• Question: Why make satellites and not go to the moon or other planets? I know it takes years to train but wouldn't it be fun?

    Asked by Alexthepurplemonkey to Stephen, Hannah on 2 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Hannah Currivan

      Hannah Currivan answered on 2 Mar 2019:

      It would be cool to go back to the Moon and to visit other planets in our solar system!!! But training is not really the main issue, it is the cost. Money for missions done by the European Space Agency and NASA are funded by the public, and if it is deemed not necessary to risk a persons life for the mission, we decide on using satellites and robots such as the rovers on Mars to carryout the work for us. Satellites are great, we have many that just observe the Earth for weather and climate change, and also for telecommunications such as WiFi, and GPS so we don’t get lost. Also some of the amazing images we see of our universe are from satellites such as the Hubble Space Telescope which orbits Earth. We also have satellites that visit the gas giants Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune, and currently there is a satellite heading to Mercury called BepiColumbo. All of these satellites have and will be making amazing discoveries. There are also the satellites Voyager 1 and 2 which are currently the only probes to have actually reached interstellar space, which is just amazing!!! But NASA does plan to return to the Moon, but this time to build an outpost there for further exploration of our solar system, and then hopefully one day a person will step foot on Mars!!!! But I agree it would be fun 🙂

    • Photo: Stephen O'Connor

      Stephen O'Connor answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      Good question! Hannah has covered many of the main points but I will try to add a little more.
      Typically satellites are used instead of humans for a number of reasons: 1. If something goes wrong for a satellite, then the satellite is lost and we can no longer get any data from it. If something goes wrong for a human then they may lose their life, which is a very serious thing. 2. The environmental conditions of space, and on other worlds are very different to what humans are used to on Earth. Extremes of temperature, pressure and radiation are extremely harmful to human bodies, and even if we wear our best designed space suits, we can not survive in these conditions for very long. Satellites can be built from suitably chosen materials that can withstand these conditions for much longer. 3. It takes a long time to travel to the moon or other planets. Humans need things such as water, oxygen, food, medical equipment, toilets, and the list goes on, just to survive. As far as we know, many planets and moons in the Solar System don’t have these basic necessities. That means we would have to bring them with us which is quite a challenge!
      The European Space Agency wants to return to the moon and build a moon base there. Check out this video if you are interested: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqsJGzdcPP0

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