Argument Brief:
In 1968, astronaut William Anders took a photograph of the Earth from the moon that was dubbed ‘Earthrise.” It is considered by some to be the photograph that was the beginning of the environmental movement. Carl Sagan reminded us that we live on a “pale blue dot,” as seen by the Voyager 1 space probe in 1990. America’s exploration of space has radically changed the way we view our planet and our place in the cosmos.
The current NASA budget is less than $17 billion. This may seem like a large amount of money, but that is less than one half of one percent of the $3.8 trillion US federal budget total. Lack of funding has led to the cancellation, dismantling, and delaying of many planned space missions (to the Moon, Mars, and beyond). Some of these planned future missions include “the first-ever crewed missions beyond the Moon into deep space,” (predicted by 2025) starting with an asteroid capture mission, as outlined by Barack Obama in his 2010 speech at Kennedy Space Center. Another is the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble telescope.
Part of the plan is the Orion crew capsule, which will be the most capable heavy-lift vehicle ever built (spaceflightnow.com/news/n1103/31slsmpcv/). The U.S. does not currently have their own launch vehicle. We depend on Russian spacecraft to shuttle astronauts to the International Space Station. On March 25th, 2014, a Russian Soyuz spacecraft transported one American astronaut and two Russian cosmonauts to the International Space Station. This is an example of our reliance on the Russians in space missions up to today, costing up to $70 million per seat on the Soyuz rocket.
In order to meet the future demands of space exploration, we propose to double NASA’s budget from 0.48% of the budget to 1%, bringing its spending to roughly $35 billion. With declining costs of healthcare, and cuts in Defense spending, this increase is not just a possibility, but it must become a guarantee, due to our aspiration and motivation to further space exploration.
In its Space Report in 2013, the U.S. Space Foundation estimated the Space Economy at $304 billion in 2012, with over 84% of that figure coming from commercial goods and services. “This means that each dollar of NASA spending creates ten dollars of benefit in the economy” (useconomy.about.com/od/usfederalbudget/p/nasa_budget_cost.htm). As former NASA administrator Michael Griffin points out “This growing [space] economy affects just about every aspect of how we live, work, and play, and other emerging new markets are just around the corner. It enables satellite communications including radio and television, telemedicine, point-to-point GPS navigation, weather and climate monitoring, and space-based national security assets.”
According to the NASA Procurement Management Service Online Query, “NASA dollars boost the economies of every state in the U.S….Both through revenues created by new technologies made possible through NASA science and research, and also through contractors of all sizes which NASA depends on” (www.penny4nasa.org/whats-at-stake/).
The benefits are tangible. The “Space Economy” is not separated from the “Earth economy.” The money that is spent on space exploration will return to Earth- in the form of new research and design that is inconceivable at the moment but will be the inevitable future. We need to be in space in order to research in Microgravity. This will lead to innovations in Biotechnology, Materials Science, Fluid Dynamics, Combustion Science and Fundamental Physics. NASA is also at the forefront concerning Microprocessors- the Quantum Computer Chip. Economic growth is driven by technological innovation. And what drives technological innovation better than anything else? Space exploration.
Americans are worried about unemployment. The NASA program will spur job growth. Americans are worried about education. The space program in the 1960’s led to an increase in number of applicants in STEM careers (Buzz Aldrin is an example). Economic recession is not an excuse for decreasing the budget of NASA. Despite the recession, the U.S. is doing better than any other economy in the world, including Germany (who has the strongest economy in Europe). Some believe that NASA is spending money inefficiently. True, it will cost more money initially to replace the current infrastructure but that will only create a more efficient program in the long-term that will pay off tenfold for the economy (as described above).
To echo the sentiment of John F. Kennedy in his 1962 speech:
"Why space exploration?” They may well ask “Why climb the highest mountain?” We choose to go to space, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.
America pioneered human space exploration. If we do not act now, we will be surpassed on the world stage by China and Russia. We need to think of the space program not as an inconsequential part of our government, but as essential to the leadership of our nation in the future of this planet. We’ve never had better technology to help us complete our dreams. Space exploration will let us know other worlds, and help us to understand our own planet better.
The beneficial reasons for space travel clearly outweigh the costs. We have a finite amount of resources on Earth, and space migration can ensure the survival of our species. We need to raise NASA’s budget in the coming fiscal years. We have an obligation to do so for our children, and for society as a whole. In the meantime, privatization of space travel (i.e. Space X, Virgin Galactic) will us help us get there faster and cheaper- making frequent commercial space flights for NASA astronauts to the space stations. But private businesses are unwilling to take the big risks. The government must lead and take the first step in exploring the farthest frontier, and only then will private enterprises follow. That first step will in turn be a giant leap for humankind.
We wouldn’t be where we are today technologically if it were not for space exploration, and this fact will not change over time. The final frontier of our future is space, and if we do not seize the opportunity to continue science in space, America will be surpassed by other countries in our efforts. We cannot wait a decade to realize that it’s too late to join our international counterparts in space.
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