Imagine starting a normal and average day. Sometime throughout the day, unexpectedly, everything starts blaring out a warning about an asteroid that is about to hit the Earth and wipe out the human race. Humans hold nowhere to go because they possess no space traveling capabilities. Due to their limitations, humans say their goodbyes and await their fate. Alternative futures present themselves thanks to space programs like NASA and SpaceX. These companies devote all of their time and money to exploring beyond the sky, and they need government funding to keep moving forward. Because the human race will eventually need a new place to live in order to survive overpopulation and doomsday, the U.S. government needs continue to fund NASA so that …show more content…
The human population continues to skyrocket, and the rate increases every year. Scientists say that the world population will reach 11 billion by 2100 (BBC). Overpopulation expands as a major problem across the globe. Several cities today already experience this problem. Cities like Beijing, Moscow, Shanghai, and numerous more experiencing problems like keeping up with providing enough resources and space to support their population (borgen). As the population increases, the rate of increase expands dramatically. Soon cities all over earth will posses this problem, leading to large amounts of poverty and disease. The world needs more space. Building more living space upward makes this possible, but this costs an abundance of money and cause many problems to the environment. The other option: colonize other planets. Currently, humans remain very far from this, but in every journey a person must start somewhere. In this instance, NASA is the first step. NASA has already proven to accomplish great things. A few examples: the lunar landings, missions on Mars, etc (science channel). After many years of exploration and research, humans will contain the ability to colonize other planets. This results in more space to live, enabling the human race to expand without consequences. The only way for this expansion to start is for the U.S. government to keep funding NASA. Funding NASA enables the human race to …show more content…
In December, an asteroid will fly the closest to Earth, since 1974. Despite the close proximity, it does not need to be a concern (time). The questions: What if it hit the Earth? What if it flies straight into the Earth and destroys it and everything on it? How would humans react? There is no way to stop it, due to its massive size. Humans can only evacuate Earth. Other scenarios like, nuclear warfare, disease, etc, make evacuation essential. This all brings another question: Where would we go then? These questions could all be answered by NASA in the future. They need to keep researching to find answers. One potential answer: live on another planet. Before this happens, humans need to colonize other planets. The only way to make this a reality: space exploration. The organization that does this the best: NASA. Only funding from the government makes this possible. Funding space programs like NASA, enables humans to have somewhere to go, in an event of
NASA helped usher in a promising new future in the 1960s and it was rewarded with a rapidly-eroding budget. The U.S. should invest more money in NASA and less on unnecessary health care and military. Budget cuts are affecting our technology development. Evidently, increasing NASA’s budget to 1 percent of the federal budget will not hurt the economy. But instead it would benefit by creating jobs here on earth, especially for the next generation of American scientists and engineers.
This is because if we let them, another country can one-up us which in the end can lead to major problems for the U.S. The NASA program also gives us a whole new insight to how we see things and how we live our lives daily. For example Google Maps, which is used by many people, uses satellite that we get from having this program. However, some of the money used for this category can be taken and put into another category such as the FBI. “The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation which operates field offices in 58 cities to combat terrorism and crime” (Document E).
In July of 1958, President Eisenhower passed the National Aeronautics and Space Act, which established the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a response to the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik nine months earlier. That administration, now known worldwide as NASA, has become an icon of space exploration and mankind's accomplishments. Who would have thought that fifty years later, NASA's future would be so uncertain? Congress has recently proposed a bill that would significantly cut funding from the NASA's Constellation program. These budget cuts are unnecessary and are counterproductive to the original idea of the space program.
Bill Nye, the “Science Guy,” asserts, “NASA is an engine of innovation and inspiration as well as the world's premier space exploration agency, and we are well served by politicians working to keep it that way, instead of turning it into a mere jobs program, or worse, cutting its budget.” The United States of America’s government is currently in an economic debt encompassing billions of US dollars. Unfortunately, the government has attempted to balance finances by cutting the funding for most programs, including NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA, in over half a century, has brought the most economic, technological, and social benefits than any other program held here in the USA, as well as any other extraterrestrial program in the world. The last thing this nation needs is the cutting of NASA finances. NASA should be receiving more funding because the Earth will not last forever and humans will need a place to live, there’s a curiosity within humans about the vast universe they live in, there is evidence to suggest life on other planets, the USA’s superpower status will be improved, and the economical income NASA brings is more efficient than any other governmental or educational program.
In 2013 spending on NASA will be at the lowest point in the last four years because the United States government is in extreme debt. Many feel that this will lead to a halt on all space exploration and technological advancements in the world of Astronomy. In my opinion I feel that this lack of funding for NASA will thoroughly hinder progress for future generations as well as our own.
Over the past few years, NASA has been the victim of larger and larger budget cuts. The United States government thinks that money that should be being used for funding NASA is more useful elsewhere. This is a real shame, space travel is the future. One day we will run out of resources,or become over crowded on Earth, and mankind will have to expand to the stars for another place to live. Space travel is our future and needs exploration. NASA should be more highly funded by the United States government, in order to continue research towards future objectives.
