Space exploration started in 1957 with the U.S.S.R. Since then, the USA has spent over $650 billion in NASA. This massive budget, has a lot of people wondering: “Why go to space?”, while there are people dying here on Earth.
Going to the Moon and back, does not seem to make us any richer, why are we spending so much then? To answer this question, we must try to understand what are the benefits that come with space exploration. In this post, we will cover the most important benefits.
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Scientific Discoveries
Thanks to space exploration, we have been able to have a better understanding of who we are and where we come from. As well as make predictions of what we can expect to happen in the coming years.
The exploration of different planets and moons has made us understand how the Earth works. From how it was formed, to the better understanding of what are the necessary conditions of life, and why this planet, where there is life, is so unique. But thanks to space exploration, we are now more confident than ever, that there should be life out there. Although we have not found any solid evidence to prove there is life on any specific planet, we have found a lot of planets that could potentially hold life.
Also, the rockets, satellites and robots that are in space are doing a lot of experiments. The Apollo missions, when they successfully landed on the Moon, the crew that went there, had to work a lot, they were busy with experiments. The reason why we do experiments outside the Earth, is to test how things work in places where there are low gravity as well as low temperature. That is something we can only test on space.
Technological Advancements
Reaching the Moon was an outstanding feast. But in order to reach it, there were major technological breakthroughs that were needed. What once seemed impossible, we managed to accomplish, and we learned a lot on the way:
Satellite Communication
Thanks to space exploration, we are now able to deploy satellites, which enable us to have global communications.
Telecommunications enabled us to speak with each other, regardless of how far away we are from each other, as well as allowed us to connect to the internet, that way you are able to learn anything you want as well as connect with your friends through social media.
Global Positions Systems (GPS) thanks to the satellites, we have been able to correctly map out exactly how the earth is, providing us in real time precise location. Without GPS, Google Maps could never have been created, thus you would still be needing to rely on paper maps to locate yourself.
Medical Imaging and Healthcare
Thanks to space exploration, we have been able to develop advanced techniques that hold healthcare benefits.
CT Scans and MRI: some of the techniques used for space imaging, have been adapted in order to create detailed images of the human body, which has helped to create better diagnosis and treatments.
Telemedicine: it was first developed in order to monitor astronauts while they were in space. The technologies and techniques that were once used to analyze how astronauts conditions were, are now being used to diagnose people through the phone, without the need to moving from one place to another to get seen by a doctor.
Water Purification
When astronauts leave Earth, they still need to drink water. But, spacecrafts can not be holding extra load, for this, they thought of a way to get water in space without having to transport a lot of water.
It is well known that astronauts had to drink their own urine. Although this is true, it was not their own urine exactly. NASA developed complex systems in order to filter and purify urine. This way urine, which should not be drank due to bacteria, is purified and turned into clean water, that can be drank without problem.
These complex purification machines, are now being used across the globe in places where water is not very accessible.
Consumer Electronics
Many devices we use on our day to day were once developed to carry out space missions.
Camera phones: astronauts back then did not have phones as we know them to know, but they did take photos. Using a normal camera was not an option as one camera back then weighted too much for the spaceship, that is how they developed more advanced camera technologies, creating compact, high resolution cameras. Which are now used in every phone.
Wireless Headsets: astronauts needed to communicate with each other, but they also needed to be inside their tight suits. Going with cable headsets was not an option, as they would need to explore the Moon. For this, they created the first wireless headsets, although we now take them for granted, it was only developed a few decades ago.
Material Science
Space exploration required the creation of new materials. Some of these materials are now being used in our daily life.
Memory Foam: it was first created in order to improve the cushioning in spacecraft. Now, it is used for many pillows and mattresses.
Scratch-Resistant Lenses: they were first developed to create the astronauts helmets, but now are being used for any kind of glasses. As getting your lenses scratched reduces visibility, which the opposite of what lenses are intended to achieve.
Safety and Disaster Response
Some technologies developed thanks to space exploration has contributed to the prevention of disasters as well as increased the overall safety.
Infrared Thermometers: non-contact thermometers, originally developed for measuring the temperature of stars, are now widely used in medicine and industry.
Search and Rescue: satellite-based search and rescue systems, developed to locate astronauts, now help find and save people in emergency situations worldwide.
Environmental Monitoring
Thanks to technologies developed at first meant for space explorationg have improved the monitoring and protection of the environment:
Climate Monitoring: satellites track climate patterns, monitor greenhouse gas emissions, and assess the health of ecosystems, as well as prividing accurate aproximations for the weather.
