Look to history to confirm: human beings are explorers. Curiosity about what lies beyond the horizon is written into countless tales from the past, and the future will be no different. Space has been a lifelong passion of mine, and thanks to innovation and advancements in technology, we are now able to see and understand the cosmos like never before.

One of the most famous photographs ever released by NASA is the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field (HUDF), an image containing more than 10,000 individual galaxies dating back ~13 billion years. Initially, 10,000 may sound like a lot, but to put the vastness of space into perspective, if an individual standing on Earth were to hold up a penny to the sky with an outstretched arm, the 10,000 galaxies in the image would fit within the area of Abe Lincoln’s eye! Yep, space is big. To further blow our minds, Astronomers and Astrophysicists collectively agree that one of the galaxies in the image is so large that based on our current understanding of physics, it technically shouldn’t exist. What does that tell us?! That we still have a lot to learn about the laws of the universe! Two things I know for certain: someday in the future, a brilliant person will reconcile these mysteries of space with the fundamental laws of the universe, and unfortunately, that person will not be me.

With help from SpaceX, NASA will soon launch the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) to identify exoplanets orbiting stars in our galactic neighborhood by monitoring temporary dips in a star’s brightness caused by planetary transits. In 2020, Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), will launch and settle into deep orbit at a distance 4x farther from Earth than the Moon. Its mission purpose, among other things, is to take a more detailed look at identified exoplanets by studying their atmospheric makeup in a search for the known building blocks of life. The JWST is an impressive feat of engineering and is many years in the making. The visual images it is expected to produce should trump anything produced by Hubble in terms of detail and beauty, but that is simply the product of 30 years of technological advancement. That said, even the JWST likely won’t be able to conclusively identify life outside of our solar system simply by studying the atmospheric makeup of exoplanets, and we’ll never be able to physically travel to any leading ‘Earth twin’ candidates without figuring out how to distort spacetime because… yep, space is big. For the foreseeable future, space travel via some form of propulsion is our best option, and everything else remains science fiction. I believe that the first definitive evidence of life outside of Earth will come from identifying a non-natural object in space that was not built by humans.

An appropriate lead-in. Let’s pause for a moment to talk sci-fi in real-life. Last year I backed a Kickstarter project called ‘The most mysterious star in the Galaxy’ to help fund telescope time for Astronomers studying star KIC 8462852 (better known as Tabby’s Star). Tabby’s Star was, and still is, experiencing irregular dips in its brightness indicating that a non-planetary object is transiting the star. The size of previously observed dips (blocking up to 20% of the star’s brightness) led some Astronomers (and wannabe Astronomers such as myself) to believe that a large artificial object – cue the hypothetical Dyson Sphere – was orbiting the star to harness its energy for use by a Kardashev Scale Type II civilization. Recent observations which studied dips in real time suggest the dips are not the same depth at all wavelengths, meaning whatever is blocking the light is not opaque. Experts took this information and ruled out the possibility of an artificial structure, though there is still no consensus on what is actually causing the irregular dips in brightness. I haven’t given up hope that something special is happening around Tabby’s Star, and think it is unreasonable to assume we would have any understanding of technology built by a civilization that could have the resources to construct something to this scale. I’m not saying it’s aliens… but it might be aliens!

OK – back to reality. Closer to home, remarkable companies such as SpaceX, Blue Origin, Orbital Sciences, Virgin Galactic, and the lesser known non-profit organization Space for Humanity plan to offer different types of space tourism opportunities, including orbital, suborbital, and lunar space experiences. The front page of the Space for Humanity website says “Granting the Gift of Perspective.” That statement strongly resonates with me, because I believe that perspective is one of the most important things a person can learn. Perspective has multiple definitions, and while a ride on Space for Humanity’s ‘Worldwide Space Vehicle’ will grant ordinary citizens the unforgettable perspective of both the curvature of our globe and vastness of space, it will do far more than that. Perspective is also an attitude, it’s a point of view, and it’s a deeper understanding of the world around us. A ride into space will be about showing people what is possible, and what the future of space tourism will look like. It is proof of what is to come, and the opportunity to get a first-hand look at how small we are in our little part of the universe.

Space truly is the final frontier, and in the future, it can have the unique ability to unite humanity as one. Regardless of race, gender, nationality, religion, or political affiliation, we are all citizens of the world. As we continue to develop our technology over the coming years and decades, we will become a multi-planet species, and how society reacts to this inevitability depends on what we do now as pioneers for the push into space.

To all my fellow space enthusiasts… Godspeed!