In the wake of the exoplanets discovery, NASA has decided to fund two Space Technology Research Institutes (STRIs) to help prepare humanity to colonize other parts of the universe. A $30 million funding has been released to support multidisciplinary research program to develop technology that could support life outside the solar system in the next five years. Experts like Elon Musk and Stephen Hawking support the idea of space colonization, agreeing that humanity must venture to live outside of our planet.
These Space Technology Research Institutes (STRIs) will each get $15 million in NASA funding to start developing technologies in biomaterials and biomanufacturing. Prestigious science universities will lead multidisciplinary research programs in hopes of obtaining credible outcomes in the next five years. The research is focused on expanding our species into space, and in finding applications beyond that.
One of NASA's STRIs, the Center for Utilization of Biological Engineering in Space (CUBES), will focus on incorporating microbes into food, fuel, materials, and pharmaceuticals. This research is intended to make space travel easier and more comfortable by providing materials for astronauts to become more self-sustained. The other STRIs is the Institute for Ultra-Strong Composites by Computational Design (US-COMP), which focuses on the development of lightweight and super strong aerospace materials with carbon-nanotube technology, the Futurism reports.
Compelling reasons to support NASA's plan to start space colonization have been given by Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla CEO, and legendary physicist, Stephen Hawking. Musk believes that an extinction event is inevitable, and Stephen Hawking agrees, saying that we only have 1000 years left on the Earth, and setting up colonies elsewhere in the universe is the only chance of survival. According to Madison.com, the American space agency has also been gearing up to put a more powerful telescope into orbit which will analyze refractions in TRAPPIST-1's light, and determine whether any of the new exoplanets possess atmospheric gases that indicate life-sustaining conditions.
