We will never figure out dark matter and dark energy sitting here on our high gravity planet.  Imagine trying to measure a single molecule while standing in a massive rushing river.  That is, we will never figure out 70% to 98% of what the universe is made of and how it works while sitting here in the gravity of earth which is within the gravity of the sun, which is within the gravity of the Milky Way Galaxy…all of which is in the presence of dark matter and dark energy which we know almost nothing about except that it has gravity. 

Seventy percent to 98% of the universe is currently unknown to us, which is the reason it is called dark matter and dark energy.  The only things we know about it is that it is out there and distributed around the universe, and we can estimate its relative part of the universe by comparison to estimates of the mass of the known universe (and we don’t know what we do not know nor the total extent of the universe).  Those simplistic data are only possible because we can sometimes see how its gravity effects stars and galaxies.  Until we understand how gravity and dark matter/dark energy works, as a practical matter, humans will not be venturing beyond Mars except vicariously. 

THE reason for humans to go into space is to study gravity and finally achieve a “unified field theory.”  Einstein called it the “unified field theory,” an integrated theory of electromagnetism, light and gravity.  Even in space, it will not be possible to achieve a background independent of gravity, which would be very convenient for experiments, but studying the differential between experiments in earth-bound gravity versus experiments in near-earth gravity in space should be sufficient. 

Maybe someone from one of the billions of inhabited planets will come here again and explain gravity to us again, by walking through a door between two folds of space-time.  These ancient wise men who were viewed as gods, pharaohs and such, they had to understand gravity.  How else were carved rocks the size of shipping containers moved around and placed with millimeter precision into pyramids and buildings in Egypt, Mexico, Peru, and Bolivia in perfect alignment with the eventual location of stars and galaxies 10,000 years in the future and thousands of years before telescopes and trigonometry are supposed to be known to humans? But I would not advise extraterrestrials to come at the present time.  Ignorance is running viral now.   Fearful, stupid humans would try to kill these extra-terrestrials, and humans may have done that before, perhaps many times, and perhaps the extraterrestrials sought retribution by causing natural calamities on earth such as great floods and splitting of continents to form oceans, and ice ages.  Killing them would be worse than stupid of us.  But stupid is one of the most reliable human characteristics.  

Maybe those good teachers in tunics who already knew astronomy, trig, construction, mapping, and gravity and were wandering around Egypt, Peru, Antarctica, Bolivia, China etc 2,000 to 15,000 years ago were looking for a civilization that was ready and capable of learning.