Colonising Space/Intro

Some people wonder what is the point of heading off into space when we have a wonderful planet to live on that provides all of our needs, and rather usefully has an atmosphere that we can breathe...

The immediate answer is survival. At the moment we have all our eggs in one basket here on Earth (see risks to humanity) and if nothing else it will be an insurance policy for our species (and other life). It is also the next great step for life inhabiting a new environment and spreading itself ever wider - something it has been doing for the past 3.7 billion years.

The resources in space in terms of energy, material and places to live are effectively unlimited which will allow our civilisation to constantly expand while taking the burden off the Earth. Apart from anything colonising space will be a massive adventure, and we can't really pretend otherwise...

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