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Humans have the curiosity to explore as much as they can since the time they are born. From the neighbourhood woods to oceans to the highest peaks in the world, humans have explored everything they could on earth. The next venture for us is space, and there are many questions about it. Space is different from the waters and peaks as it is not a part of earth’s atmosphere where human life exists.

When we first started exploring the seas, we knew there would be several failed attempts before we could finally be able to explore the entire oceans. Many unsinkable ships had to sink before we could finally achieve a steady voyage on the waters. The same goes for your exploration in the space. There are many hurdles in front of us today that we will discuss below. It may seem like a dangerous and impossible mission for now, but it is surely not stopping us from trying.

Gravity costs money

If an object needs to leave the earth’s atmosphere, it needs a speed exceeding 25,000 mph. Making a rocket to do so costs over $200 million (Mars curiosity rover), which is a tenth of the entire mission budget. Today SpaceX is able to save more with the help of reusable flights which is making the rocket launches much for convenient to the team.

Space

Ships are still very slow

Travelling through space is easier, with no air to cause friction. The ride can be much smoother, and nothing can slow us down. But considering the rocket mass, it takes a lot of force to move it. The rockets can carry only a limited amount of fuel and considering the journey to the moons of Jupiter, and the rocket will run out of gas pretty soon. It can take 5-7 years for an empty rocket to travel to Jupiter. Researchers are working on new radical methods in rocket science, but for now, it is only available in the form of designs.

Space debris is a minefield

minefield

Another major problem that is stopping us from constantly exploring outer space is the space debris created by us. The US space network keeps an eye on 17,000 objects all the time. This space debris made of dead satellites is revolving alongside earth at the speed of 17,500 mph. At this speed, even a small metal piece is enough to eradicate our rockets. We do have layers of metal and kevlar on our rockets today to protect against the bitsy pieces, but an entire satellite is equal to a live mine. While mission control helps to avoid dangerous paths at the time of rocket launch, the tracking is still not perfect. There is always a risk of collision, and the more collisions we face, the more debris we will leave up there, making our task even more difficult.