Space: exploration and exploitation in a modern society

Curiosity about the Earth, the planets and stars has been the driving force behind human progress since prehistoric times. Today, the exploration of the universe beyond the confines of our home planet remains one of the most inspiring, exciting and fruitful areas of scientific research. Many studies require sending spacecraft into space, mostly unmanned, although humans first reached the Moon 40 years ago and may go to Mars in the future. One of the main advantages of investigating the universe from space is that the details of far-off galaxies, as well as events marking the birth, evolution and death of stars, can be seen unhampered by the blurring effects of the atmosphere, and at wavelengths of light not easily accessible from the ground. Increasingly, scientists and engineers are developing advanced space probes, with robotic components that can operate autonomously, to explore the extraordinarily diverse planets and moons of our solar system.

As well as gazing at the cosmos, many space missions are designed to look back at the Earth, to study its rich complexity and the effects of humans on the terrestrial environment. Satellite services is one of the fastest-growing areas of advanced technology. It is now hard to imagine modern life without satellite communications - for entertainment, information, security and environmental monitoring.

Basic science, Earth observation and the application of technology in everyday life continue to benefit hugely from space exploration. As governments and space agencies plan ever more technically challenging missions to survey the universe, going back to its birth, and even to search for signs of life on planets around other stars, the resulting technologies developed will find use on Earth, in sectors as diverse as health and transport. One day we may even be able to utilise the natural resources, such as water and fuels that are found on other solar-system bodies, as our own supplies dwindle.