Space Exploration: Investment, or Money Down the Drain?

Argumentative Essay: Space Exploration: Investment, or Money Down the Drain?

"Space, the final frontier." Any avid fan of the series, Star Trek, would know about this line. It is how they see space as the final destination of all living things. But it is not only they who see space in this light; scientists, and idealists, too, think that it is through the exploration of space and other celestial beings that we can truly discover the answers to life's questions. But space exploration is very costly; about seven billion dollars a year alone is spent on space flight in the U.S. (Space Exploration, nd.). A contributing factor to the high costs of space exploration would be the errors in flight tests and experiments being done, which leads to a loss in effort, money, and time. Although space exploration does seem to be a waste in resources, space exploration is not a waste of money because: (1) it is not expensive, actually; (2) exploration is man's nature; (3) new discoveries are made through space exploration.

Exploration is man's nature. Ever since the time of Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, and other great explorers, man has sought to discover his world and what lies within it. It is natural of man to be curious, to ask questions, to constantly search for answers to his questions. And so man explored the seas and discovered/unearthed/made known to others their findings. Now, in the 21st century, space is being explored by man. But why explore space, when the earth itself is not yet fully explored? One incident would be about a "lost tribe", which highlights the fact that we are not in contact with every indigenous tribe in our planet, and in a greater sense, with our own world (Space Exploration is a Waste of Money, nd.). This "discovery" is sufficient enough to show that we have to check again what we have overlooked in our planet. But space exploration would not be a waste of money since organisms found in space offer the same value to the scientific community (Space Exploration is a Waste of Money, nd.). We only have to look at it in a different perspective, and see that what is out there is equally important to what we have in earth. Money is not really wasted in the process of exploration; rather, it is invested into discovering new things, for the benefit of mankind.