Why NASA must be funded more in our future.

The reasoning behind the funding of this administration.

If the U.S. Government allocates more of the federal budget to NASA in coming years, it will greatly add to the massive contributions that NASA has made to society in inspirational, technological, and economical value. The value of investing in space exploration comes in innumerable forms and cannot be fully quantified. Since the beginning of the space race, people have questioned the worth of our nation’s space program. Now as NASA progresses in their mission to further humanity’s reach into space, the U.S. government continually contributes less of the federal budget to NASA’s purpose. Now that NASA’s budget has hit a new low of 0.5 percent of the total federal budget, it is time to reevaluate our priorities and get Americans exploring new boundaries in space once again.

The intrinsic and primal quality of humans to explore and discover the unknown is the primary motivation for advancing human space exploration. To be a human is to be an explorer and it is a drive inside most humans. To deny this is to deny our humanity. This drive to wonder and expand the boundaries of exploration has pushed us to settle our species across the entire Earth, discover the New World, take to the skies with aviation, and only recently in humanity’s history, leave the planet and redefine our boundaries. In our recent history, we have learned that all of humanity’s exploration is only a beginning. Everything that humankind has ever accomplished leads us to this moment in time where exploration will take us farther than any human has any ventured, to the planets and distant moons. The funding of this exploration is essential to the generation of new knowledge and greater collective enlightenment. The new discoveries that lie ahead are largely unknown, but this is the exact reason we must go.

Beyond just the innate facet of humankind to explore, investing in space offers mankind a unique perspective of our place in the universe. In the early stages of space exploration, the famed “Earth-rise over the moon” photo taken upon Apollo 8 inspired a realization within humanity that allowed us to view ourselves in a new light. Following this mission, the Apollo astronauts claimed, “we went to explore the Moon, and in fact discovered the Earth.” (Cernan) For the first time in man’s history, Earth was not seen as nations divided by borders but could be viewed as a perfect whole with its fragile beauty and isolation.

This new perspective of our place in the cosmos raised awareness of the need for international solutions to environmental challenges. Following the proliferation of this new perspective, lawmakers and the public took action to ensure that humanity’s future would preserve our planet’s beauty for future generations by providing the utmost care to its fragile environment. In 1970, after some of the first Apollo missions, the Clean Air Act was passed signifying a new age of preserving our planet and global environmental consciousness. In the subsequent years, Earth Day was born (1970), the Environmental Protection Agency was founded (1970), the Clean Water Act was established (1972), and the Endangered Species Act was passed (1973). The new perspective gained from early American space exploration directly influenced a new age of preserving our planet’s environment and its resources for future generations. By further investing in space exploration, we will ensure the protection of our planet’s future by bestowing humanity an even greater appreciation of the remarkable beauty of the “only home we have ever known.” (Sagan)

By investing in our nation’s space program, we are also investing in getting closer to finding answers to some of the most fundamental questions about life on Earth. Since the beginning of recorded human history, we have yearned to know about life’s origins, how the universe began, how our world was created, and if we are alone in this vast emptiness. Now, we have finally begun to create the technology that provides humanity with the opportunity of answering these queries by exploring space and the answers that it holds. The creation and funding of NASA has been the largest step ever taken towards getting the answers to these fundamental questions and fulfilling humanity’s curiosity. Now that the opportunity has presented itself for the first time ever, humanity should use the opportunity to its maximum potential. As space exploration and research continues, we only continue to realize how much of the universe is still unknown to us. The enigma that lies in future space exploration and the value of venturing out into the unknown is currently not quantifiable as the incredible discoveries that lie ahead and the revolutionary technologies that could result from future exploration can only be found if we take the risks necessary to put ourselves into the unfamiliar territory of the cosmos.

Not only does space exploration delve into our existential curiosities but it also invests in future generations by inspiring young people to work in science. When the youth of America are fortunate enough to see a NASA mission unfold, it taps directly into the curiosity involved with childhood and gives these children a concrete purpose to excel in mathematics and science. The investment in a national space program “appeals to the imagination of the student and provides him with an additional stimulus to remain in school.”(Jastrow and Newell) The Apollo program inspired nearly two generations of kids to grow up and become scientists, technologists, engineers, and mathematicians. Ten years after President Kennedy’s initiation of the Apollo program, the amount of students going into university programs for physical science, engineering, and mathematical PhDs tripled. (ISECG) This inspiration helped develop our economy into the highly technology based one that we have today. By inspiring Americans to work in science, our country can be assured that we will be the global leader in new technology for years to come.

Some contrarians to funding space exploration claim that the funding that goes towards NASA should be used to address problems currently on Earth and that investing in expanding humanity into space is futile when we have issues of our own. What these people do not realize is that the plethora of research that NASA undertakes and technologies that they develop are ubiquitous is our everyday lives and help humanity live much more easily right here on Earth. NASA’s Earth Science Division uses satellites to monitor and develop an understanding of Earth’s complex climate system and it’s response to natural or human induced changes. This division greatly assists in the tracking of our balanced ecosystem so we can know how our planet is changing and what to expect in the future.

In addition to environmental monitoring from space, NASA enhances life on Earth by creating new technologies that are not only revolutionary to the space industry but also extremely beneficial to many aspects of our daily activities and well-being. The challenging problems that must be solved for spaceflight inevitably create innovations that are found to be useful in everyday life as well. It that been found that “NASA has documented nearly 1,800 spinoff technologies in the annual NASA Spinoff publication” (Varone). These “spin-off” inventions include LED lighting, ear-thermometers, cordless tools, water-filters, long distance telecommunications, shoe insoles, and many other useful products that assist people in their daily lives. These indirect benefits of space exploration diffuse innovation and create markets that would not have existed before.

NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer Program is the main mechanism that NASA uses to fulfill this goal of diffusing innovation. Since 2001, “NASA’s SBIR/STTR program has invested more than $1.2 billion nationwide into small technology companies”(NASA SBIR/STTR). This program seeks partnerships with U.S. companies that can license NASA technologies and create these “spin-off” technologies. As small, high-tech companies partner with NASA to assist in meeting their research and production needs, technological innovation is stimulated. These partnerships allow these companies to bring groundbreaking new products exclusively to the U.S. economy.

The extreme challenges of space exploration require creative solutions that do not only spawn creative new technologies but greatly expand on already existing ones as well. In its history, NASA’s research has made significant advancements in already existing fields such as weather forecasting, computer engineering, software engineering, solar energy, communications, global imaging, and global positioning systems. As NASA has had the need to adjust existing technologies to fit the harsh conditions of space, it has inadvertently created more efficient adaptations of these technologies. These technologies have significantly contributed to the greater advent of globalization in the 21st century. As communication and computer technologies have become more advanced with significant help from the energies of human space exploration, humanity’s social distances have become shorter and countries have become more interconnected in our increasingly complex world.

In our newly more technologically based society, the international collaboration that comes from space exploration fosters peaceful connections with other nations. Space exploration is a general interest around the world that unites humanity’s efforts and brings us together to work on projects that effect our entire planet. By combining the power of multiple nations in common objectives, humanity is able to accomplish larger tasks and more effectively address global challenges that arise. The European Space Agency has successfully demonstrated international cooperation of 20 countries throughout their history as they have made great advancements in space exploration. These great advancements have been demonstrated by their recent Rosetta mission to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko as well as with the success of their Ariane rocket program.

In addition to the European Space Agency’s success, the International Space Station has demonstrated one of the most successful international collaborations ever attempted with 14 nations that have visited it. The International Space Station clearly demonstrates the functional aspect of international cooperation in space as it enables partners with different amounts of investment to gain access to this one-of-a-kind laboratory, not affordable for any single partner, and therefore allows the whole world to share its benefits. This international cooperation that results from space exploration greatly assists with maintaining healthy relations in many parts of international politics that do not directly correlate with space programs. As space exploration progresses to greater missions, it will continue to formulate patterns of international cooperation that promote peace among nations.

As these countries contribute portions of their federal budgets to their space agencies each year and private space companies continue to expand, the need for governmental funding of space exploration continues to come into question. These opponents of funding space exploration argue that private corporations make federal space agencies unnecessary as they can be more efficient and do not require funding from each country’s taxes. In recent years, private space companies have simply acted as contractors for NASA, other government entities, and communications companies as they have provided transportation services for our country’s satellites and supplies into low earth orbit. Although these corporations can efficiently act as transport for space tourism and supplies to low earth orbit for years to come, government exploration is necessary to act as the forefront to all other commercial space activity. Additionally, the main contributor to the funding of corporations such as SpaceX or Orbital Sciences is NASA and the services that they request. Without the funding of NASA, the main customer of these corporations would seize to exist along with the many jobs that these corporations provide. By defunding NASA the expansion of our exploration to further distances in space would come to a halt, as the development of the technologies needed for this advancement would also not be able to be created as rapidly.

Possibly one of the most important results from the funding of space exploration is the insurance of the survival of the human race. The chance of an extinction level event due to an asteroid collision is unlikely during our existence, but “city-killer asteroids are estimated to hit Earth about once every 1,000 years”. (Telegraph) These asteroids are any that are above 165 feet wide. Although this may seem small, an asteroid of this size would have the power to completely destroy a city as large as Houston. This means that it is imperative to our definite survival that we identify the potentially hazardous asteroids in our solar system and design a way to prevent them from affecting life on Earth. At this time, NASA has stated that “only about 10 percent of an estimated 10,000 potential city killer asteroids…have been found”. (Telegraph) Beyond just city-killer asteroids, extinction level events from asteroids or possibly other causes on Earth could lead to the humans race’s downfall as well. By NASA furthering our reach into space and eventually making life multi-planetary, we are undoubtedly ensuring the survival of our species. By increasing the funding of NASA, they will be able to drastically increase their research of our solar system and ensure our survival for the future by preventing asteroid collisions and bringing us to new worlds.

The only action that can be taken to guarantee that all of these benefits continue to come from space exploration is by funding NASA’s purpose beyond the current amount. The further defunding of the United States’ national space program will only take away from the aforementioned values that this administration has for our country. By increasing the funding that we allocate to NASA, more people will gain an unparalleled perspective of our planet, more fundamental questions about life on Earth will be able to be answered, and there will be more awareness of the fragility of our planet. The increased funding will also allow for the creation of more spin-off inventions, more monitoring of the most important aspects of our planet’s ecosystem with NASA’s Earth Science Division, and more investment in the future generations on the United States. Along with the advancement of the United States’ position as an international collaborator and insurance of humanity’s survival, the inspirational, technological, and economical values that derive from space exploration will only continue to grow for the benefit of humanity. Now at this vital point in humanity’s history it is time to take these values of NASA into consideration and provide one of the greatest accomplishments of humanity with more funding.