Perhaps I'm narrow minded, I know I'm definitely ignorant to the missions objectives and goals but, REALLY???!!! As much as I enjoy watching shows about space exploration and such, I just wish the same amount of effort was being done to save / help our planet as there is being done to reach outer space simply to make it just another frontier for the worlds rich folks to explore, pollute and play in. All the while making one rich guy even more rich.
just my opinion. I don't expect anybody to actually agree!
Think of it this way in 1975 the worlds POP was 4,079,087,198
In 2017 the world POP was 7,550,262,101, nearly doubled.
On average it take 1.5 acres to feed one person for one year. ( Plants and Cattle )
According to the University of Texas:
"The total land surface area of Earth is about 57,308,738 square miles, of which about 33% is desert and about 24% is mountainous. Subtracting this uninhabitable 57% (32,665,981 mi2) from the total land area leaves 24,642,757 square miles or 15.77 billion acres of habitable land."
That's 2.088 ( in 75' it was 3.86) acres of land per person. And as long as we crave procreation, that number just keeps getting smaller and smaller.
So how many years before we outgrow the resources we use to survive. On average, population growth is 1.23% per year. That's right around another 50 years and the acre per person number will have shrunk below sustainable averages.
Save our planet?...............................I cannot speak the words that WILL save our planet for fear of being labeled a Heretic.
But here's a fitting tombstone epitaph for the old gal "Here lies planet Earth, Screwed herself to death"
Have a nice day.