The Issue Of The Benefits Of Space Exploration

Space exploration is an interesting topic because it has led to many discoveries and technological breakthroughs. Even with this in mind, the relevancy of space exploration is questioned because of some negative effects of space exploration. Lots of governments and people do not see the importance of space exploration, many governments do not have official space programs and a lot of the countries that do have space programs do not secure proper funding, thus these programs achieve very little. This all boils down to the question, is space exploration beneficial?

While space exploration does come with a lot of benefits, it has some drawbacks. For example, the cost of space exploration is obviously very high. While NASA was actively launching space shuttles from 1981-2011, the space shuttle program launched 135 rockets and had a total cost of approximately $209 billion, about a $1.5 billion cost per launch. This is obviously extremely costly. Many people want the government to cut funding to NASA because they do not see the direct benefit, they want something to happen immediately, but space exploration and travel is a science that requires patience, the benefits usually are not instantaneous. Another reason people do not find space exploration to be beneficial is that it is not yet commercialized. This mean you cannot buy a ticket for a flight to the moon. Even though plans for commercialized space flight are being worked on, it likely will not be accessible to the average citizen for quite some time. There is a plethora of examples of taxpayers being upset when their tax money gets put towards something that does not directly affect them, why is space exploration any different? It is not relevant to your average person, so why should they be forced to fund it? Aside from the economic downsides of space exploration, it is also pretty horrible for the environment. When rockets launch and pass through the ozone layer, the fuel that they use is known as dirty fuel, it is made up of liquid oxygen, nitrogen tetroxide and nitric acid amongst other substances. These substances have an adverse reaction on the ozone layer, severely hurting it and causing large holes. Not only do these rockets hurt the ozone layer, but they also cause acid rain which is terrible for the environment, especially plant life. This acid rain ruins soils, even soil that does not even have plants yet. In turn, it even hurts the economy by hurting the production levels of farms, making for more of a demand for food. The only possible solution is nuclear powered rockets which are possibly even more dangerous if not handled well, more expensive and a long ways off from today’s technological levels.

Even with all these negatives from space exploration, there are lots of positives, such as technology. Tons of technology we use every day was created from or to assist space exploration. For example, phone cameras. In the 1990s NASA’s JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) was tasked with creating cameras that were small enough to take pictures at a scientific level. One third of all cameras today use that same technology. Without space exploration, we also would not have wireless headsets. NASA was forced to develop them so that astronauts could be hands free while communicating with one another. Lastly, we also would not have water purification. NASA developed a small water filtration system that can turn sweat, urine and respiration into clean drinking water. As controversial as space exploration is in regards to funding, the environment and relevancy, it is important to look at the benefits from all angles, including societal. Space exploration is fantastic for the society. The age of discovery is what the beginning of space exploration is known as. But the immediate impact of the Space Age is far more diverse than the ultimate discovery of life in space. In her new book Rocket Dreams: How the Space Age Shaped Our Vision of a World Beyond, Marina Benjamin argues that space exploration has shaped our worldviews in more ways than one. "The impact of seeing the Earth from space focused our energies on the home planet in unprecedented ways, dramatically affecting our relationship to the natural world and our appreciation of the greater community of mankind, and prompting a revolution in our understanding of the Earth as a living system," she wrote.

Exploring space has been a huge dream for mankind since the idea was conceived, and once we made it to the moon it was a huge accomplishment. Space travel also brings societies together. For example, the international space station. Crew members of different nations live together on the ISS for sometimes multiple years at a time, it builds a sense of comradery since the have to work together to keep the ISS afloat. They work, eat and have fun together, it brings together their different cultures and lifestyles.