Space Exploration: the Advance of Mankind

When mentioning about the topic of outer space, the things that pop into people's minds are usually about the beautiful and fascinating photographs of the planets, stars, and the galaxy. What people often do not know is that there are far more mysteries further above the clouds and the airplanes, and the night sky where only the moon and the stars are seen. Outside of planet earth and the solar system, there are a thousand other planets and a huge amount of unknown left for humans to discover. The only way to learn about the mysterious and limitless universe is to explore it, and humans are the pathfinders to discover more about the outer space. Space exploration is one great advance of mankind and is worth the amount of money spent on investment because it allows humans to discover more about the universe and locate valuable resources, and is creating beneficial advancements in fields including technology and medicine. While exploring space, humans can make discoveries in the universe to gain more knowledge about it and find many beneficial resources.

One of the purposes of space exploration is to discover more in space and observe them. Two years ago, scientists found the star Proxima Centauri that lies only 4.2 light-years away from Earth's sun. In August 2016, they discovered a planet orbiting in Proxima Centauri's habitable zone, increasing the possibility that life might have evolved there. This newly discovered planet Proxima b, with a minimum mass of about 1.27 times Earth's mass, has a great chance of being a habitable planet (Cofield). During space exploration, scientists may locate another habitable planet where humans can move to live on if earth becomes inhabitable or even new species. Humans can learn about the unknown in the outer space and have a learn more about other planets in the universe except earth. As humans are using the resources on earth at a fast rate, our planet would not have enough resources to use, while the outer space contains essential resources for earth to use.In space, humans are able to find resources such as precious rocks and other minerals. Solar energy in space and metallic asteroid from the moon are examples of resources in space. Raw materials from asteroids are mined near earth asteroids, and are then harvested and processed into refined and usable supplies that can be manufactured into finished products. These can only be found in space and contain high abundances of water and important elements (Asteroid Mining). Water and other precious is abundant in the solar system and is necessary to life both on earth and in space. Water is important because it supports humans with drinking water, agriculture, and is the basic of all lives.

Space exploration not only allows humans to discover more about the outer space, but also leads to the creation of advancements in technology and medicine. Space exploration allows humans to create the most advanced technological and medical developments. As President John F. Kennedy stated, medical space research may revolutionize the technology and the techniques of modern medicine (John F. Kennedy: Remarks in San Antonio at the Dedication of the Aerospace Medical Health Center. - November 21, 1963.). Advancements made during space exploration strongly benefit because they the technology and medical can be used to develop new inventions. Technology used in space programs led to the creation of commercial products such as the water purification system, satellites, satellite television, and GPS (Benefits Of Space Exploration.). Using satellites, humans can receive television programming from a communication satellite orbiting the earth that delivers it directly to the viewer's location and use GPS to get information about location and time. The technology advanced from outer space proves to be another advancement of mankind. Both a satellite sent into space and an electronic pain-control device implanted in a patient are only possible because of the development of space programs. Space exploration has also led to the creation of new and improved medical equipment including cancer detection devices, small heart pumps and laser eye surgery (Benefits Of Space Exploration.).

Scratch-resistant lenses for eyeglasses and dental braces are also examples of medical advancements from space exploration. Heart pacemakers work through electronic monitoring, which is similar to ones used to operate satellites orbiting the earth (CNN). In addition, the kidney dialysis machines were discovered during a NASA project and the technology was created for purifying water while in space (Admin). Now, the kidney dialysis machine can filter blood for patients who experience kidney failure. These devices were first made for space exploration, but were later modified as medical advancements to benefit patients in need. The advancements made by space exploration are beneficial to humans in the medical field as well. This is a graph of the core focus of space exploration by NASA in 2016. As seen on the graph, exploration and space operation uses most of the budget, costing 8.5 billion dollars. Other fields of science and physics make up the rest of the core focuses. Altogether, the total amount of money spent on space exploration by NASA in 2016 is about 13.65 billion dollars. Some might say that the money spent on space exploration is too much and do not benefit human lives on earth. The total annualbudgetof space agencies in the United States is estimated to be $41.8 billion (Space Exploration Pros and Cons: a Waste of Money?).$41.8 billion is a large amount of money, and can be used to make many other advancements in other fields that are more beneficial to humans.

However, the benefits and returns of space exploration creates infinity more wealth than the money invested. The gains from space exploration is not able to be calculated by the amount of money because the discoveries and advancements it brings back is beyond price. The advancements are not able to be made without space exploration, and will not be able to benefit humans. The amount of money spent on space exploration is worth the cost because the benefits include new discoveries and resources in space and more advanced developments in technology and medicine. Discoveries lead to a better understanding of space and essential resources such as minerals are found. Advancements made by space exploration benefit human lives in many ways such as new innovations and advanced medical equipment. As humans are exploring space, they are actually contributing to the advancement of discovering more of the world.

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