Three Myths About Space Exploration

Three major myths about space exploration have arisen and are believed by a great many people. Two of the myths have been around since the beginning of the Space Age. One myth, however, is of more recent vintage.

Myth One. Humans are not necessary to explore space. Robotic space probes can explore space just as well as people, without the risk to life, and at a fraction of the cost.

This myth was first articulated by certain members of the scientific community such as the late James Van Allen as far back as the early 1960s. Van Allen was an astrophysicist who helped to design instruments for some of the first American launched satellites, including Explorer 1. The Van Allen Radiation Belts, discovered by the early Explorer missions, were named after Dr. Van Allen. Van Allen designed instruments for dozens of subsequent space probes, including the Mariner 2 probe that flew by Venus in 1962 and Pioneer 10 and 11 which flew by Jupiter and Saturn in the 1970s. Van Allen was as tireless in opposing any space exploration program that involved humans as he was an advocate for robotic space exploration up until his death in 2006.

Dr. Robert Park, a professor of physics at the University of Maryland, is also an outspoken critic of human space exploration. Park can be relied upon by the media for a good quote or sound byte denouncing human space exploration as well as missile defense, which also tends to rouse his ire.

Like many myths, the robots as superior to humans one has a superficial basis in fact. Robotic space probes, from the first Explorer missions, to the current Mars Rovers and Cassini mission to Saturn, had garnered untold amounts of scientific data. Robotic space probes have been able to travel farther and for a cheaper cost than any human can at this point in time. It may be decades, for example, before the first humans venture to the Outer Solar System. Robotic space explorers have been there for the past three decades.