Space Exploration: Necessity or Extravagance?

Introduction

The question of space exploration, whether it is a necessity or an extravagance, remains debatable. Although investing in space exploration has benefits, the extravagant use of resources has caused controversies. Indeed, the world needs alternative resource depots to address the shortages, but substantial investment in social and economic welfare should also be considered. While space exploration companies spend billions developing and financing the venture, communities supposed to benefit from the discoveries languish in poverty. In particular, space exploration provides room for economic growth and resource opportunities, which are necessary today, but this activity is prone to various accidents, making it an extravagant venture.

Room for Economic Growth

Investing in space exploration has the potential to drive economic growth. The primary idea of this activity is that companies investing in space exploration will use the discoveries to create employment opportunities. According to Rosen et al. (2022), investment in space exploration by countries, such as the United States and China, is establishing large-scale technological and scientific projects that will promote employment (p. 1). In this case, governments investing in space exploration will address unemployment rates that constrain the global economy. Moreover, the findings obtained from space exploration can facilitate better communication and satellite technologies (Rosen et al., 2022, p. 3). In turn, countries should expect economic transformation by improving communication and information channels from the discoveries. Therefore, investing in space exploration is necessary if countries want to transform their economies.

Resource Opportunities

The world needs alternative resources to prevent the rapid depilation and exploration of Earth. Space is littered with millions of objects that can be studied and offers opportunities for sustainable resources. Meng et al. (2019) believe that resource shortages and environmental degradation due to mining can be prevented by investing in space exploration to locate mineral depots (p. 3). In this case, different resources needed in medicine, agriculture, and other industries can be obtained through space mining. Besides, countries can work together to finance programs to retrieve resources that can support joint ventures (Meng et al., 2019, p. 5). It is necessary that countries consider space exploration because resource allocation around the world is not well-adjusted. As a result, venturing into space exploration for countries with limited resources can provide a cheap alternative.

Prone to Accidents

The race to space exploration presents a challenge in space vehicle design, which is bound to increase accidents. Extravagantly, to win the space exploration race, companies and wealthy individuals are exposing engineers to the debilitating effects of vehicles served for space missions due to short-term demand. Ishfaq et al. (2022) note that space exploration is controlled by individuals with the financial ability to pay for damages and accidents since they expect better returns (p. 2029). Based on this assessment, investors will not consider accidents a problem since money can come from other ventures to continue financing space programs. Therefore, as space exploration becomes a reality, the risk of different accidents will threaten people’s lives.

Conclusion

The level of extravagance in space exploration might be underestimated, but the threat of accidents remains. However, there is still a positive aspect of space exploration because the world still needs resources, and this activity can facilitate economic growth. Space exploration is necessary because it will contribute to developing new technologies, improve communication channels, and address resource shortages. Ultimately, space exploration can allow people to improve their technologies and lives, which are necessary for human development, but it is essential to prevent extravagance to avoid unexpected accidents.

References

Ishfaq, K., Asad, M., Mahmood, M. A., Mirza, A., & Pruncu, C. (2022). Opportunities and challenges in additive manufacturing used in space sector: A comprehensive review. Rapid Prototyping Journal, 28(10), 2027-2042. https://doi.org/10.1108/RPJ-05-2022-0166

Meng, X., Wu, L., & Yu, S. (2019). Research on resource allocation method of space information networks based on deep reinforcement learning. Remote Sens, 11(4), 1-21. https://doi.org/10.3390/rs11040448

Rosen, P. E., Zhang, D., Jiang, J. H., Ijzendoorn, L. V., Fahy, K. A., & Zhu, Z. H. (2022). Impact of economic constraints on the projected timeframe for human-crewed deep space exploration. Galaxies, 10(4), 1-10. https://doi.org/10.3390/galaxies10040088