People have different views about the funds that some governments pay exploring the potential life in the space. While these kind of projects can be ambitious and promsing, I believe that the money should be focused to solve much important problems on earth.
On the one hand, the potential of finding vital indicators anywhere in our solar system is tempting. If any of these ventures succeed in discovering a habitable planet that is accessible to us in the near future, that will be a great achievment in the humankind history, and will pave the way for much more discoveries in this area of concern. Mars is the closest planet to earth and a lot of researches are being done to assess its habitability.
On the other hand, space projects come with a formidable cost, and not always guranted to be successful. Additionally, people suffer from many real-life problems on earth, which can be reduced if countries allocated the funds paid to space schemes to solve more important issues on earth that everyone can benefit from it. For example, we all use facilities like schools, roads, hospitals, and the police services. Moreover, this outer space trips can be extremely dangerous, and the Challenger Space Shuttle is an example of how leathal these kind of trips can be.
In conclusion, the funds spent by countries looking for life in the outer space is an area of contention among many people. I can understand why people might want to encourage this type of ventures, but it seems to me that the relocation of these huge expenditures to more useful projects on earth would be effectively better.