If we knew exactly what to expect throughout the Solar System, we would have no reason to explore it.
I have a hunch the most important reason we're going to space is not known now.
The purposiveness of all vital processes, the strategy of the genes and the power of the exploratory drive in animal and man, all seem to indicate that the pull of the future is as real as the pressure of the past.
Space exploration is a force of nature unto itself that no other force in society can rival.
I find the lure of the unknown irresistible.
You don't go into space just for the science. Economically, it is not worth it. I think the reason we should be in space is for the exploration; it's the human endeavour.
One of the things that made me persist in the Antarctic in the face of sickening discouragements was my determination to name a portion of the earth's surface after my father.
Typically, there's a drive in science to do something just to say you've done it.
