Let Robots Take to the Stars PDF

B Let Robots Take to NOTICE & NOTE As you read, use the side margins to make notes the Stars about the text. Argument by Eiren Caffall...

B Let Robots Take to NOTICE & NOTE As you read, use the side margins to make notes the Stars about the text. Argument by Eiren Caffall © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Paopano/Adobe Stock Should robots lead the journey to outer space? This writer says yes. ANALYZE ARGUMENT Annotate: In paragraph 1, mark the author’s central claim and mark the reasons the author will 1 T he lure of human space travel is undeniable. We’ve all grown up on endless types of entertainment set in the future that portray adventures on distant planets. Imagine use to support the claim. yourself as an astronaut, a part of the first manned mission to Interpret: What will the author’s Mars. Beyond that, there are generations of people who have argument be? How does the title been working to make space and space travel look cool, even of the selection help clarify the inevitable. But high aspirations and romance aside, we need author’s argument? to face the harsh realities. Our notions about the inevitability and wonder of human space travel need to be checked, and any plans need to be reconsidered. Some of the best reasons to curtail space exploration come down to economics, human cost, and technology. 286 UNIT 3 COLLABORATE & COMPARE  Space Travel Is Expensive Don’t forget to Notice & Note as you read the text. 2 Space travel is extremely expensive. To get humans to Mars, it would take $1 trillion over a 25-year period. Obviously, no single government would want to take on that kind of funding. A Mars mission would require international cooperation at a ANALYZE ARGUMENT significant cost to each partner nation. A Mars mission might Annotate: In paragraph 5, mark foster international cooperation, but it would consume funds an opposing viewpoint. that could be used for other things. Analyze: What are the author’s 3 Some people suggest that the only way to get to Mars would counterclaims to this viewpoint, as explained in paragraphs 5 and 6? be with the help of private companies. Because of this, the space exploration industry is made up not only of government agencies but also private companies headed by dreamers and people interested in profits over practicality. But these organizations are often badly managed. They don’t work for the government, so accountability could be a problem. Even well- run companies are unlikely to have enough money to launch a Mars mission on their own. There are some experts who say that it wouldn’t be possible to launch a mission to Mars without funding from commercials that would run during coverage of the project. That would turn a scientific mission into a reality television show. Would you want to trust a scientific mission to the people who run reality TV? Space Travel Could Harm Our Polluted World 4 The risks of space exploration could be grave for a planet already plagued by pollution. There is an extra result of space plague travel: black carbon from rocket exhaust that’s deposited in (pl∑g) v. To plague is to cause hardship or suffering. the outer atmosphere. The launch of a suborbital tourist craft is said to produce less carbon emissions than a standard flight from New York to London. However, once the rocket is above the atmosphere, the black carbon it releases can be pretty damaging. Try to imagine the black smoke from a diesel truck © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company sitting above the sky. With no weather to wash it into the oceans, black carbon can stay put for up to ten years. 5 Many space boosters are suggesting that being able to leave our planet once it’s exhausted of resources is a priority. They seem to be proposing that we have some sort of Planet B. Somehow they think that a colony on Mars or the moon could dubious take the pressure off our world. Many of these people planning (d◊´b∏-∂s) adj. If something is to profit from two things at once are also fans of the dubious dubious, it is questionable or not technology of geoengineering. to be relied upon. Let Robots Take to the Stars 287  NOTICE & NOTE 6 As covered earlier, the essential ingredients for space NUMBERS AND STATS exploration are international cooperation, vast investments of When you notice the use of money, technological advances, global regulations, and the buy- specific quantities or comparisons © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Purestock/Getty Images to depict amount, size, or scale, in of the general population. Yet those ingredients may well be you’ve found a Numbers and what’s needed to tackle the problem of Earth’s pollution. Stats signpost. Annotate: In paragraph 7, mark specific numbers that identify Space Travel Is More Suited to Robots amounts. 7 NASA recently collected data from the Mars Curiosity rover. Analyze: What purpose do these The data were used to estimate the radiation impact on an specific numbers serve? astronaut traveling to and from Mars for 365 days and spending 500 days on the surface. It was determined that during that trip an astronaut would get a radiation dose that was about five percent of what he or she would get over a lifetime on Earth. 8 That significantly increases the risk of cancer. There is also the danger of running low on supplies. Once on the Red Planet, humans would eventually run out of food and materials. A Massachusetts Institute of Technology study guessed that agriculture would make too much oxygen for the small colony 288 UNIT 3 COLLABORATE & COMPARE  to support inside its dome. Without enough carbon dioxide, the Don’t forget to colony would not be able to grow what it needed. Earth would Notice & Note as you read the text. constantly be sending supplies to the colonists. It’s obvious that without that resupply, there would be no hope of agriculture supporting a manned station on Mars. 9 Considering the extreme risks for humans, some scientists assert space exploration should be strictly robotic. Think about the achievements of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Mars Pathfinder and Opportunity. Their exploratory missions have captured the public imagination, and all of us love to see images from those robot explorers. When Opportunity landed safely on the surface of Mars, NASA’s Mission Control Center erupted in erupt as loud a cheer as greeted any human mission. (∆-r≠pt´) v. When something erupts, it develops suddenly. 10 There are scientists who say that robots can’t accomplish space travel as cheaply or efficiently as humans. But, as is ANALYZE RHETORICAL often the case, those ideas are based on data from the distant DEVICES history of space travel. As you might guess, the future of space Annotate: Mark an example of exploration presents a very different picture, one in which direct address in paragraph 10. robots will replace humans as the better pilots and researchers. Infer: Why does the author use direct address here? © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company Image Credits: ©Digital Vision/Getty Images Let Robots Take to the Stars 289  Space Travel Isn’t Inevitable or Even Necessary 11 There are many solid arguments against spending money, time, and energy on manned space exploration. There is no solid reason to think of space as the only hope of our bright technological future. There are as many ways to innovate as there are human ideas. Just because the idea of space travel has been with us for decades doesn’t mean that it’s the best way to direct our dreams. Let’s plot a course that doesn’t involve humans. Without space travel as the default idea for our future, what new ideas might lead to amazing discoveries and inventions? ESSENTIAL QUESTION: TURN AND TALK Is space exploration a Single out any point the writer makes that triggers a response daring adventure or a in you. Discuss this point with a partner. dangerous risk? Review your notes and add your thoughts to your Response Log. © Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company 290 UNIT 3 COLLABORATE & COMPARE