Space Exploration: Should It Should Be Funded By The Government

Space exploration is a highly debated topic on whether or not it should be funded by the government. Currently, the United States spends $19.3 billion on space exploration out of its $3.95 trillion budget. Many people argue that the money needs to be spent on other issues like health care and help for the impoverished. Space exploration is an important field that the US government needs to focus on and fund because these endeavors can provide a national space defense, push us towards the future of science and technology, and create new economic opportunities for businesses to take advantage of. The use of space exploration could be used to better protect ourselves from any attack by having more satellites in space to view the rest of the
The ISS (International Space Station) is a foundation for many different experiments to happen that include private companies and not just governments. The United States is thinking about cutting the funding or reducing the funding greatly for the ISS. This is a major problem, because as The Verge states, “Losing the ISS would be a major loss to the commercial space industry, which has come to rely on the station to test out new technologies.” The ISS is home to many different experiments, like “Bigelow Aerospace, which builds inflatable space habitats, has been testing out a prototype of one of its modules on the space station for nearly two years now”, and it is of course home to NASA who “has also used the station to learn more about how long-duration space flight affects the human body, key information that will be needed when people make the lengthy journey to Mars.” The ISS is a hub of activity and innovation, which helps the United States excel in the field of space exploration. Without the ISS, our space programs will be surpassed by many countries. The Verge also makes a valid point that “Without the ISS, American astronauts could be grounded on Earth for years with no destination in space until NASA develops new vehicles for its deep space travel plans.” There will be a long time before we can
Space.com does a great job of explaining how the field of space exploration boosts our economy. They reveal that “Jobs are where much of the space budget is spent - on salaries that in turn generate a market for other goods and services - as well as returning funds to the government through taxation.” The market for rocket parts, for people to assemble satellites, for people to manage all kinds of different sectors of the ever-growing space market is what can and is boosting our economy. We cannot cut funding for space exploration as it will result in many lost jobs and will actually harm our economy instead of the intention of helping us. Another point Space.com made was relating back to new, never before discovered land and how similar it is to the new, undiscovered opportunities in space. They mention that “exploration and discovery almost always lead the transformation of seemingly uninhabitable places into engines of enterprise, commerce, and sustainable growth.” New places have a blank slate, allowing us to make it into something