Section C: Non-Narrative Text

1

When asked why he had wanted to climb Everest, the mountaineer George Mallory famously replied, “Because it was there.” It appears that the wish to explore is an intrinsic part of human nature. By seeking to discover the unknown, we push back the boundaries of our knowledge of the universe, and at the same time explore our physical and psychological potential as humans.

2

There have always been risk takers who ventured ahead so that the rest of us could follow. Because of sailors who made voyages into the unknown hundreds of years ago, we now know that the earth is round and not flat. More recently, the pioneering work of aviators such as the Wright Brothers meant that air travel could become commonplace. The economic and social benefits of such developments are not always immediately evident, but they do follow, as does our understanding of human potential to overcome challenges.

3

When Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit the earth in 1961, space became the new frontier for exploration. Since then, space flights have brought many benefits to humanity. Early manned space missions increased our understanding of human development through study of the effects of gravity on the human body, and led to new treatments for bone diseases. Satellites orbiting the earth have revolutionised our lives at home and at work, with the spread of cell phones, satellite TV and global banking. They provide meteorological forecasts which are far more accurate than those of the past, including warnings of potential disasters such as hurricanes. The Global Positioning System (GPS) allows us to pinpoint buildings anywhere in the world, and to navigate accurately from place to place. Some people say that it was the first photographs of the earth taken from space that led to our increased awareness of our environment and of its fragility, and it is certain that data from satellite observations have allowed more reliable environmental monitoring and the collection of data on climate change.

4

Further out in space, we now know there are lava plains on Venus, a buried ocean on Jupiter’s moon Europa, and lakes of methane on Saturn’s moon Titan. In the future, it may be possible to exploit the mineral resources of other planets to support life on Earth. Evidence of life on other planets may give us an increased understanding of where we come from and how life has developed on Earth. Should the need arise, these planets may provide new habitats to ensure the survival of humanity. One day we may even manage to contact other civilisations in our universe, and discover that we are not alone.

5

Many of the benefits described above have been brought about, not by manned space flights, but by robotic technology. Robots do not need to be protected from cosmic radiation or solar flares on the long journey across space as humans would. And they leave no grieving families if something goes wrong. They can record phenomena such as magnetic fields that cannot be sensed directly by humans.

6

So it may appear that the ‘heroic’ phase of space exploration, once celebrated in popular science fiction stories, with chisel-jawed astronauts venturing into deepest space to boldly save Earth from unspeakable danger, is now a thing of the past. However, there are still limits to what robots can achieve. A robot can be designed to collect a sample, but not to collect the correct sample. It can pick up a rock, but it can’t turn it over and wipe away the dust, decide it’s not a useful find, and drop it again. And, as former astronaut Thomas Jones said, “Only a human can experience what being in space feels like, and only a human can communicate this to others.” Our future scientific and technological progress, and possibly our future survival as a species, depends on directing the creative interests of our youth towards careers in science and engineering. Nothing does this better than manned space exploration. In the end, it will be humans who continue the exploration begun by those early travellers in space.