Matt Giwer wrote:

The buzz phrase 'exploration of space' has been around for so long it isn't questioned.

Well, it's shorthand for "exploring that part of the Universe which is
not the Earth." Which is to say, exploring the vast majority of
everything which exists.

The reason I find the notion that (barring extinction in the fairly
near future) our species _won't_ explore or colonize "space" to be
ridiculous is that it is equivalent to saying that our species will
remain stuck on Just One Planet, forever, despite an increasing ability
to venture beyond. This is also why I think that whichever culture or
cultures of our species succeed in colonizing other worlds will expand
to a degree that will render the stay-behind cultures numerically
insignicant. And this is (probably) China's long-term objective in
advancing her space program: China remembers what happened the _last_
time China chickened out on long-range expansion, in the 15th century.

In the old
days would could be first in a category to explore an island or even a continent.

??? What does this sentence mean, in normal English syntax?

The only category
of interest to this discussion is European. Obviously at one time the first indian arrivals did but
we have no records. Exploring the moon or Mars has a meaning in this sense. Exploring the ocean is a
search for land undiscovered by a category, again European.

Exploring space will confirm it is a whole lot of nothing if that needs confirmation.

Well, mostly yes (what we perceive today as "vacuum" may have hidden
structures in the physics sense). But it's generally understood that
when someone talks of "space exploration" or "space colonization" they
mean the objects, not the space ...


So do you know of any private projects to explore the moon? Mars?

Moon: Artemis Society, and Burt Rutan (commercial Lunar shuttles is
his announced long-term goal).

Mars: I'm not sure, though I know that Zubrin has extensively studied
the problems involved.

Keep in mind that Mars is two orders of magnitude more distant from the
Earth than is Luna: this is why there is a lot more actual preparation
going on for Lunar exploration and colonization projects than there is
for Martian ones, even though Mars is far more habitable and probably
far more interesting than is Luna. Assuming a transportation
infrastructure in place (as there certainly will be within a
quarter-century, maybe less) a Lunar colony in trouble could receive
the necessary replacement parts, supplies, personnel etc. in a matter
of days to weeks; a Mars colony in similar straits would have to wait
months to years for rescue to arrive. This means that we need to
develop our long-term life support capabilities much more to
successfully colonize Mars than we need to colonize Luna, even though
Mars is actually the more habitable world.

Sincerely Yours,
Jordan