Ever since advancements in technology have made travel to space possible, we have seen a growing number of people interested in knowing what lies in outer space. While there is a section of people that support using public resources to fund expeditions to space to uncover the age-old question of whether life outside Earth exists, there is also an equally big group of audience that would rather have the same resources spent on solving their problems on Earth.
Proponents of government funded expeditions to the outside world mainly argue that should evidence of life on other planets be discovered, it will be a moment of pride for their country and would cement their nation as a world superpower. We can take an example from history when it was US astronaut Neil Armstrong who first walked on the moon, making US a world power.
Moreover, these people also look forward to the technology that will come in their country as more and more big companies would set up their operations to provide technical support to conduct a high-risk exploration. This kind of development would benefit the younger generation and open doors of success for them.
However, opponents of this argument believe that if governments have such substantial amounts of funds to invest, then their first course of action should be to use these resources for the good of the public. These critics argue that it is more important for the masses to receive adequate healthcare and infrastructure facilities before their leaders even think about participating in exploring space. For example, it makes no sense for a developing country like South Africa to invest huge sums of money behind discovering this mystery when its government struggles to provide necessities to its people.
Therefore, while it would serve any country to be the first in line to make such a landmark discovery, I strongly believe that governments must hold themselves accountable and assess whether this budget could be better spent on their citizens. Perhaps it would make more sense for developed countries like US, China, and Germany to conduct take part in this research as opposed to developing nations who already have a myriad of problems to solve before committing themselves to what may seem like a frivolous project.