Space exploration offers opportunities for the knowledge and growth. Of course, China and India are spearheading space exploration, previously the USSR and the USA led efforts.

While an effective solution it would also be expensive. Would this merely cause the emigration of conflict to other planets?

Nancy Ann Watanabe Stanley Wilkin

I highly recommend Kelly and Zach Weinersmith, A City on Mars: Can we settle space, should we settle space, and have we really thought this through? (New York: Penguin Press, 2023) as an antidote to dreams of utilizing space resources within a reasonable timeframe as well as the prospects for smooth sailing as regards legal and political issues.

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_City_on_Mars
• https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/kelly-weinersmith/a-city-on-mars/

Kasili Mutambo and all,

Yes, as you have cogently written in the first contribution to this RG discussion thread, China and India have taken over the leading position in taking recourse to "space exploration" for "knowledge and growth," whereas the USSR and the USA were the previous leaders. In your opinion, are China and India motivated primarily by the fact that they lead the world in its unprecedented population explosion?

Are the USSR and the USA less interested in space exploration than China and India as evidenced by proportional decreases in their national budgetary allocations for space exploration, or are their declining positions as global leaders in space exploration caused by some other factors?

Are China and India not dissuaded from sending humans into space because they are constrained by their burgeoning populations to give more serious consideration to establishing colonies in space? On the other hand, it could be argued that the USSR and the USA have modified their expectations because they have already established scientific or physiological evidence that humans suffer ill effects during the time they spend away from the security of planet Earth's gravitational hold.

I'm a cynic. China, India, and Russia under Putin, all three are in this in an apparent effort to be seen as "world leaders." Me too! Me too! Their space programs being a manifestation of this.

Fair enough. Everyone should take a shot. Just, let's try this without naked, illegal aggressions, such as Putin attempting in Europe and China on the South China Sea. Is that too much to ask?

As to bringing our fights to other planets, probably not that simple. More than likely, the people going to such other planets will manufacture a different reason for conflict. Same as happened here on earth, years after colonies were established and then gained their independence. They'll create their own conflicts which can be totally unrelated to those from the old country.

But then again, I don't see that the potential for conflicts of one type or other are an excuse to stop such efforts. If we thought like that, we'd still be living in caves and trees.

As to population explosion, just China and India, those two countries, account for 38% of the human population on earth. However China's fertility rate is now about 1.3 per female, so this might change in coming decades. India has supposedly become the country with the largest population, today.

(Yet, both of them are exempt from the massive cash transfers being demanded by the delegates at COP29.)

Albert Manfredi and to all,

Your multi-pronged answer to this RG discussion question suggests your opinion that China and India are out-of-step in devoting their national interest to space exploration with a view to colonizing, whether in manmade satellites circling planet Earth or in voyages to planet Mars. You seem to indicate in your allusion to the November 2024 COP29 United Nations Climate Change Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention, that Climate Change is the reason why leading nations like the United States of America, the USSR, and twenty-seven other geopolitical leaders are focusing on planet Earth, not colonizing outer space.

Nevertheless, this RG discussion thread question remains, though in a somewhat modified form. Despite the fact that the cited research paper written by scientists affiliated with the People's Republic of China concludes with the suggestion that space exploration be pursued with the aim of finding extraterrestrial water sources and establishing extraterrestrial mining industries, there is as yet no particular stipulation that this be a national project. Since China has traditionally not identified as a capitalist nation, it is no wonder that the research article's authors do not draw a distinction between government and private corporations.

Given this set of circumstances, including your emphasis on China, India, and Russia as political entities, currently scurrying to organize and work together as a United Nations Convention, to offset global warming and global climate change, are you of the opinion that the main reason why private citizens who are billionaires and venture capitalist companies in the business sector in America are engaging in speculative space exploration using volunteers as 'human guinea pigs' is to "find water on other planets and develop space mining industries'?

The tri-pole hegemons of the USA, China, and India are competition for controlling resources and space exploration in exclusion of other countries threatening the international rules based order.

Nancy Ann Watanabe et alia,

Given this set of circumstances, including your emphasis on China, India, and Russia as political entities, currently scurrying to organize and work together as a United Nations Convention, to offset global warming and global climate change,

Hmmm. On that topic, a separate topic, I would just briefly say that China and India want to get away without participating in any of the gymongous cash handouts the COP29 delegates are demanding. How much actual "work together" they intend is unclear to me. And I have serious doubts that mitigating climate change is the real goal. Too much disingenuous-sounding rhetoric coming from these COP conferences. I recently posted a preprint on RG, on that subject matter, explaining why my skepticism, with plenty of credible scientific references. But again, that's a separate discussion.

are you of the opinion that the main reason why private citizens who are billionaires and venture capitalist companies in the business sector in America are engaging in speculative space exploration using volunteers as 'human guinea pigs' is to "find water on other planets and develop space mining industries'?

Plenty of people have been eager to find water and other human necessities in other planets, or even the moon, if for no other reason than to support human colonies on them. It seems way difficult otherwise, does it not?

As a source of minerals for use on earth, sure, why not? It would be a perfectly valid business venture. Why would private businesspeople not want to participate in such ventures? I guess I'm saying, this is not the first time we have heard of such ideas, is it? Even mining asteroids has been mentioned many times. Was this the first time you saw such suggestions?

The water problem itself, on earth, could perhaps best be solved be desalinating seawater, in the long term. We're causing problems with overuse of ground water, changing the earth's center of mass. Desalination using modern methods and solar or wind energy sounds like something more practical than shipping water from distant planets?

As to the basic problem of way too much human population on earth, it looks like the new predictions are that the population will peak at 10 billion, ca 2050, and then start to decline. A few years ago, the peak was said to be 15 billion. I'm not sure how much weight to put on these predictions. I'm not sure how much they are driven by political agendas. Either way, the only hope for this planet is if the human population were to reduce itself significantly.

Why?

Because if we are to be honest, the climate crisis is being caused mostly by the need to feed this tremendous population. Deforestation is primarily caused by the need for crop farming and grazing land. And deforestation has been massive. Half of human-caused deforestation has occurred in just the past 120 years. That's the true threat to the climate. Quantitatively, far more of a problem than our use of fossil fuels. Yet, you'd never know this, just listening to the popular common wisdom.

Population decline would help, new farming methods would also help.

Dear Doctor

Definitely progress and developed sciences make every one enchanted.

But, I do like our planet, the earth, and thus we can make it amazing space for living through love and proper advanced technologies.