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The idea of mining an asteroid may seem outlandish, but the potential rewards of mining an asteroid are enough to make this a reality. Platinum and other rare earth metals are hard to come by elements on earth. On asteroids, however, resources like platinum are much more common. Many asteroids are far away from us, located in the asteroid belt. Regardless, many other asteroids are reliably and cheaply in reach of our spacecraft, called near-earth asteroids. It is also necessary to consider the impacts of asteroid mining on metal prices. By making these rare metals accessible, the prices of those metals will become cheap. That alone will provide an incentive for space exploration and benefit everyone (Economist).
Sending humans to Mars and space is very challenging, having many hurdles to overcome. For instance, weight is a big problem when transporting things to outer space, often requiring large amounts of fuel to send small objects into space. Another concern is time. Due to the distance of bodies in space, it takes a long time for spacecraft to arrive at their destinations. It is also important to consider other issues such as landing and going back to earth. However, these issues are being overcome. To get to Mars faster, we can use the Hoffman Transfer, which is the most fuel-efficient way to travel between the two planets. This cuts down on weight while being quite fast as well, only taking 259 days to reach Mars. Overall, although there are many challenges with reaching space, we can overcome them if we spend time on money on research (James).
Space exploration has, and will, set off a period of innovation we haven't seen before. At our current rate of technological progress, we have been able to miniaturize our space probes, and it has never been as easy to launch them. We have also seen extensive cooperation with the international community, allowing researchers and entrepreneurs to drive innovation. Currently, reusable rocketry has been the focus of innovation. Reusable rockets will have greater efficiency and cheaper costs than non-reusable rockets, allowing for greater access to space. With this innovation, we may see people being taken to space, high-speed planes, and even our first human journey to Mars (Whiteside).
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