The Importance of Space Exploration

Think about living in a luxury house in one of the most remote places you can imagine. Was it the frontier of the barren Antarctica? Or maybe it was under the weight of the body you call the Pacific or even the Atlantic. You probably didn’t think about the moon or even Mars living with the world-famous Mars Rover as a pet. You probably would ask yourself, “Why would I want to live up there? It’s so cold and dark and my life is fine down here.” Wrong. Dangers are creeping up on humans like Global Warming. Earth as we know it could be coming to an end. One company could make all the difference, but if that one company is shut down, how would humans get the information we need to know about our earth and the effects of space? A solution could be to cut down the funds of unnecessary programs to keep unhappy congress and people happy again.

In the summer of 1958, a new and exciting program came to be. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) is a space agency funded by the government. It is responsible for space travel/aviation and takes approximately 17 billion dollars a year to fund for its needs. NASA has made an immense impact on everyone’s life on all corners of the world. This company has innovated many modern-day items as well as inventing new technologies for a safer and better world. People of all kinds can benefit from NASA. “NASA and the National Science Foundation launched a scientific balloon on Monday, Dec. 20, to study the effects of cosmic rays on Earth.” Says the National Science Foundation (www.nsf.gov) Cosmic rays are very dangerous and can penetrate earth’s crust and deeper. Fire retardant paints and foams have been created as well as flame resistant epoxy for buildings and fire fighters. Special liquid metal has been made to improve the area of sports. Liquid metal reduces noise and vibration in tennis racquets, baseball bats, and golf clubs. This material is also three times stronger than titanium. If you go into your kitchen you might find baby food, freeze-dried food, and solar-powered items. NASA has improved baby food by enriching it to help babies improve their mental capacity. A short article on marsrover.nasa.gov claims that “NASA's Mars Opportunity rover is getting important tips from an orbiting spacecraft as it explores areas that might hold clues about past Martian environments.” This would be important to scientists to know more about the planet Mars that could give people clues about Earth’s past environments. As you can see NASA has helped with a lot, but why would people think of canceling the program?

To keep NASA helping humans to have better lives, people should have programs in schools to inform kids, teachers, and adults the importance of NASA. NASA’s educational program (www.hq.nasa.gov) states “NASA is committed to promoting excellence in education, supporting the teaching profession, and increasing awareness of the impact science, mathematics, and technology will have on the quality of life in the 21st century.” This would keep people notified about NASA and could even advise the people that want to rid of this company. One person who doesn’t necessarily appreciate NASA might say, “NASA cannot do anything on time and on budget. This is gross negligence and simply unacceptable. How can taxpayers, senators, congressmen and women have ANY confidence in NASA leadership. It is time to reboot NASA. This is precisely what happens when you turn a government agency into a "jobs program".” Replies forum.nasaspaceflight.com. Some will also say though, that If NASA can come through for the world once before they can surely come through to help the public once again.

Another solution to keep the government happy is cut down the expenses of unnecessary programs. NASA has some programs of interest to their scientists that may not benefit anyone at the moment. Some of these programs may include study of distant planets. Although, the information they could find could include the planets soil and precious minerals, but right now that is not as important as the economy of the country. Based on current cuts in the government NASA had to, “hold back nearly $1 billion in funding for the Constellation rocket program,” says Mayor Tommy Battle, mayor of Huntsville, Alabama. (Nasawatch.com/archives/workforce) “NASA is considering cutting as much as 20 percent of its employee costs on the manned space program in hopes of salvaging money for ambitious back-to-the-moon plans” Says Stewart M. Powell of the Washington Bureau. (www.chron.com) Cutbacks like this could keep congress happy with the excess money that may be spent on unnecessary projects, but also keeping NASA in business. This may solve the problem that exists today.

NASA has helped civilizations in every continent. Though people still think the program should be terminated. A great solution to that would be to cut back programs that wouldn’t be much help to humanity. Reducing the cost needed would also make congress happy. NASA needs every single person and you could make all the difference.