Space travel can make life better for everyone, says Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield – Abbotsford News

“If you say that, you’re just not paying attention to anything more than the transient headlines,” he said. “But actually do the research, find out what’s actually going on and then look at how incredibly integrated your life is and reliant it is on space-based technologies and all of the spin-off technologies that come from from that. We just take them all for granted.” RELATED: LETTER: Billionaires’ space travel fosters new discoveries

Hadfield pointed to the recent extreme weather the Island and B.C. have seen, with flooding and snow, as one area space exploration has helped. Satellites are commonly used to predict weather patterns and storms and “save trillions of dollars a year,” Hadfield said, and expanding that technology will be important as climate change disrupts weather patterns. Canadians should be proud of the role the country has had in pushing forward space exploration, Hadfield said. Vancouver Islanders have been particularly involved, with Dr. Chris Willot and his colleagues at the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre in Saanich contributing extensively to the James Webb Space Telescope, while Langford-based Kennametal Inc. provided a drill bit for NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover, which is currently drilling into the planet’s core.

READ MORE: NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover using piece made right here on Vancouver Island The involvement of private businesses, not only in contributing to space exploration, but now leading it, is helping accelerate improvements in the technology, Hadfield said.

“We’re building a database understanding of our planet that we’ve never had in the past,” he added. “So it’s going to be extremely helpful, but also necessary in helping us make informed decisions as to how our choices on the surface affect those things. It’s a huge enabler.” “I think to say something’s unprecedented, that means you understand all of history, which I’ve never heard anybody who has said that word who does,” he said. “It’s easy to say, I’ve never seen something like this before. But the world’s been here four and a half billion years, which is an inconceivably huge number, so we don’t want to jump to conclusions. Whether I’m optimistic is kind of irrelevant. What matters is, am I informed?”

All these improvements are making it an exciting time for space fans, he said. “It’s democratizing it down for individual businesses, and even individuals to some degree, to now fly in space. We’re watching a pretty amazing transition of improving the reliability and simplicity of spaceflight.”

ALSO READ: 1st private moon flight passenger to invite creative guests “When I was born, no one had ever flown in space. This has all happened incredibly fast, less than my lifetime,” he said. “It’s happened incredibly quick and it’s accelerating. And what’s really accelerating it is our creativity and our innovation with technology.” READ MORE: Space telescope to explore earliest galaxies thanks to work of Greater Victoria scientists

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