Space Exploration: Is it worth the cost?
By: Hannah Riley
We love our earth and we like to find out all the things about the place we are living on, but we also want to find out about the place our planet is living in, which is space! But the question we ask and wonder is it worth the cost? So let’s explore all the objects and things that we do to find out about space, the information that we can find so us humans can do other things in space! But why should we use our money on space when there are other things we can do?
First how do we explore Space? We use many things to explore space. We have humans that go up into space by rocket; Neil Armstrong was the first to walk on the moon in 1969. Humans go to space to learn and find out how to keep humans alive in space. They do experiments to see if we are able to live on other planets, for example Mars. To find out if we can be in space and are able to live and still have oxygen, water, food, etc. We use telescopes to see things far away, to be able to see things in different ways. One of the greatest telescopes is the Hubble which was launched in 1990. The Hubble orbits around earth, and it gives us a great view of our universe compared to telescopes grounded on earth. It is so amazing the Hubble can even peer through gases to take pictures. And lastly we also use space probes which are like robots that can go to places that are too far for humans to go and they are able to even take pictures for us! For example the Mars rover its job is to look for signs of past water on mars. The mars rover has many tools and it takes samples of the rocks, soils, and minerals to help identify the clues to the past activity of water on mars.
Second why spend all our money on space when we can spend it on other things? Space exploration costs loads and loads of money! But why use our money when we can use it for other things on earth like medicines, research into new drugs that can save lives, hospitals, and medical insurance. We need the money for research to make medicines that can cure diseases, even cancer. We need hospitals for people and insurance because some people do not have enough money to pay for their medicine. For example some children in Africa need shots to keep them safe from diseases like malaria. Education, many kids and adults are not educated which is very important because people need to learn about the world, and people need education to get jobs. So why spend our money on space when say astronauts might be going to space but then the space rocket explodes! we just wasted a whole lot of money! Nasa budget is $17.7 billion dollars! WOW! But then comparing it to national science which $8.0 billion you can see that the national science is low. But also the department of Education's budget is $79.1 billion! So as we can see space is still very important but the budget for education my much higher!
We need money for our renewable resources, we are lucky that we are able to have renewable resources, for example solar panels, but again it costs money to have them. We need money for natural disasters, for when terrible things happen to a country and we need money to help build places again, and help the people who have lost the things that have been destroyed. For example in Japan when they had the earthquake and tsunami, many people died, and things were destroyed. Lastly we need money for world hunger, for example the people in Africa do not have enough food and they do not have the money for it.
Third what are the good benefits to space exploration? The benefits are that we want to find out more about space, the place where our planet earth lives in, we want to be able to do the things in space that we do here on earth. Today astronauts go up into space and they do experiments for example farming plants, and animal reproduction. . Also one of the good things that we are able to do in space already is, we are able to recycle our waste for drinking water! They have plants to see how they will grow in the different changes of being in a space ship. Soon we know that because the earth will be polluted and many other things for (example natural disasters) we cannot live there anymore, and will have to find another place in space to live! So experimenting with plants is good because they do not only help us with food but they also give us oxygen to breathe and water to drink. They test fish to see what the changes are to reproducing in their natural habitats and the difference in space. We are trying to explore and make a miniature ecosystem out of people, plants, microbes, and machines because these are the things that can support space travelers. These are some of the benefits to why we should use the costs in exploring space.
In Conclusion I think space exploration is still very important it is worth the cost. But other problems we have on earth are also just as important, or more. So yes space exploration is important, but others are just as equal!
Bibliography:
"Leafy Green Astronauts." - NASA Science. Web. 09 Apr. 2012.
http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/
"Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Science." Mars Exploration Rover Mission: Home. Web. 09 Apr. 2012.
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