn’t as skewed as it seems.

See also: Does the Future of the Space Industry Depend on Kickstarter? Space has been the clear leader for a long time. Incidents such as the orbiter