Virginia Tech researcher calls for end to human space exploration

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impact 1:24 Virginia Tech researcher calls for end to human space exploration

By:

Andrew G Adkins

7 Sep 2024 249

Savannah Mandel has conducted research at Spaceport America and in the federal government, and worked in the commercial space industry. She's given talks at NASA. Now she's published a book titled "Ground Control: An Argument for the End of Human Space Exploration."

An outer space anthropologist, Mandel is also pursuing a Ph.D. in science and technology studies at Virginia Tech. Learn why she believes it's time to stop sending humans to space.

The Cosmos. Here we come. We've met Before. We will walk on Mars. We will build colonies on Mars Mars We will conquer the entire Okay, stop. Let's think about this first. I'm Savannah Mandel. I am an author and anthropologist currently finishing my PhD in science and technology studies. I have a book coming out this year and called ground Control, an argument for the end of human space exploration. I am a proponent of unmanned space exploration, so sending rovers and probes out. But primarily this book argues why socially, economically, and politically, there are repercussions to human space exploration. It does so based on my own experiences as an anthropologist conducting field work at space for America and working for the commercial space flight. There are a lot of questions to ask. How will resources gained from space mining be moderated and managed and will there be furthered wealth disparities? What is this impact that human space exploration is having ethically and how does that affect people left behind on earth?