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on October 11， 1492， Italian onavigator Christopher Columbus led 87 sailors drifting in the Atlantic Ocean. After more than two months， they finally found the New World. And over 500 years， the human spacecraft for the first time arrived in the“New World”in the solar system-the Kuiper Belt composed of tens of thousands of frozen celestial bodies. Human’s curiosity and exploration of the unknown world， has never stopped.
Just recently， the pace of human exploration of space has made another step forward. On July 14 this year， for the first time the New Horizons spacecraft revealed the mysterious veil of the Pluto in the Kuiper Belt. The distant object of the outer solar system， which was an ambiguous dot seen from the telescope in the past， has become the“Meng Wang Xing”in people’s minds. On July 23， the Kepler space telescope announced the discovery of the exoplanet that has so far been the most similar one to Earth-Kepler-452b. This star located in the distant habitable zone of the planet is called“Earth’s cousin”and even led to the imagination about extraterrestrial life. Also in July， China’s own construction of the world's largest single-aperture radio telescope- Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope （referred FAST） began paving the reflecting surface panel. It is going to become another“giant eye”for human’s space exploration.
On one hand， more and more citizens began to focus on the starry sky above us； on the other hand， some people are puzzled...“There are so many starving children on the earth， why spend billions of US dollars to explore Mars？”Early in 1970， someone wrote and questioned over NASA. At that time， Ernst Stuhlinger， scientist of Mars exploration program at NASA offered the following response： Space flight is a challenging career. Voyage leading to Mars does not provide food and directly solve the problem of famine. However， a large number of new technologies and new methods created by it can be applied to projects in spite of Mars， which will generate revenue several times of the original cost.
The charm of space exploration is firstly towards the unknown world. Curiosity is the source of innovation. The vast universe and the magnificent starry sky make human curiosity fully released. The exploration of the universe significantly expanded the boundaries of human cognition， hence promoted the development of basic science， pushing the human knowledge， ability， technology to constantly make new progress. It is a major driving force of the progress of human civilization. After nearly half a century， some people are still puzzled， our health care， education， housing and other livelihood projects require a lot of money， why China should explore space？ In fact， even if we stopped the project， we cannot meet these livelihood needs immediately. As long as a country has a view far enough， it will have a bright future. The world’s space powers have explored almost all types of celestial bodies in the solar system， while we are still catching up. Space exploration is a common cause of the whole mankind， and this undertaking relates to the destiny of all the human beings； it relates to the future of our country and people.
Since ancient times， China has had flying dreams like the legend of Chang E and Wan Hu. Many national leaders have raised hopes in space exploration undertakings. Chairman Xi Jinping also pointed out： the development of the aerospace industry and the construction of space power is our unswerving pursuit of the dream of space flight. Our Earth is not only facing enormous pressure on resources and environment， but is also in the danger of large astronomical disasters like small celestial collision， super solar storm， the reverse of Earth’s magnetic poles. Only when humans are fully prepared， actively looking for another home， and striving to enhance the ability of space survival， can we be able to live and produce offspring on the earth or other planets， hence avoid tragedy like the once super-dominant dinosaurs.
Perhaps， when the future space technology is highly developed， and the interplanetary transportation costs dropped significantly， the current Moon， Mars， Europa， Titan will be various“islands” in the solar system for human settlement， and the Earth will be the home shared by all the people on these islands.
Just recently， the pace of human exploration of space has made another step forward. On July 14 this year， for the first time the New Horizons spacecraft revealed the mysterious veil of the Pluto in the Kuiper Belt. The distant object of the outer solar system， which was an ambiguous dot seen from the telescope in the past， has become the“Meng Wang Xing”in people’s minds. On July 23， the Kepler space telescope announced the discovery of the exoplanet that has so far been the most similar one to Earth-Kepler-452b. This star located in the distant habitable zone of the planet is called“Earth’s cousin”and even led to the imagination about extraterrestrial life. Also in July， China’s own construction of the world's largest single-aperture radio telescope- Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope （referred FAST） began paving the reflecting surface panel. It is going to become another“giant eye”for human’s space exploration.
On one hand， more and more citizens began to focus on the starry sky above us； on the other hand， some people are puzzled...“There are so many starving children on the earth， why spend billions of US dollars to explore Mars？”Early in 1970， someone wrote and questioned over NASA. At that time， Ernst Stuhlinger， scientist of Mars exploration program at NASA offered the following response： Space flight is a challenging career. Voyage leading to Mars does not provide food and directly solve the problem of famine. However， a large number of new technologies and new methods created by it can be applied to projects in spite of Mars， which will generate revenue several times of the original cost.
The charm of space exploration is firstly towards the unknown world. Curiosity is the source of innovation. The vast universe and the magnificent starry sky make human curiosity fully released. The exploration of the universe significantly expanded the boundaries of human cognition， hence promoted the development of basic science， pushing the human knowledge， ability， technology to constantly make new progress. It is a major driving force of the progress of human civilization. After nearly half a century， some people are still puzzled， our health care， education， housing and other livelihood projects require a lot of money， why China should explore space？ In fact， even if we stopped the project， we cannot meet these livelihood needs immediately. As long as a country has a view far enough， it will have a bright future. The world’s space powers have explored almost all types of celestial bodies in the solar system， while we are still catching up. Space exploration is a common cause of the whole mankind， and this undertaking relates to the destiny of all the human beings； it relates to the future of our country and people.
Since ancient times， China has had flying dreams like the legend of Chang E and Wan Hu. Many national leaders have raised hopes in space exploration undertakings. Chairman Xi Jinping also pointed out： the development of the aerospace industry and the construction of space power is our unswerving pursuit of the dream of space flight. Our Earth is not only facing enormous pressure on resources and environment， but is also in the danger of large astronomical disasters like small celestial collision， super solar storm， the reverse of Earth’s magnetic poles. Only when humans are fully prepared， actively looking for another home， and striving to enhance the ability of space survival， can we be able to live and produce offspring on the earth or other planets， hence avoid tragedy like the once super-dominant dinosaurs.
Perhaps， when the future space technology is highly developed， and the interplanetary transportation costs dropped significantly， the current Moon， Mars， Europa， Titan will be various“islands” in the solar system for human settlement， and the Earth will be the home shared by all the people on these islands.