Why do humans explore space?

0? 2? 0? Two days ago, three astronauts, Nie Haisheng, Zhang and Wang Yaping, completed a series of space test missions in Tiangong 1 and successfully returned to the ground, which indicates that China's manned space flight will enter a new stage of building a space laboratory and space station, and push China from a space power to a space power. During this flight, Wang Yaping and others had a vivid space class at Tiangong 1, which aroused the strong interest of Chinese people, especially teenagers, in space exploration, and also triggered a heated discussion on "Why do people visit space in person?". First of all, because the earth where human beings live is only an asteroid in the vast universe, at present, human beings have the same understanding of space as children playing with sand on the beach have of the sea. Human's thirst for knowledge in space will be the eternal power of space exploration. Undoubtedly, only through space exploration can mankind finally answer philosophical questions that have puzzled mankind for a long time, such as "Where did the universe come from" and "How did mankind come into being". Secondly, the purpose of space exploration is to better protect and develop the earth. At present, the earth is facing severe challenges such as climate warming, ecological destruction, energy depletion and the possibility of asteroids hitting the earth, which forces us to consider whether human beings need to emigrate to other planets in the future. It seems unrealistic to emigrate the whole human race now, even if only a few people emigrate. Therefore, to make human society develop continuously, the only way is to solve the problems of ecological protection and sustainable utilization of energy on the earth, develop and utilize space resources, and continuously improve human life. At present, great achievements have been made in communication, navigation, remote sensing and other information fields by using the high position in space, and dawn has also appeared in the development of material resources and energy. Finally, in the process of human space exploration, we will also abandon the concept of "man can conquer nature" centered on human beings and strive to protect the ecology of space in order to achieve the ultimate goal of "harmony between man and nature". Since human beings' own entry into space vividly embodies the pursuit of breaking through the earth's restrictions, manned space flight has been recognized as a distinct embodiment of comprehensive national strength from the beginning, which triggered a 30-year space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. Facts have proved that successful manned space activities will greatly enhance national prestige and stimulate national pride and cohesion, but the cold war mentality of such a big country also leads to the low cost-effectiveness ratio of manned space activities, which is difficult to sustain development. At present, the world space activities have begun to enter a major transition period. In addition to enhancing national prestige, space activities in various countries pay more attention to practical results and strive to maximize the comprehensive political, economic and scientific benefits of space development. To this end, all countries are focusing on the development of space launch technology and satellite technology applications, actively developing manned space technology and moon, asteroid and Mars exploration technology, and beginning to explore the possibility of using space solar energy. From the historical facts of manned space flight, people's fine observation and operation ability, timely response ability to abnormal events, and creative judgment, analysis and decision-making ability make manned flight not only improve the reliability of spacecraft operation, but also improve the efficiency of space operation and maintenance. But people who go into space in person always have to take great risks and pay a high price. Therefore, all tasks that can be completed without human participation should be completed by unmanned spacecraft, and only those tasks that must be completed by people should be completed by astronauts. The combination of man and automation system (robot) will be the only way for future space exploration. This is not only to save money, but also to cherish the life of astronauts. The high cost of space transportation and spacecraft has become the bottleneck of large-scale utilization of space resources. In the case of tight funds, on the one hand, the world's space powers are vigorously carrying out technological innovation, on the other hand, they have begun to combine state behavior with market economy. The United States is vigorously supporting private enterprises to develop near-earth orbit, and has achieved initial results in technological innovation and cost reduction. Looking forward to the future, space powers will continue to regard space as the commanding height of comprehensive national strength competition, but on the basis of focusing on improving the international competitiveness of their own space industries, countries have begun to strengthen international cooperation in the civil space field in order to save investment, accelerate development and reduce risks. Space exploration is the common cause of mankind, and international cooperation is bound to be the general trend. Now, out of prejudice, western countries have blocked China's space technology to varying degrees. I believe that with the improvement of China's space capability, we will definitely break through this resistance. As far as space exploration is concerned, mankind has only taken the first step of the long March, and as far as the objectives and methods of exploration are concerned, space exploration will never end. Huang Zhicheng, Beijing Institute of Systems Engineering.