Is Space Exploration Worth The Cost: Pros and Cons

A controversial topic questioned by many, is space exploration worth the cost?  ‘Space exploration is a force of nature unto itself that no other force in society can rival’ quoted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. No matter how much humanity fight to save our planet, it is inevitable with the rates of global warming that our earth will stand the test of time. Exploring space could in turn save humanity. Our earth is overpopulated. In 1985, the demand for resources on earth to live comfortably exceeded its supply and with the growing population and increase of life expectancy, this is an increasingly concerning issue. We’re using up all the natural resources earth has to offer and polluting our planet at an incredible rate which means Earth will no longer be habitable for future generations. Without space exploration there would be no more life on earth as we know it, so exploring space is crucial.

NASA states around every 10,000 years there’s a possibility an asteroid as big as a football field will collide into our planet which could cause tidal waves that could wipe out entire coastal areas. These aren’t the ones we should fear, it’s the ones that could cause fire dust that would block out the sun. These would result in forests, farms, and all starving and perish if it didn’t cause complete mass destruction and wipe out mankind entirely. Nasa is constantly on the lookout for asteroids or near-earth objects entering unsafe vicinity, to earth. By exploring space, they can divert these near-earth objects to deter any catastrophic incidents. Scientists are working on answers and plans on how to deter such objects from reaching the earth. NASA’s latest project (DART) designed a spaceship that has been sent to collect information and collide with an asteroid to see how it would deter it from smashing into the earth by either diverting or breaking it into smaller parts that wouldn’t cause as much damage to the earth. Without this research due to space exploration earth will eventually one day cease to exist.

Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost?

Space exploration has made improvements in modern-day health care. Medical research data studied in space has shown scientists how cells respond to treatment much better to here on earth without factors such as gravity. ‘When you take human cells to space, the way they make hormones, enzymes, proteins, express genes it all changes. it is these changes that allow scientists novel insights on how our bodies function, both normally and during disease.’ Researched and published by James D Thomas cardiovascular scientist. Curing cancer is one of the biggest aims today; by studying cancer cells in space, they are eliminating gravity and understanding how cancer cells behave inside the human body, and understanding how different medicine and treatment affects cancer cells. Advancements in cancer research are recently encouraging thanks to space exploration. Modern-day medicine and research would not be as advanced in finding cures and treatments on diseases and conditions that affect many of us if not for space exploration.

Space exploration is important to climate change. It shows us how climate change is affecting our earth over the past two decades satellite images have shown us how much damage we have caused to our atmosphere and have collected vast amounts of data which shows us how climate change has rapidly increased more than we ever expected. ‘More than 65 million deaths from January 2000 through December 2016’ was caused by wildfires as researched by Yuming Guo of the School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, Monash University in Melbourne. Future information from space satellites will be able to determine and minimize the risk of future fires and how we can avoid or reduce the cost of life and land. Measuring the atmosphere’s temperature, UV radiation, and the ozone layer will give scientists a better understanding on what to expect and how we can reduce implications and possibly prevent this concern from escalating.

Natural resources have been almost depleted on earth; this is not new news. Over 83 billion tons of resources have been extracted from the earth this year. We are draining our planet at a worryingly increasing rate. Two-thirds of this are used for private consumption such as food, housing, cars, and transport. ‘We will only have enough oil for the next 42.1 years if we keep going at this rate.’ Advertised by BP. This is worrying as oil is used in everyday life. Phosphorus is needed for the growth of food; this is due to run out in 50-100 years if we don’t find a new element to use. Space exploration has shown us that the moon, other planets, and asteroids are rich in resources that were running low on. The moon alone boasts many materials and minerals including iron basalt, quartz, and silicon which are all common building resources we could have on earth. This will be the answer to mankind’s problems but without space exploration, we will have no alternatives.

Despite this, some may argue that space exploration is simply too costly and too risky. Exploring space is costly, according to the university of Florida launching a space shuttle costs $500 million, and many argue that these costs should be better spent elsewhere. Dr. Dorothy Reynolds Baltimore quoted ‘don’t like them taking money away from little children who need food and having it shot to the moon’. It is evident that sending anything into space will have a risk. The recent tragedy of the Columbia astronauts is an example of how dangerous it is also for returning astronauts that are exposed to higher levels of radiation.

My Conclusion on This Question

I conclude Space exploration’s pros far outweigh the cons. ‘The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn’t have a space program, and if we become extinct because we don’t have a space program it will serve us right’ boldly stated by author Larry Niven. From finding and using resources in space to prolong life on earth and to limiting damage control from our own greed and exploitation of our earth.