h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

But what next for space exploration? What will our own 'one giant leap for mankind' moment be?

I think we need to do some serious research into faster than lightspeed travel. Otherwise, we are never going to get off this rock! Once we can travel a bit quick, then the Universe is open to us.

Does thinking about space exploration fire your imagination or does it leave you cold, a 'waste of money'?

Fires my imagination, definitely. I have a novel plotline and characters all about it. I'll let you know when I get it published.

Do you think we'll get to Mars and if so, when? Also, what's the point of going? Indeed, is there any point to space travel at all?

We need to explore space. Not only is it, in a very well known phrase "the final frontier", but if humanity is going to survive, then we need to get some of the people off this rock and onto another one. Mars would be good, as it is reachable from earth, but I fancy being a settler on a further trip. Of course, by the time all this comes to fruition, I shall be old and grey and probably dead!

Just how likely is it that we'll replicate the spirit of the American frontiersmen and really go for it with a super long-haul journey to say, Alpha Centuri?

Until we develop faster than light travel, then it is not going to happen!

Suspending disbelief for a minute, if members of the public were asked, could you imagine yourself volunteering for a long-haul space project, a one-way ticket only job, never to return?

Yup. They would need someone to do the bookkeeping, and I am dab hand at gardening as well!!

Would it be ethically wrong for a couple to give birth on a one-way space journey, therefore condemning the new-born to never seeing Earth again?

Not to my mind, no.

Do you think we'll be going to the Moon more often in the near future and perhaps staying there, mining its minerals? Might territorial wars be fought over the Moon in the way it's been suggested we might scrap for mineral rights in the Arctic?

Oh yes, most definitely. While we are working on that faster than light drive, perhaps we should also try and work on not picking fights with people.

Is space exploration actually a pre-cursor to a time in the future when we actually have to begin vacating the Earth having exhausted all of its resources?

For me, yes. Ideally we could hold onto Earth as well, but the way we are using resources at the moment, I think we will leave this place as an empty shell and need to find somewhere else. Shame isn't it?

Also, I never realised how influenced I have been by Star Trek!!