Speleology meteorology and cartography to develop portraits of caves as complex, evolving systems. Prior to the mid-nineteenth century the scientific value of caves was considered only in its contribution to other branches of science, and cave studies were considered part of the larger disciplines of geography, geology or archaeology. Very little cave-specific study was undertaken prior to the work of Édouard-Alfred Martel (1859–1938), the 'father of modern speleology', who through his extensive and well-publicised cave explorations introduced in France the concept of speleology as a distinct area of study. In 1895 Martel founded the Société de Spéléologie, the first organization devoted
Future of space exploration that will serve as the premier observatory of the next decade. It will study the phases of the Universe, providing detailed information on the formation of solar systems and the evolution of space. The future possibilities for deep space exploration are currently held back by a set of technical, practical, astronomical, and human limitations, which define the future of manned and unmanned space exploration. As of 2017, the farthest any man-made probe has traveled is the current NASA mission Voyager 1, currently about 13 billion miles (21 billion km), or 19.5 light hours away from the Earth, while the nearest