The dispute over whether space exploration is worth investing a massive amount of resources has lasted for decades and yet it is never settled. The allocation of resources is undoubtedly one of the main concerns, whereas risks brought by space missions is another. Many emergencies that need to be remedied or alleviated with the aid of monetary resource across the globe have called the significance of space exploration in question. Is space exploration worth zilch?
I, however, believe that space exploration is critical and ought to be carried out because (1) it is a possible way to solve most extant issues on Earth and (2) its by-products benefits the world. This essay aims to reiterate the importance of space missions and explain why they are worth executing despite the existence of other issues and risks.
Human existence, comparing to the existence of other life forms on Earth, is short but extremely destructive. Humans have created and have been creating a myriad of issues on Earth. Some of them could lead to lethal consequences or even termination of life. The Earth is severely polluted and natural resources, e.g., coals and petroleum, are also severely depleted since the vast industrialisation (Hassan, 2006). Climate change, water pollution, food shortage — you name it, the Earth has suffered from all. They, unfortunately, can barely be reversed.
Water pollution, in particular, is one of the deadliest amongst others. Industrial sewages containing heavy metals such as zinc and other baneful chemicals and organic fertilisers contaminate rivers and sea cause toxicosis, eutrophication, moreover, deaths and injuries of not only people but also marine animals, leading to serious damage to the ecosystem (Abel, 1996). Polluted water, furthermore, spreads pathogenic organisms, e.g., bacteria, viruses, and parasites (Abel, 1996) which can trigger infectious diseases such as diarrhoea. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), diarrhoea is estimated to kill 485,000 per annum. The alarming water pollution is, however, a tip of the iceberg solely. Thus, many would question whether it is a good use of resources and why we are spending billions of dollars per year on space missions but not on issues mentioned above.
From my point of view, it is plain to see the reasons behind it. There being so many problems on Earth, the importance of space missions is further established. Beneath space projects, there are plenty of goals, e.g., asteroid mining, that mission participants aim to accomplish. One the ultimate objectives of space exploration is to discover a reasonably distant habitable planet and invent advanced transportation so that people will be able to immigrate into the planet; therefore, successful space colonisation could be a possible solution to all existing problems.
Short-term-wise, the level of astronomical technology, admittedly, cannot suffice the goal of space colonisation. The monetary resources spent on space missions could have been used to alleviated problems. As reported by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the average cost of a space mission is approximately US$4,500,000. Such a massive amount of money, for example, could have been used by governments for providing subsidies to factories to install large-scale water purifiers to improve the water quality of sewage before releasing to the rivers. This would have remarkable results in protecting the marine ecosystem shortly.
Nevertheless, long-term-wise, the expanding global population could still eventually overwhelm such band-aid solutions. Insufficient and finite land, food and freshwater supply, and natural resources and climate changes cannot be easily remedied with monetary resources. When such perilous problems accumulate over time, it would be too late to figure out another way to solve them as they might have caused devastating effects, e.g. famine and power shortage, on humankind. Therefore, it is wise to be focused and invest time and money to a comprehensive panacea, in this case, space colonisation.
Despite seeming a palliative, successful space colonisation and asteroid mining can theoretically provide an infinite amount of natural resources and an everlasting habitable environment. Even human will deplete all the resources or cause pollutions until the environment on the planet that they have immigrated into is no more habitable, humans can always utilise such technology to look for new resources and find themselves another home since as Petigura et al. (2013) and Overbye (2013) points out that within the Milky Way Galaxy, it is believed to have approximately 40 billion Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones.
Furthermore, space exploration projects can bring significant short-term returns. The by-products of space programmes benefit society and improve people’s quality of life. To explain further, many existing technologies that could be utilised in various national systems, particularly medical, are, de facto, adapted and transferred from those from R&D of space exploration projects. It is notable that most of the capital invested in space missions have gone to the sector of research and development (R&D) for the development of essential technologies. Often researchers innovate new technologies which can be used for different purposes other than what they intend to. For instance, as stated by Lock (n.d.), thanks to the Light-Emitting Diode (LED) technology modified by NASA for space plant growth experiment, medical devices such as the award-winning WARP 10, a hand-held, high-intensity LED unit can be developed and contributes to Health and Medicine and improve people’s quality of life.
Indeed, there are always risks carrying out such missions. Irresponsible stewardship, e.g., polluting an environment, no matter for living or mining, and then leaving without undoing the damage, giving rise to ethical issues. The problem is primarily about appropriation (Galliott, 2015) and space sustainability (William & Newman, 2018). Should things like that be permitted at all? Technological advancements in Astronomy could lead to the cultivation of unscrupulous people, causing mass destruction in the universe. That, however, holds a precondition that no proper education is provided. I believe all entities could have caused negative impacts without correct mindsets and positive values. It is always ideal that education can co-work with research so that a better life can be brought to humans. It can be seen that there is not bound to be conflicts between space programmes and ethics.
Undeniably, space missions require a good amount of resources. However, even if governments reallocate all the resources from space exploration projects for fixing problems such as poverty, it would never be enough. Space missions are, after all, to solve the unsolvable. In spite of current issues and risks, it is worth doing as it brings a better future for not only humankind but all kinds.
References
Abel, P. D.. (1996). Water Pollution Biology (2nd ed.). London: Taylor & Francis.
Galliott, J. (2015). Commercial Space Exploration: Ethics, Policy and Governance (Emerging Technologies, Ethics and International Affairs). Surrey, England: Ashgate.
Hassan, D. (2006). Protecting the Marine Environment from Land-based Sources of Pollution: Towards Effective International Cooperation. Aldershot, England; Burlington, VT: Ashgate.
Lock, D. (n.d.). “NASA Technologies Benefit Our Lives”. Retrieved from
Overbye, Dennis. (2013). “Far-Off Planets Like the Earth Dot the Galaxy”. In the New York Times. New York: New York Times. Retrieved 5 November 2013.
Petigura, E., Howard, A., & Marcy, G. (2013). Prevalence of Earth-size planets orbiting Sun-like stars. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 110(48), 19273–19278.
Wilman, R. & Newman, C. (eds). (2018). Frontiers of Space Risk: Natural Cosmic Hazards & Societal Challenges. Boca Raton: CRC Press.
