A realistic and desirable human destination would produce a different space program than what we have today.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe reach for new heights and reveal the unknown for the benefit of humankind.\u201d This is NASA\u2019s Vision Statement. This is NASA\u2019s reason for being, its purpose<\/a>. This is a vision statement for science and knowledge. This vision statement was crafted in a solar system that has only one planet that is environmentally friendly to human life.<\/p>\n Thanks to the ongoing search for exoplanets, we\u2019ve identified several planets<\/a> in our galaxy that are Earth sized and in their star\u2019s habitable zone. Based on statistics, potentially billions<\/a> more are waiting to be found. We are just now developing the technology to detect them. But we\u2019re nowhere near having the technology needed to get to visit them. They are simply too far away.<\/p>\n Now here is where I\u2019d like to pose a what if question: What if there was another habitable planet just like Earth, right here in our own solar system? What would Earth\u2019s space programs look like, if anyone with a good telescope could look up and see another world with oceans, and continents, and clouds, and green forests? I think that it is safe to say that space programs in this imaginary solar system would be vastly different than ours today. This is conjecture, but it seems likely that the vision statement above, would be more in line with making that new world available for humanity.<\/p>\n Of course the key difference between our present reality and this imaginary scenario is the existence of an obviously desirable destination relatively close by to Earth. This lack of obviously desirable destinations has shaped space programs into the form we see them today. The science oriented form described in the current NASA vision statement is a good example.<\/p>\n It has been said that leadership begins with a vision<\/a>. To be compelling, a vision describes a desirable end state to be obtained. In the case of the fictional scenario with another Earth like planet in the solar system, that leadership vision might include making it possible for people to move freely to this new world.<\/p>\n As an analogy, in the mid 1800\u2019s, the transcontinental vision<\/a> (paraphrased) was to secure the U.S. position on the Pacific through a speedy and direct means of travel from one coast to the other. That vision did not include establishing and building the city of San Francisco! The prior existence of San Francisco, enabled the vision of a transcontinental railroad.<\/p>\n