Space Race For Survival

The Space Race for Survival:

“Why do we explore space? Is there even a real point of it?” These questions have been asked for decades, and an argument has been ongoing for just as long. This is because some people just don’t understand the sheer importance of the exploration of space, they don’t give it the slightest bit thought. They don’t realize that the survival of the human race depends on it. They don’t realize that some of the most efficient and useful things ever invented are because advancements made in space. Space exploration needs to be continued and is extremely important because of three main reason. First, space exploration will lead to finding a place for humans to go once earth can’t sustain life any longer, because the time

If every single thing goes just as we plan, Earth will have approximately “between 1 and 7.5 billion years” (Barras) of time left for life to survive. That is if the way humans treat Earth improves drastically, and no freak incidents occur, such as asteroid threats, volcanic explosions, black holes, or more. We have a lot of time to figure something out, because we need to, for the survival of the human race. Jeffrey liss of the Chicago Society for Space Studies says “We send people into orbit because orbit is the first step to getting anywhere -- and everywhere -- else. And that, as every schoolkid knows, is the true purpose of spaceflight: to send people elsewhere, to have people living and working in space, to create homes for humanity” (Liss). People seem to agree with Liss; a NASA poll suggests that more than two thirds of Americans still support the exploration of space. However, many people don’t want to go into space any longer. Jerry DeGroot, a supporter of ending all space missions states “Forget giant leaps for mankind, NASA is a machine for spending money,” and “The Earth is indeed doomed, but where might refugees go? Mars makes Antarctica seem like paradise” (DeGroot). His statement aren’t necessarily false, but they are quite ignorant. NASA has provided humans with many, many benefits; such as spin off inventions and uncountable

What this is, is knowledge. That is correct, knowledge. Howell states ““What sort of value can you place on better understanding the universe?” (Howell). This statement is unbelievably hard to rebut, because it is extremely true. There is nothing more valuable in the universe than knowing more about the universe. The cost to gain this knowledge is high, that is obvious, but when you are talking about something that benefits the entire human race, should cost really be an issue? NASA states “Curiosity and exploration are vital to the human spirit and accepting the challenge of going deeper into space will invite the citizens of the world today and the generations of tomorrow to join NASA on this exciting journey” (Why). This means that going into the depths of space will only help advance the human race. There is so much to explore out there. The universe is immense that the human mind, at its current state, cannot contemplate the sheer size of it. With that much space, it is quite possible for an incredible discovery to occur that could change the fate of our entire species. However, of space exploration were to stop a this very moment, no more discoveries will be found. No more human advancement will occur. This will eventually lead to the extinction of our