Natural Disaster Prediction: satellite data helps predict and respond to natural disasters like hurricanes, earthquakes, and wildfires. Moreover, satellites also help in the prevention of meteorites and other external agents.
Agriculture
Advances from space technology, as weird as it may sound, have also helped in the development of agriculture.
Precision Farming: satellite imagery and GPS technology enable farmers to optimize crop yields, reduce waste, and manage resources more efficiently. Which is also helping to reduce carbon emissions and save the ecosystems by preventing climate change.
Soil and Water Analysis: techniques developed for analyzing extraterrestrial soils are now also being used to improve soil and water quality on Earth.
Transportation
One of the major developments that space exploration has achieved is regarding transportation. The advancements made in order to put rockets and satellites into space, are also helping in many means of transportation:
Advanced Aerodynamics: research on spacecraft design has led to more efficient and safer aircraft, making our planes be more effective.
Anti-Icing Systems: originally developed for space missions to prevent the extremelly cold temperaturs of space, these systems are now used to prevent ice buildup on aircraft and ground vehicles.
Energy Solutions
Space missions have driven many innovations in the energy field:
Solar Panels: advanced solar panel technology, initially developed for space missions, is now widely used to generate renewable energy on Earth, being one of the most important sources of energy nowadays.
Energy Storage: battery technology developed for space missions is improving energy storage solutions for consumer electronics and electric vehicles.
Global Collaboration
The advancements of the development of space exploration have crucial benefits for the whole world, not only a selected few. This, is helping in the collaboration of every country, as all countries share a common goal.
Space exploration helps to bring people from different countries all together, even countries which surely share their differences, are able to leave them aside, just to focus on the more transcend goal, which is space exploration and all the great discoveries that are being made on the way, and that will surely still be discovered in the future. For examples in the Internation Space Station (ISS), where astronauts from around the world stay together for long periods of time, while their teams on Earth are also working together.
Inspiration and Education
Many times, we only measure if something was worth it based on the money that was made or lost along the way. But, there is usually a crucial factor, which is one of the most valuables, that is not usually taken into consideration, as it is really hard to measure. That is the inspiration that is left behind.
For example, when people run a 40-kilometer marathon to fight cancer, or any other issue. There is way more to it, than just running and getting some money through donations, it is more about the message, and the impact you make on the youth, that is what makes the difference. As maybe, one of the millions of people who are watching the TV from home may be interested and concerned, thus he might become the next doctor which ends up finding the cure for cancer. The same happens in space.
The space race left a lasting influence, across all ages, but it was especially important on the youth, as more and more people started getting interested in space and science overall. This meant although billions were spent on going to the Moon, and maybe the USA did not make that much money from it, but it actually did in the long run. The value of all those kids who ended up pursuing a science career, made going to the Moon a really worth it investment, regarding the USA economy.
Future Survival
Exploring space may be one of the most important missions if we want to make sure the human specie lasts long.
Now, more than ever, we are on the verge of going extinct, although that may not seem to be the case, we are actually a few mistakes from our governors from blowing the whole planet with atomic bombs.
Also, we have several issues like global worming here on Earth. If it got out of hand, maybe the only option would be to leave Earth.
Moreover, space exploration is preventing us from dying from natural dissasters, like a metor, for two reasons. Thanks to space exploration we are developing technologies like missiles that could potentially deflect a meteor, or if that was not possible, we maybe would be able to scape from Earth to another planet.
For all these reasons it is essential we keep working on space exploration if we do not want our specie to go extinct at any moment.
Conclusion
After all the benefits mentioned and explained in detail throughout this post, benefits like the scientific discoveries that have only been possible thanks to space exploration, as well as all the technological advancements, many of which are used on our daily life. Also, the importance of the global collaboration that space exploration is able to achieve. Bringing people from different countries all togethers to work on a similar goal. Furthermore, space exploration is essential in order to inspire future generations as well as help us prevent the termination of the human specie.
Personal opinion: I strongly believe all these benefits outweight the price, which in my humble opinion I believe it is too low. Just imagine for a second if the USA army budget was invested in space exploration. The army budget is currently of $820.3 billion every year. That is 26% more in a year than the whole budget of NASA across the last 67 years combined. That means we are spending 33 times more every year to war than to investigation, that to me is one of the biggest problems of the human specie.
The Apollo mission costed $257 billion adjusted to inflation. And just with that mission the USA was able to achieve some of the major feats of humanity including going to the Moon for the first time, as well as developing some of the most important technologies we now use on our day-to-day activities.