I often hear from people that, ” Space exploration is not worth it especially when we have so many things to fix on our planet.” Well, the thing is, it doesn’t really cost that much. When you think about space exploration, what comes to your mind? Do you think of NASA and other groups dumping tons of money into expensive projects that don’t really affect your life? The truth is that space exploration does not cost nearly as much as people believe it does, and people living their everyday gain a lot of benefits from the research and innovation that happens due to space exploration.

Space exploration doesn’t cost nearly as much as you think it does. Some polls have said that people believe that as much as a fourth of the fiscal budget goes towards space research at NASA. However, the real cost is merely a fraction of that. For example, in 2020 the U.S. only allotted 0.3% of the fiscal budget to NASA. This was only 22 billion dollars of the 6.6 trillion total in the budget. Even though that seems like a lot it is just a small price to pay for the numerous technological and scientific discoveries we gain from space exploration.

Technology Derived from Space Exploration

Without knowing what technologies have been derived through space exploration most would think that we could be fine without them. However, we really couldn’t live our daily life the same if we didn’t have some of the technologies that came from space exploration.

One massive thing that is used by people every day is the Global Positioning System. We use GPS technology everyday through our phones and cars among many other things. Another technology that was derived from space research is the car crash safety technology. This originally came from the devices used separate space shuttles from their rocket boosters. Without these technologies and many others that come from space research that we use every day; life would simply not be the same.

Going back to the question of ” Why explore space when there are so many issues on Earth,” one thing that many fail to consider is that many of the discoveries made in space can help us combat many issues that face us. For example, satellite technology and water purification technology that has come from space research has had a huge impact in third-world countries. People in these countries that don’t have access to clean drinking water can use water purification as a source. Nearly all countries in the world use satellite data in order to create weather forecasts and to make farming more efficient. While these technologies may have originally been created for other purposes, they have been re-purposed in order to help fix some of the issues that we face here on Earth.

Another field where technologies from space exploration have made a large impact is in medicine. NASA has helped make huge advancements in heart health. Medical professionals have adapted the laser technology that was used to monitor gases into technology that allows them to deal with artery blockages. NASA technology also paved the way for the CAT scan technology which has benefitted medicine massively. NASA has had a large influence on the technology that is used in health care today and that will not stop any time soon as long as we continue to research in space.

All of the technology that has been derived from space research has had some sort of positive impact on our life here on earth, even if it was not intentional. So, when you think about the efforts that we take to explore beyond our planet, I hope that your perspective includes not only the cost of the research, but also how many technologies that come out of the research that is done, and how that technology affects all aspects of human life.

Written By

Rory Camp

I am a student at a highschool in Georgia. I like to listen to music, read, run, and play lacrosse.