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Two conservation scientists published an editorial in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Today (September 13), calling for more space on Earth to be reserved for wildlife. But what does this mean for space exploration, and what does our story tell us in space about the wisdom of such an effort?
Exploration of space and the environmental movement have long been intertwined, the latter being galvanized by spatial images like the Blue Marble photo of the Apollo 17 crew and the pale blue image of the Voyager mission over 4 billion kilometers (6). billion kilometers) of our solar system.
Lisa Ruth Rand, historian of science, technology and the environment, currently a member of the American Historical Association and NASA, said there was no perception of the Earth as a single entity and certainly no context in space. the history of space, told Space.com. [Wild! Scientists Are Watching Baby Turtles from Space]
"It was revolutionary at the time," she said about feelings inspired by Blue Marble's image. "Not only are we alone in space in this hostile void, but we are all together," she said.
Now, the view of the Earth since the orbit has become commonplace, but the space continues to change the way we view the Earth. Over the past two decades, as exoplanet studies have developed, the connection has gained momentum as we identify more and more worlds around other stars. . It is true also at home, as we continue to learn about the worlds around us, we do not find life, ecosystems much less dynamic and more alive.
"It's a wonderland," Earth Space.com's John Rummel, a senior research scientist at the SETI Institute and former head of global protection at NASA, told Earth Space.com. "We did not know everything we were doing in the terrestrial biosphere and it is much more complex and incredibly interdependent than anything we are likely to see in this solar system."
Can we build a biosphere?
The new editorial calls for achieving the goals that governments around the world have already agreed at a conference in 2010, to protect at least 17% of land and 10% of ocean areas by 2020 14,7 and 3 , 6 percent, respectively.
But these targets may not be what we need to keep Earth's ecosystems functioning, some planetary scientists fear. "Now we are talking about a world of bioengineering, we are not talking about a planet, we are talking about a national park at the global level and it is no longer a biosphere", told Space, Nathalie Cabrol, astrobiologist at the SETI Institute. .com. "We will create an artificial bubble while we have a natural system that works very well."
Linking lands and seas to manage all the creatures around us is not so different from building the type of artificial biospheres that potential explorers have imagined for other planets and moons. Similarity could mean that space activities offer lessons for managing life on Earth – but these lessons may not be as encouraging as we would like.
"I think that to understand how to build an artificial biosphere and make it work, we will provide more information on how to continue this one," Rummel said. That said, there will be no easy solution. "Even at best, any biosphere we could build for centuries to come will be a shadow of what we have every day on Earth," he said. [NASA’s Best Earth-from-Space Photos by Astronauts (Gallery)]
And even without ever putting a brick or planting a seed in another world, humans have stepped into the world of biosphere construction. The most enthusiastic experience may have come in 1991, when a crew of eight people entered an installation called Biosphere 2 (Biosphere 1 being the Earth, of course) in the middle of the desert. # 39; Arizona.
The two-year experiment was supposed to be a miniature replica of the Earth with 3,800 species, but while the eight crew members survived, the experience was difficult. A member of the crew briefly left the biosphere for emergency medical care. Sweet potatoes grew so much better than most crops in the high carbon levels that the skin of the crew members took on a slight orange glow while eating a lot. A whopping 40% of the species that humans had transported with them disappeared.
"That did not go well for the majority of species – including humans – that lived there," Rand said. "In the end, there are many challenges to creating life in a microcosm elsewhere, even here."
She used the term "infernal" to describe life in the facility, invaded by invading ants and cockroaches, and devoid of cash that the crew wanted to keep. Bees, which are not known to humans who built the biosphere, were the first to disappear. They were found dead, clustered near an emergency exit, the only place where biosphere glass let in the ultraviolet light that bees used to navigate, Rand said.
"Even this seemingly very controlled experiment still had biodiversity problems," said Rand. It is a powerful lesson that the history of this type of effort can offer on the limits of our power to build ecosystems ourselves. "If we can take advantage of what already exists and work with nature instead of trying to recreate it elsewhere, we are much more likely to succeed," she said.
We can not run away from our problems
While space offers a new perspective on the Earth and its problems, space scientists have warned against the common view that other planets can offer refuge if the Earth becomes untenable for the Earth. human existence.
This is the wrong approach, according to some. "We will not fix any of the problems we have on Earth by going on Mars," Cabrol said. "If we are not able to understand our problems here on Earth," she said, "we will simply transfer this mentality to another planet." (Rand added that such projects would almost certainly perpetuate the same power relations and inequalities that have shaped earthly societies for millennia.) [The BFR: SpaceX’s Mars-Colonization Architecture in Images]
And flight is particularly risky, as life on another planet is likely to be dangerous in the foreseeable future. "Maybe Mars will give us an awareness of the beauty and preciousness of the Earth." Cabrol said. "We should not use planetary exploration as an escape."
This does not mean that there is no space that can help us solve our problems, Cabrol said. She said that one of the benefits of planetary exploration is that it poses new challenges in our path and requires us to solve them quickly, creatively and often at a distance. This is the kind of skill with obvious implications for life on a rapidly changing Earth.
And if we continue to lose biodiversity here on Earth, space exploration could disappear, said Rummel, as species losses spread through food webs and cause accelerated changes. "The very basis of economies and support systems on Earth that allow us to consider going elsewhere with robots and people is what is in danger." It highlights the multitude of ecosystem services we rely on without blinking, from insects that pollinate crops to plants that filter the air and soils that hold back rainwater.
The same is true for climate change, which is driving up temperatures and storms around the world. NASA satellites have spent the week watching Hurricane Florence and a host of other tropical storms that will kill and destroy the hurricane. Last year 's hurricanes, Irma and Harvey, damaged the Kennedy Space Center and shut down the Johnson Space Center.
But biodiversity loss and climate change are both massive, progressive and depressing – the kind of challenge humans hate to fight. "Innovation is sexy and fixing things that can already be repaired is not," Rand said. "Imagining trying to build something new in a new place is much more fun and glitzy."
But here the history of space exploration can offer a more productive state of mind, despite the temptation to turn to the next horizon and the next mission. NASA has a long track record of extending missions and reprogramming damaged telescopes or robots already at work. Perhaps these examples, combined with the nitty data and overall views that the agency offers on our planet, can teach us to adopt a culture of conservation.
Email Meghan Bartels at [email protected] or follow her @meghanbartels. follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook and Google+ Original article on Space.com.
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