Five hundred dollars. That’s the price point Elon Musk has decided on to get a pound of material into space. To get the average human being into space, you’d be looking at somewhere in between $60,000 to $100,000 dollars. Although that might seem pricey, if the ticket was a one way to another celestial body, we’re looking at a future where passage to the moon or the planet mars is affordable for you or me. Space is the final frontier, and unlike the New World explorers of the 15th and 16th century, there’s no boundary to space and there probably isn’t anyone already living on most of those planets.

There’s one issue. Right now there is a gate to space. The gravitational field surrounding the Earth not only requires an extraordinary amount of energy to leave, but any debris left in this orbit makes every subsequent journey much more difficult. The orbit around Earth doesn’t need to just be tidy, it needs to be relatively spotless. Bits of dust become bullets, and nuts and bolts become missiles.

Although there’s already people working on a solution, most of the ideas are still theoretical. There’s lasers, laser brooms, small robots getting sent out as futuristic little garbage men. One of the most promising ideas being put into motion is a joint venture from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Nitto Seimo Co., a company that, believe it or knot, makes some of the world’s fishing nets. What they plan on doing is sending up a rocket with the net. Once in orbit, the rocket deploys this net, a wire trap that is roughly seven kilometers long. It will orbit the Earth, picking up rubbish along the way. As it picks up space waste, it will become magnetically charged, which will draw it back to Earth, burning the net and the refuse in the process.

The question remains. Do we want corporations to head the exploration of this uncharted territory? Do we want economic prosperity to drive the adventurers of the 21st century? Honesty, the drive to explore new places and travel uncharted waters was always for economic reasons. When the Old world sent ships to the Americas, it was to discover a new trading route to India. These souls who risked life and limb weren’t in it purely for the thrill of adventure and excitement, their reasons were grounded in the pursuit of financial gain. After the United States landed on the moon, people got bored with space exploration. There didn’t seem to be anything useful up there. The last lunar rover to land on the moon was the Chinese Yutu, and they’re looking to mine the lunar body for Helium-3, an energy source.

Even though Elon Musk’s plans for space exploration aren’t as altruistic as some people would have you think, there is something admirable about a man, outside of the regulatory bodies of international governments, who wants to go to Mars. He’s even expressed the desire to die on Mars. At the price point that he’s trying to achieve, there may come a time when many people end up leaving Earth for redder pastures.

I’m not against corporations putting the first foot forward. I remain caution, as the Earth’s orbit remains the only boundary between humanity as a star-faring people, and the humanity which would be doomed to face our extinction on the rock where we were born. If we don’t venture out to the stars, and venture soon, then we may unfortunately never grow outwards and realize a greater potential as a species. If a company makes a mistake, then we could be grounded on Earth.

Space exploration should be on the tip of everyone’s tongue. We all should be extremely excited to see people, from whatever nation or company they happen to be from, make the leap for mankind. For some reason, we’re not. I’d love to see people cheer on a mission to Mars, but I fear it could end up like the lunar missions. I’m hoping that one day, we not only land on our neighbor, the red planet of Mars. What I’m really hoping for though, is we find a reason to go back.

To wrap it up, I have a question for everyone. If you were presented with the opportunity to leave the planet, to leave your family and friends, knowing full well you may never return, for the chance to live on another world? Honestly, I’m not sure I actually could. But I’m hoping some of you would answer with a resounding ‘Yes’.

Sincerely,

The Illustrious Mr. Charlton

p.s. Well, I’d be a lot more inclined to go up there if they’ve got a solid Wifi connection.

p.s.s. Did you notice the ‘knot’ pun when I was talking about fishing nets? Funny thing, Nitto Seimo was the pioneer when it came to ‘knotless’ nets. Go figure.