In recent times, NASA has been funding the International Space Station by funding private missions through private companies like SpaceX and Boeing, as well as making deals with Russia. Other than the space station, they also launch the occasional weather satellite or telescope. But they haven’t done anything exciting, until now. The space administration will launch the most powerful rocket to the moon called the Space Launch System. I think that the United States should invest more money in space exploration because, if Humanity doesn’t leave Earth, humanity is doomed to extinction, there are valuable resources on other planets and we could make lots of money from them, and because space travel is good for the earth’s economy.
Missions like NASA’s Apollo and Artemis missions have and will give us very valuable knowledge on how to live on other worlds. If NASA gets more funding for programs like these it will allow for more research for these extra-terrestrial habitats. According to sciencedirect.com “A 100 km sized asteroid impact may transform the Earth into an inhospitable planet, thus causing the extinction of many life forms including the human species.” Having a self-sustaining colony on the Moon or on Mars would allow for humanity to continue existence even if the earth is destroyed or becomes uninhabitable. Having a self-sustaining colony on another planet would also make it so that we could research new technology in different environments in regards to climate and agriculture.
The United States currently has a national debt of over 30 trillion dollars, and many think that its time we start paying it off. One way of paying this off, is off-earth mining. According to cnet.com “Scientists just calculated that one of two metallic asteroids floating in Earth’s vicinity may contain precious metals worth about $11.65 trillion. The expensive nugget, in fact, could boast more iron, nickel and cobalt than the entirety of our global metal reserves.”. That figure is only one of the two asteroids, so if we were to find another metallic asteroid of comparable size, and develop a cost effective program for bringing this metal to Earth, then we could easily pay off the debt. This would also allow us to become metal-independent from foreign mines.
In politics, there is a lot of talk about the economy and manufacturing. Little do they know that if they increased the funding for NASA not only would we have better scientists and engineers, but it would also boost domestic manufacturing and high paying jobs. According to NASA “Space exploration thus supports innovation and economic prosperity by stimulating advances in science and technology, as well as motivating the global scientific and technological workforce, thus enlarging the sphere of human economic activity.”. During the heyday of space exploration in the 1960s almost all of the American space related industry was in the south, and many people moved there so that they could get a job in that industry and be evolved in the booming space industry. Today, the south is the poorest region in the country, and more jobs in the space sector would help that.
Some say that we should not invest in space exploration because there are still problems on Earth that can be solved with this money and people shouldn’t try to escape Earth. I believe that those people are incorrect because this money is still being used to benefit humanity, like weather, infrared, and moisture-reading satellites used by farmers to help get better crop yields, especially in third-world countries. As well as things that were invented or pioneered in space like; artificial limbs, scratch resistant lenses, insulin pumps, firefighting equipment, Dustbusters, LASIK, shock absorbers, solar cells, water filtration, better tires, wireless headsets, adjustable smoke detectors, invisible braces, freeze dried food, camera phones, CAT scans, baby formula, Lifeshears, grooved pavement, air purifier, memory foam, workout machines, home insulation, portable computers, and athletic shoes.
If the U.S. invests more money into space exploration, then our economy will improve, we can make enormous quantities of money, we can drive innovation, and save humanity.
