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Brian Borgia

Ms. Caruso

UWRT 1103

November 11, 2017

Defense Paper: Space Exploration

Space Exploration seems to be a topic that many people either have an incredibly strong opinion

on, or do not care about at all. There are millions of people around that world that wish to see what is

beyond our blue planet Earth and venture through the cosmos, finding things that no one has ever found

before. There are other people, however, that look at space and see nothing but emptiness and wasted

effort. The United States own space program, NASA, has been taking budget cuts for years. NASAs

plans to send astronauts to Mars was delayed until 2030 and the Space Shuttle budget was cut to pay for

education programs in the United States. NASAs focus over the years has effectively been shifted away

from space exploration and planetary science programs in favor of global warming [1]. In 2016, President

Obama proposed an additional $18.5 billion for NASA to set NASA firmly on the journey to Mars.

NASA currently believes that they can create the capabilities needed to send someone to an asteroid by

the year 2025 and then to Mars in the 2030s [2].

There are an immense amount of people who do not know the benefits that would come with

exploring a planet such as Mars. Mars is one of the richest destinations for scientific discovery and

exploration. The formation and evolution of Mars are very comparable to Earth and it could provide

insights about Earths history and future. Exploration of Mars could also uncover evidence of life on the

red planet which could be the greatest discovery of mankind [2]. My goal is to get people interested in

wanting to travel to Mars. To make this happen I will create a travel brochure that will make people want

to take a vacation to the beautiful vacation spot of Mars. Travel brochures are used all around the world to

promote vacations, cruises, and tourist attractions. Mine will have a satirical take on travel brochures that
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would take place in a world after we have made it to Mars and created a livable environment on it,

probably by using pykrete to create structures that are sustainable in the climate [7]. The brochure would

be placed in travel agencies and road stops all over the world. After researching strategies for advertising

I realized that location is one of the most important things about getting the word out. If I wanted to get

the attention of space-interested tourists it would not make sense for me to go advertise my space trip at a

restaurant or a home improvement store because that would end up being a waste of money in a realistic

situation [3]. The brochure would be targeted at adventurers and tourists alike and would be very casual

about all of the outrageous prices that certain attractions would cost. I included pictures of Mars itself and

some pictures created by NASA that depict what walking on Mars would be like and what the food would

look like. The brochure also advertises attractions such as taking a picture with the Mars Rover, hiking

up Olympus Mons, a shield volcano that is about two and a half times as tall as Mount Everest, and

renting a Mars buggy, which is just a Moon buggy converted for usage on Mars. I am using realistic

prices for these things such as the cost of an actual buggy on the planet or how much it costs for the rover

to take a picture. I also want to make it seem like it would be somewhat of an enjoyable experience so I

am trying to sell the idea to people despite the high price ranges by including things like the food that can

be found on this trip and some extra inclusive things such as luxury cabins [4]. I am doing this to bring

awareness of the massive cost of exploring space and bring up how much funding we should focus on

space in order to make things like this a reality.

As stated earlier, the focus of this product is to interest people in space exploration and travelling

to planets like Mars. I want this product to become a reality in the future that will allow people to see the

greatness of outer space and discover amazing things. If enough people want something and speak up

about it, they can make a change. With enough interest, more money can be put into space exploration

and the earlier we can make this travel brochure a reality.

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New Sources:

[1] Follett, Andrew. "Congress Slashes Funding For NASAs Global Warming Research." The Daily

Caller. Accessed April 04, 2017. http://dailycaller.com/2017/02/20/congress-slashes-funding-for-

nasas-global-warming-research/.

[2] Granath, Bob. "NASA Budget Unveiled for Fiscal Year 2016." NASA. March 11, 2015. Accessed

April 04, 2017. https://www.nasa.gov/content/reach-for-new-heights-nasa-budget-unveiled-for-

fiscal-year-2016.

[3] Smale, Thomas. "The 6 Best Advertising Strategies For Small Business." Entrepreneur. April 20,

2016. Accessed April 04, 2017. https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/273913.

[4] Dunbar, Brian. "Food for Space Flight." NASA. Accessed April 11, 2017.

https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/postsecondary/features/F_Food_for_Space_Flight.ht

ml.

Original Sources:

[5]Staff, Wired. "The 12 Greatest Challenges for Space Exploration." Wired. February 16, 2016. Accessed

February 21, 2017. https://www.wired.com/2016/02/space-is-cold-vast-and-deadly-humans-will-

explore-it-anyway/.
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[6] Rhodes, Margaret. "NASA Digs This Idea for Robots to Build Igloos on Mars." Wired. October 01,

2015. Accessed February 21, 2017. https://www.wired.com/2015/10/nasa-digs-idea-robots-build-

igloos-mars/.

[7] "What is Pykrete?" Discovery. October 07, 2014. Accessed February 21, 2017.

http://www.discovery.com/tv-shows/mythbusters/about-this-show/what-is-pykrete/.

[8] De Selding, Peter B. "SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9: What are the real cost savings for customers?"

SpaceNews.com. April 25, 2016. Accessed February 21, 2017. http://spacenews.com/spacexs-

reusable-falcon-9-what-are-the-real-cost-savings-for-customers/.

[9] Editor, Tariq Malik Space.com Managing. "SpaceX Dragon Delivers NASA Cargo to Space Station

After 24-Hour Delay." Space.com. Accessed February 23, 2017. http://www.space.com/35807-

spacex-dragon-delivers-nasa-cargo-late.html.

[10] Clara Moskowitz, SPACE.com Assistant Managing Editor. "No More NASA Space Shuttles: What's

Next For US Spaceflight?" Space.com. Accessed February 23, 2017.

http://www.space.com/12387-nasa-american-spaceflight-future-plans.html.

[11] "SpaceX faces a more crowded rocket launch market, even when it returns to flight." Los Angeles

Times. Accessed February 23, 2017. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-spacex-competitors-

20160914-snap-story.html.

[12] "The Human Body in Space." NASA. March 30, 2016. Accessed February 23, 2017.
https://www.nasa.gov/hrp/bodyinspace.