Investigating the Distinctions of Space and Ocean Exploration

Introduction:

Why continue to explore space and not our very own ocean here on Earth? Space exploration takes years to do just for travelling and then takes months to examine what we have found on the exploration. Earth’s ocean is much closer than the things in outer space and we don’t have knowledge of what all is actually swimming around in the depths of it. For all that is known there could be a whole colony of mermaids swimming around deep down in the Pacific Ocean. There could even be an actual Kraken in the Atlantic Ocean that is responsible for so many sunken ships and sailor’s deaths.

Exploring Space and what we learned

Space exploration is the ongoing discovery and exploration of celestial structures in outer space (Wiki). Space exploration originally started as curiosity as to whether there are other life forms out in the universe or are the only living things here on Earth. After a few years that curiosity changed to finding out if there were other new worlds out there. In the very beginning there was just Earth, the Moon, and the Sun. Not knowing of the other planets until Sir William Herschel discovered Uranus in 1781 (Truelove). Uranus is one of the three planets that require a good telescope in order to find, the other five planets such as Venus and Mars were in plain sight to the human eye. Sometimes if you look towards the sun but more towards the right you can see Venus. Of course you see Venus as a star instead of a full blown wonderful planet but it is still visible to the human eye. Exploring space has given scientists knowledge that they didn’t have before including the technology of cameras. If exploring space can give us knowledge towards cleaner water, cleaner air, and safer transportation than think of what exploring the oceans on Earth could give us.

Space travelling costs and equipment needed

Before sending astronauts out on a manned mission into space scientists needed to investigate how the conditions in space would affect human health (Setlow). Most people say how continuing space exploration is a waste of thousands of dollars because we know more about space and more about the weather change on Jupiter than we do on Earth or in Earth’s oceans. Manned missions into space are far more dangerous than people think. Scientists have to conduct tons of studies to enhance the suits humans would wear to keep them alive. Other studies would consist of sending remote controlled robotic vehicles to planets to see what is needed to enter that planet’s atmosphere safely with little to no damage. So far, NASA has had six successful Mars landers named Viking I, Viking II, Pathfinder, MER Spirit and Opportunity, and Phoenix (Herath). With these landings being robotic remote controlled vehicles they are significantly lighter than a spacecraft carrying astronauts along with their supplies and the fuel for the whole trip. In order to have a manned trip to Mars, scientists would have to balance the space craft’s weight in order for it to make a safe landing on Mars with little to no damage. Space crafts take a lot of money and technology to make and it costs a little more for the fuel to get the spacecraft around.

Time needed to explore space

Space travel takes a long time to get around the solar system. Just the journey from Earth to Mars takes between one hundred and fifty to three hundred days depending on the speed of the launch and the alignment of the planets (Cain). The first spacecraft ever to make the journey from Earth to Mars was NASA’s Mariner Four, which launched on November 28, 1964 and arrived at Mars on July 14, 1965 (Cain). This trip was only one hundred and thirty one day journey. It takes a long time to travel from planet to planet just exploring it and analyzing what is found. It can take centuries to even take a glance at a hand held rock from Pluto. Not only does it take a long time to travel to other planets, it also takes a long time and a ton of tests to get the right working equipment to make the journey. There have been a few tests where space rockets would be shot up out of Earth’s atmosphere that ended badly either with the engines giving out or the rocket just flipping around and going straight towards the ground. During these times, the main goal was to get to the moon to get close up pictures and samples for study. Most people thought there would be aliens on the moon or Martians. The first manned mission to make it to the moon was a space craft called Apollo Eleven in July 1969, which is the time Neil Armstrong became the first man to walk on the moon.

