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June 5, 2008; 6:30pm-9:00pm
Michaels at Shoreline, Mountain View
Each year, AIAA SF sponsors an essay contest for 7th and 8th graders. Now called the Ryan Essay Contest, in honor of AIAA SF former Precollege Outreach Director Juanita Ryan, the contest awards U.S. Savings Bonds of varying denominations to the winners in each grade. The theme for this year's contest was: If space is the answer, what is the question?
We received roughly 300 essays this year. We thank the following reviewers for their participation in judging: Prasad Vepa, Pallavi Shah, Prasad Gogineni, Corky Lakin, Krishna Ramuhalli, and Corey Ippolito. This year's awards were presented at the June 5 Honors and Awards Banquet. The winners are:
If space is the answer, what is the question? A broad topic deserves a broad question. To find that question, one would think about aspects of space.
Life! Space is the future of earth’s life, where one searches for other life, what life exists in. Every single aspect of life is linked to space in some way. Millions of stars exist, almost exactly a copy of our sun, promising us other life. A search on Google would show vast amounts of sources talking about the link between space and life. We’re currently shooting into space and living on another planet might be a probable thing.
Destruction grows near for our poor planet, Global warming and other disasters could strike it down with ease. Earth, out poor punching bag, can’t survive the baseball bat of pollution forever. Soon, we will either die or be forced out into space. Space seems to be the future of one’s life if earth dies, the future of everyone’s lives.
We see in space a large discovery, a great mystery, and a question waiting to be answered. For all the scientists, the astronauts, for anybody who wonders, space is waiting to be solved. As humans, we strive for knowledge, to understand the secrets life hides, and as those in earth lessen, the secrets in space increase. Life, to us, is finding secrets, and space contains millions more.
Life leads to space any way one sees it and space leads to life any way one sees it.
What is this world’s last hope? Our last hope is space. Global warming, terrorism, nuclear bombs, hunger, you name it- we need help! The earth’s future looks dark and dim. Space exploration is the tiny spark of hope in our otherwise dark destiny. If not, then why are countries all over the globe launching rockets and satellites into dangerous territory? No, it is not for fame and fortune, but for the fact that the world is getting too small for all our people and for all our different opinions. Not to mention that our food and water supplies are running out. Astronauts are venturing into space, searching for something new, a fresh idea to test. Telescopes are continuously searching the sky, seeking a habitable planet, the grand prize that mimics conditions on earth. Up in space, there may be another chance. There may be another alternative, something new to look forward to. Beyond the sky, there might be the small possibility that we could start over, to right our wrongs, to begin a new beginning. Space… may be our last hope.
If space is the answer, what is the question?
Where should I celebrate my 40th birthday? I want to go to a place that many people have not visited yet. The answer is space. In 2035 there would be luxurious space shuttles that would take me into space, and give me a small tour of earth by orbiting it. After that, I would land on the moon in a spaceport. With my luggage I would hail a taxi, and go to my hotel. After I check in I would go outside and rent this special car, which would take me onto different planets and different parts of the universe. I would take all my stuff with me, so when I stop at different planets, I would be able to stay over night in their hotels. I would accomplish my task of seeing the outer space in 20 days. This would happen with the super fast cars they are going to have in space. A vacation in space would be perfect, because there would be so much to see out there. My heart’s desire to see the beautiful outer space would be complete, thanks to the scientists of the year 2035. Because of them, tourism is going to be possible in outer space. They were able to come up with technology that gave each planet and moon its own atmosphere. This atmosphere would be exactly like earth’s so that humans could live on the planets. Because of these scientists and great tourism, I am going to be vacationing in space on my 40th birthday.
Where would you go if you had to leave Earth? The answer would be space. There are other planets in our solar system that we could probably live on such as Mars. As far as scientist believed, there use to be life on Mars. This would mean that it would be possible to live on Mars if we couldn't live on Earth anymore. Mars is similar to Earth in many ways.
One similarity is that a day on Mars is 24 hours and 37 minutes. Therefore, it is similar to Earth's 24 hours in a day. Another similarity is that Mars have four seasons like Earth with both the North and South poles being icy cold and the Equator being warmer. Mars is also the closest planet to Earth, which would mean that it would be easier to travel there than any other planets. The atmosphere on Mars is 95% carbon dioxide with small traces of oxygen. Although, this wouldn't be the ideal environment but there are ways around it. For instance, plants can be grown since carbon dioxide is what they use to convert the sun's energy into food. In return, the plants can produce oxygen for us to live.
In conclusion, we have to do more research about possible alternatives to life outside of Earth. This would mean that we would look at ways we can live on other planets such as Mars.
Man’s Greatest Frontier
“If space is the answer, than what is the question?”
The answer to this question, and ironically the question itself, is "What is man's greatest frontier?"
Cartographers may say that every crack and crevice on our planet has been explored. They’re certainly incorrect; much of the seabed hasn’t been explored. However, this falsity will defiantly become truth one day. But by that time, Earth won’t be the only place to explore. There will be colonists on Mars and tourists on the moon.
They will want maps, so cartographers will have to dig out those old scanning satellites and start mapping Mars and the moon. Humans will then move on to colonize Alpha Centauri, create gas mines on the gas planets, and put factories and warehouses on Mercury and Venus. The cartographers will also have to chart out those planets.
Humans might contact other intelligent life forms. We might fight or join together under an alliance, but one way or another, more planets will get discovered and populated. All of these planets will be plotted, but by the time ten of these planets are properly mapped, there will be another eleven to do.
Because the universe is so huge, Humans may not finish populating or mapping the entire universe by the time we die out. In other words, there will always be somewhere to explore, whether it’s another planet or a newborn star. Human curiosity will drive us to do so, and we will.
If space is the answer, what is the question?
I think the question is: Where can experiments that require little or no gravity be performed?
The answer would have to be space, far away from planets and stars, where the gravitational pull of any massive object is negligible. Space is the perfect place to do experiments in weightlessness. One example of these experiments is the shape of flames. On Earth, they have a teardrop shape, because a flame produces gases hotter than its surroundings. The gases float up and take some energy with them. But, in space, there is no gravity, so flames end up in spherical shapes which float around. Another experiment is flowers. In 1998, a small rose sent into space on a spaceship developed a completely new exotic scent, quite different than that on Earth.
The above experiments may seem silly now, but they might lead to great inventions that could improve human life. One needs only to look at the discovery of magnetism and its many uses. When magnets were first discovered, they seemed no more than fun and silly toys that stuck and repelled each other. But nowadays, magnets are used in motors, machines, trains and other useful gadgets. Experiments in space could lead to similar far-reaching applications in biology, medicine, manufacturing, cosmetics, etc. The spherical flames consume almost no fuel. If they could be replicated on Earth, they could be used in gas-saving engines that would really benefit the environment.
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