When we think about the impact of space exploration, we often imagine the vast technologies that come from it or we think about the amazing pictures of the grand universe waiting to be explored. However, one thing that many fail to realize is that space exploration sneakily has a great influence on the economy and in international relations.

One way the space exploration boosts the economy is creating new jobs for the workforce. Now, obviously there has to be people to do the work in order to create these opportunities to explore space. While there are a lot of jobs in the space industry from government agencies and private companies, this really isn’t the bulk of the impact on the work force. In reality, the real boost to the economy comes from the inspiring of jobs from all fields of work. As I have mentioned in my previous blog space exploration creates many technologies and discoveries and these things lead to new job opportunities in many different fields.

Another way that space exploration boosts the economy is the emergence of many private space companies. These companies allow many more adventurous expeditions and research in space because they are not government funded. This also leads to competition among these companies and with the government space agencies which helps to further drive innovation. These companies help to add to our economy by providing investment opportunities, new jobs like mentioned before, and even creating an emerging industry of space tourism. While many of the private companies do focus on research and creating new technologies, some of them have seen the opportunity to create provide space tourism. This is still in very early stages as a select few have been on test trips, however, space tourism has the chance to become a booming source of profit for these companies and the economy.

Space exploration also helps in international cooperation and competition among countries. One major example of this competition is the space race that occurred during the cold war. This had a huge impact on the advancement of space exploration and technology as the U.S. and the USSR competed to become the best in the field of space. This led to the speeding up of many discoveries and eventually to the first man to land on the moon. It is very likely that this wouldn’t not have happened for a significant amount of time as there has not been a person to land on the moon since 1972. So, you can see the impact of the competition in order to expedite space exploration.

Since the space race, there hasn’t been really much competition to drive the advancement of space exploration, so we have looked elsewhere to do that. This has been through cooperation between countries. The biggest way that this has happened is the ISS (International Space Station) which is an effort from many agencies and countries that help to research into space exploration. This allows many different opinions and methods to be considered which we all know is better than just one opinion.

So why is it that space exploration is so important? Well, it is much more than just a scientific venture, it helps to drive economic expansion and international cooperation. Private companies provide new ways to boost the economy along with collaboration between them and the government funded agencies. These collaboration efforts expand to international collaboration which help promote diplomacy. Looking ahead we see a bright future for so much potential in this industry and its influence on many others.

Rory Camp

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