UNIT 5 – EARTH AND SPACE


• Reusable shuttles would reduce risk and leave less waste in space. So far, there have only been a few successful reusable spacecraft, including the SpaceX Crew Dragon.


• Mars could be used as a fuel station for future space exploration. Due to the lack of atmosphere on Mars, it would require much less fuel to launch a rocket from there than from Earth. Likewise, NASA’s Artemis programme has a long-term goal of constructing a lunar space station for sending crewed flights to Mars.


• Many planned missions are to sustain life on Earth. For example, analysis of asteroids has revealed that they may yield huge amounts of precious materials such as gold, platinum, magnesium, nickel and iridium. There is also hope that large volumes of water could be mined from the asteroids to provide liquid water supplies in space for later use. Possible threats to Earth could also be prevented, for example the DART mission successfully changed the path of a test asteroid.


: Fig. 38.10 The DART mission deflected the course of an asteroid ? TEST TUBE


5. Use the NASA and European Space Agency (ESA) websites to research a future mission being planned for space exploration. Find out: • when it is scheduled to happen • what it hopes to achieve • the potential benefits to society


6. Commercial space exploration, or ‘space tourism’, is becoming more common as private companies such as Virgin Galactic and SpaceX launch non-astronauts into space. In your opinion, should humans be going to space for leisure? Justify your answer.


: Fig. 38.11


376 Elements of Science


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