In conclusion, Continuing NASA and the programs run by it, is harmful to American society and Government. NASA harms the economy. NASA also harms the environment in which we live. And the money that NASA spends could be used to help solve problems in our country, not on another planet. Only if we work together, fixing our own problems first, respectfully with each other, as one body, one world, and one planet, then we will be able to reach out into space. We will be able to explore it safely, efficiently, and environmentally soundly.
Going to the moon and Mars is excellent, but that’s already been done. Time for something else to happen. If NASA’s budget was increased, it could be pushed to find other habitable planets and new resources to help out here on Earth. With more funding, NASA can build a manned base on the moon while finding a way to Mars.
The question regarding the value in financially supporting large American institutions, such as NASA, has indeed generated prevalent debate. Bobby Braun addresses his individual view on this issue in his article entitled “Space Technology: A Critical Investment for Our Nation’s Future,” published on October 27, 2011, in which he argues that the United States government must continue to invest in NASA. Braun strengthens the logic and persuasiveness of his argument by incorporating facts and examples about the benefits of NASA’s contributions to American society in order to support his central claims and by asserting the long-term influence of NASA’s existence as well as a powerful call to action in order to emphasize the significance of the organization to the reader.
As a country we need to start investing more money and research into space technology. Programs currently exist for this effort, but the potential for research and progress is limited by a lack of funding; compared to other government funded programs, aerospace funding is pitiful. Continued research in space technology is a necessary step in our growth and development not just as a country but also as entire human race. If we are to achieve this goal, it is necessary to increase funding for space research and technology and consider the possibility of colonizing outer space. If we limit our existence to the planet Earth, and continue to drain the resources on this planet, we will destroy the only home we have.
When talking about the current space program, Neil Degrasse Tyson once said, “I got angry with America, because advancing is not just something you do incrementally. You need innovation as well, so that your advances are revolutionary, not merely evolutionary” (Tyson 3). America used to have the top space program in the world. Being first to the moon excited the country and gave everyone a sense of pride and fulfillment. Lately, though, we have been falling behind in space exploration. A successful space program is needed in America, and here’s why: we are losing our grip on the title as the world superpower and a new age of economics and politics is coming faster than we are prepared for. To be prepared for this new age we need the funds,
When people think of troubles that are related to space, they tend to overlook one of the most obvious and most important problems, financing. Money may prevent humans from leaving the very earth we stand on in the first place. Money can easily be the solution to a problem or the cause of one. In the supporting film, Stationed in the Stars, it was mentioned that in 1992, NASA spent 8 billion dollars without building a single piece of material. The money was spent on other things such as payroll and international conferences. The film also brought up the fact that every pound of water needed would cost up to 10 thousand dollars; therefore, 100 lbs. of water would cost 1 million dollars. This problem was later solved with the help of Russia in the creation of the closed loop system. But Russia has not always been so helpful. While Russia was working with NASA to help build a service module, they purposely delayed their efforts in order to receive more money from NASA, until NASA had enough and gave them a deadline to comply with. There are times when financing may prevent a project from being ventured into completely without even spending the money. For example, further servicing of the International Space Station would have cost upwards of 100 billion dollars. That is why that project is still uncompleted.
Carl Sagan once said “every planetary civilization will be endangered by impacts from space, every surviving civilization is obliged to become spacefaring--not because of exploratory or romantic zeal, but for the most practical reason imaginable: staying alive... If our long-term survival is at stake, we have a basic responsibility to our species to venture to other worlds.” The National Aeronautics and Space Administration or NASA, is executing Sagan’s words every day. President Dwight D. Eisenhower created NASA in 1958 with the purpose of peaceful rather than military space exploration and research to contribute to society. Just 11 years after the creation, NASA put Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon, the first humans to accomplish this feat. NASA’s research and innovation looked promising but it came at a cost. Money, resources, and spacecraft accidents most famously Apollo 13 all hindered NASA’s research. In the 21st century the debate between funding for NASA is at its peak since the birth of the organization in 1958 especially when there are numerous problems throughout the world. Is the money spent on space exploration worth the advantages and advances it contributes to society?
The main argument against space travel says that the money used could be better put on other matters. This is in fact very untrue. Looking at NASA’s 2015 budget of 17.5 billion, it may seem like a lot, until you realize that the US military budget for 2014 was 581 billion dollars (5). Furthermore, it was estimated that each dollar in NASA’s budget was equivalent to 8 – 10 dollars of economic benefit (6). If an organization can bring about economic value at 10 folds the original budget, it would be logical to continue funding it, if not increasing the funds. Even if we disregard the economic value of the space program, the achievements of NASA speak for themselves. The ability to send humans onto the moon, survey the surface of Mars using the Curiosity rover, and even finding water on a foreign planet is astounding. Even looking at the International Space Station, it seems abundantly clear that the space program brings more unanimity between nations than the military will ever hope to achieve, while the military has a budget 33 times that of the space program. Hence, blaming the costs of the space program is an absurd argument, as the budget that is put into the program is used very
Most people think that the costly downside to funding space exploration is a reason to avoid spending money on sciences and instead spend it on problems here on earth, but such funding for space exploration actually promotes economical as well as scientific benefits. Space exploration is an important expenditure for the high cost because of the potential for numerous benefits such as the possibility to find useful resources to cultivate, space exploration and satellites produce many thousands of jobs in our economy, and it creates and discovers newer and better technologies through research and development.