Space exploration is a very significant achievement in human history that opens up many new opportunities for us, but it is without its drawbacks, such as the outrageous amounts of money that taxpayers pay every year. In this essay, I will describe in detail all the pros and cons.
To begin with, space exploration can provide humanity with new and useful resources as an alternative in the event that Earth’s resources are exhausted. Moreover, there is a chance that new source of energy can be discovered to replace fossil fuels which is considered one of the main reasons of pollution. Additionally, space exploration requires appropriate technologies thereby stimulating their development and it is also has positive feedback into the economy and improve our lives. For instance, without space programs and satellites we wouldn’t have GPS, accurate weather prediction or solar panels. It is noteworthy that the development of new technologies can inspire future generations to improve new standards and not exclude the possibility of creating revolutionary technologies.
On the other hand, this area is resource intensive and requires an enormous budget to meet expectations. According to open statistics, NASA spends billions of dollars per year developing their technologies and many people have negative opinions about it, stating that this huge amount of money could have been spent to solve poverty and starvation around the world. In addition, there are types of danger for astronauts such as ionizing radiation that could cause cancer. The danger from micrometeorites and impact damage are also not excluded because there is always a chance that spacecraft’s might face them.
In conclusion, I state that the disadvantages of space exploration outweigh its advantages. The huge amount of money that is poured into space industry should be used to solve poverty and social problems around the world.