Exploring the Ocean and What We Learned

The debate for exploring Earth’s oceans has been going on for half a century (Strauss). About ninety percent of Earth’s oceans are unexplored (Roach). For all mankind knows there could be a whole new species colonized in the depths of the oceans. Many people, mostly Japanese origin, believe that there is a Leviathan deep in the ocean. The Leviathan is even mentioned in parts of “the Bible” as being a huge creature that feeds off of radiation. A few movies have even been made off of this belief called Godzilla. So far we have learned that the deeper you go into the ocean’s depths add more and more pressure onto the deep sea craft which can cause it to get dents or even collapse. If somebody were to die in the ocean and float to the bottom, their bones would be crushed more and more the deeper they fell due to increasing pressure amounts on their body. Deep sea exploration began in the nineteenth century when ships were still powered completely under sail (Hermione). Thin ropes with a lead weight at the bottom were dropped into the ocean to estimate the depth of the water (Hermione). These days we can get a satellite scan of the ocean and people who study the oceans and land would be able to look at the scans and provide an accurate estimate of the depth of specific different parts of the ocean.

Equipment needed to explore the ocean

Today’s technology allows us to explore the ocean more and more every day. To explore Earth’s oceans, the explorer would need a deep sea craft. These deep sea crafts are mostly known as human occupied vehicles that would carry scientists to the deep sea to see for their own eyes what is there. One of these crafts is called Pisces IV, along with their fellow Pisces V, that is a three person battery powered submersible vehicle (NOAA). Pisces IV and V have a maximum operating depth of 6,500 feet under the ocean’s surface. Each submersible craft weighs thirteen tons and has a payload of two hundred pounds, being seven feet in diameter and made of HY one hundred steel (NOAA). There are also the remotely operated submersible vehicles that scientists and remote control from land. These remotely operated submersible vehicles can swim more freely and cover a larger area than the human occupied ones. A lot of technology and equipment were used to make these deep sea crafts in order to get them to withstand the constant build of pressure without being crushed or without seriously injuring the scientists inside of them.

Time needed to explore Earth’s oceans

Considering how there isn’t much data on Earth’s oceans besides the essentials of what is around to one thousand feet below the surface, it would take a few years to explore every inch of Earth’s oceans. Even after Earth’s oceans are entirely explored other species could pop up that weren’t there before due to either inbreeding or un-hatched eggs that were well hidden the first time around. It will take almost as long as it took to explore space. Taking samples, doing experiments, and even just exploring Earth’s oceans would most likely take less time than it would to explore every inch of space. The farther you go from Earth, the longer you travel. Here on Earth we can explore the oceans with several manned teams or unmanned teams and get most of the oceans explored possibly within ten years. It took centuries to explore space and know what we know now. Imagine the technology we can improve with the knowledge we get from exploring Earth’s oceans. Scientists could find out how to make almost everything including submarines that can dive deep into the ocean for exploration. The further you go down into the ocean’s depths the more pressure is pushed onto the deep sea exploration vessel which could cause the vessel to break apart and take in gallons of water at a time causing the vessel to sink deeper and possibly end up killing everybody on board. Although Scientists have the technology to remote control the vessel from the land far above I believe the study could be more efficient and take a shorter amount of time then it took to get space shuttles safe and exploring.

What we don’t know about the Ocean

There are a lot of unanswered questions about the Ocean. What is down there just out of mankind’s grasp? There could be dinosaur fossils that haven’t been discovered due to being so far down. There could be a whole new species lurking in the dark and looking up wondering what is beyond all the darkness in the abyss. The ocean is a big place and so is space but we know more about what is happening on Pluto and Saturn than our very own open waters. We can learn so much if we took the time to explore Earth’s oceans.

The ocean is a big place, as is space, but we know more about what is happening on Pluto and Saturn than in our very own open waters

What we can learn about Earth’s open waters if we took the time to explore them

Conclusion Paragraph

With a little hard work, dedication, and maybe even a few years of devotion Scientists and many other people could explore Earth’s oceans and find out the truth of what is beyond. What is hiding down in the depths of the ocean as you fly over it or even sail over it? The only way to find out is to explore it and either see for your own eyes or see what others have seen through videos and documentaries. There are a lot of videos made dedicated to the depths of the sea but they don’t go far enough. These videos just go as far as maybe two thousand feet below the surface, but what is down there in the dark abyss is a mystery to everybody. It could be a Leviathan, a colony of mermaids, or even just a bunch of lost treasure that has been dropped off of boats. There certainly would be a lot of shipping crates as they fall of constantly during each trip. This is why Earth’s oceans should be explored. To quench the curiosity and solve the mystery of the deep dark abyss we are all sitting above.