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Hey there, Welcome to Life Noggin.
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Space travel has given us a lot more than just some pretty pictures of Mars and a few footprints on the moon.
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It's taught us so much about the universe, shifted our perspective and changed how we live here on Earth.
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But what if we never traveled to space?
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You may not realize it but there's a lot of things we use in our day to day lives that might not be around if we hadn't ventured out into the unknown.
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There's one set of pretty basic space tech that we definitely take for granted here on Earth.
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Satellites.
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The area surrounding Earth is full of satellites from various space agencies like NASA, JAXA and the ESA.
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These under-appreciated heroes give us GPS navigation, more detailed storm warnings and cosmic weather forecasts.
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GPS relies on real-time satellite data that streams down to GPS receivers.
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No satellites, no GPS.
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Imagine having to use maps to get around!
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Maps, real maps!
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No thank you.
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In a world without satellites, a lot of extreme storms like hurricanes and tornadoes wouldn't be forecast at all!
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They'd just come out of nowhere, taking unsuspecting lives and causing more damage to unprepared areas.
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Without satellites, we wouldn't be ready for geomagnetic storms either.
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These are when radiation from the sun hurdles towards Earth threatening our global electrical power systems.
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Satellites send storm warnings to Earth, allowing the electric power industry to prepare and avoid massive outages.
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In just 3 years, these warnings are estimated to have saved about $450 million.
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If we never sent those satellites up there, you'd be in for a lot of candlelit, no-wifi nights.
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Without advances made in the space industry, air travel would be more time-consuming and more expensive too.
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NASA created the backbone of modern air traffic control, and without it, you'd better believe it'd take us even longer to get up into the sky.
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Plus, NASA engineers figured out that turning the tips of the plane wings upward reduces drag, saving airlines billions in fuel costs Without these advances, saving billions in fuel costs.
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We can also thank space travel for countless breakthroughs in the field of medicine.
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JPL, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, played a lead role in developing the digital imaging technology that's now used for CAT scans and radiography!
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So many illnesses and broken bones would go undiagnosed without this tech!
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You know that memory foam mattress you sleep on?
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You got that thanks to NASA's advances in space travel!
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Wireless headphones?
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NASA.
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Tech to ensure clean drinking water?
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ESA.
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Safe land mine removal?
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ESA & NASA.
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Futuristic self-driving tractors?
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NASA.
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Space travel obviously hasn't just given us these life-changing inventions.
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It's taught us so much about space, like that the universe is expanding, that it's 14 billion years old, and about what it looked like 10 billion years ago.
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It's taught us so much about our planet too, like the long-term implications of global warming, changing ocean and weather patterns, and our atmosphere.
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Space travel has done even more than all that.
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It's changed our perspective of our planet, our universe and for many of us, our perspective on life itself.
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Space travel feeds the curiosity of so many of us stuck here on Earth.
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Making us question what else is out there, are we alone and if not, when will we meet them?
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Space travel is crazy expensive and whether or not it's worth the money is heavily debated.
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Do you think it's worth it?
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Let us know in the comments.