Reaction Paper On Space Exploration

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is perhaps the most well known space agency in the world. Since its formation in 19581, it has pioneered in space science, yet is also renowned for its large budget. NASA has the highest budget of any space agency, $18.6 billion2 in 2015, the equivalent of every American paying $54 towards the agency3, meaning 0.14% of total GDP is spent on NASA3 . This money is spent on the ISS, sending astronauts, probes and satellites into space, astrophysics and planetary science research, maintaining and developing NASA’s space telescopes (the Wide Field Infrared Survey telescope searching for dark energy and exoplanets, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope) and developing spacecraft2. Space exploration is an incredibly expensive process with one shuttle launch costing $450 million4 however NASA’s colossal budget benefits the USA greatly; the agency employs 18,000 people5 as astronauts, engineers, scientists and teachers and G. Scott Hubbard, former director of the NASA Ames Research Center estimates that every dollar spent on NASA returns $8 to the economy6.While this figure is an estimate, it demonstrates NASA’s worth and capacity for money making. NASA works on pioneering research and as its patents and licenses return to the US treasury, it

To conclude my argument I can definitely say that space exploration is worth the cost. It generates wealth for America and can broaden the knowledge of many people across the country. As Kennedy said in his speech, “...we shall climb this wall with safety and speed and we shall explore the wonders on the other side.” With all the progress that has been made, humans can decide that space is indeed a

In the past 50 years, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sent out many planned space exploration missions which have lead to numerous advantages in society and culture. NASA’s technologies benefit American lives with the innumerable important breakthroughs by creating new markets that have spurred the economy and changed countless lives in many ways. NASA is a federal agency and receives its fundings from the annual federal budget passed by the United States Congress. However, there are conflicting opinions that consider whether or not funding for NASA is a waste of government spending.

Space exploration is a subject of much debate in regards to its funding. There has always been a divide in opinions on space exploration. Many people, usually engineers or those in the field of science, have been in favor of space exploration and the innovations it could bring. Other people, such as politicians and businessmen, see space exploration as a waste of funding that does not result in profit or benefits. However, aerospace engineers are currently planning several space programs that could bring many benefits to the United States. Investing in space exploration will benefit the U.S. in the future by contributing knowledge, providing resources, and possibly finding another habitable planet.

The American space program as well as the United States economy is facing many challenges at this time but we need to look at what the long term costs of not continuing a robust manned and unmanned space program will be. The solar system holds many mysteries and an untold amount of untapped resources that if not explored and utilized by the United States will be utilized by other Nations. With finite resources on Earth any nation that is able to tap into new resources will be at a tremendous

To start with, space exploration generates great wealth for America. “Economic, scientific, and technological returns of space have far exceeded the investment”, said Dr. Joan Vernikos (“Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost” 29-31). Space exploration does cost quite a bit but, the benefits greatly out number the cost. “In 2007, NASA’s budget of $16.3 billion is a minute fraction of the $13 trillion total G.D.P.”, said Dr. Joan Vernikos. Space explorations budget is so limited, yet so much comes out of it. So in other words, Space exploration is risky and does cost money but the benefits are phenominiall.

The authors Pielke R. Jr and Byerly R. of the article “Shuttle Programme Lifetime Cost”, discuss in detail the amount of money it takes for NASA to launch a Space Shuttle. I found in this document, how much the Space Administration spent for each separate Space Shuttle launch. “During the operational years from 1982 to 2010, the average cost per launch was about $1.2 billion. Over the life of the programme, this increases to about $1.5 billion per launch”(p. 38). This source brought a new perspective into my thought process about how costly the space programs can be. The authors of the article presented the information though graphs as well, which I intend to include in my final research paper. This source also had me eager to look up how much the National Government has funded NASA over the past years.

    How much do you think it costs to fund a satellite launch? Maybe $10 million, or $20 million? According to www.airspacemag.com, it can cost anywhere from $50 million to $500 million, depending on the equipment and materials used. This amount is miniscule compared to the substantial $728 billion spent on military/defense in 2011. With the less than 1% given to NASA, it has already made a great deal of discoveries and achievements. Some of these tremendous accomplishments include being the first country to the moon and never-before-seen images taken by Hubble telescope and Chandra X-Ray Observatory. Not only has NASA changed exploration of space forever, but some of their great effort has affected humans directly! We need to keep exploring, and discover new information and knowledge of where we live!

The overall cost of spaceflight has always been an overlooked topic since before the STS program with the program that launched the first man to the moon, The Apollo Mission Program (1961-1975). The Apollo program was designed to be a tool in the cold war, it was the race to space between the United Sates of America and the U.S.S.R. The program’s funding was very high but it ultimately achieved the goal of a manned lunar expedition. The overall cost of the Apollo missions was about $170 Billion American dollars (based on 2005 currency), there were 17 total mission, making each mission about $10B/each. Once the Apollo missions accomplished their main goal, the Nation realized that it needed to sanction a new program to lift the heavily funded program, that where STS came into place. The Main goal of the STS was to replace the Apollo Program and drop the cost of space travel, and it did. At the end of the STS program the Total cost

In July, 1969 NASA proudly managed to send humans to the moon. This was caused by american citizens putting there money forth and managing to reach the requirements to reach the moon. This trip costed america $355 million dollars. This tells us that it is possible to reach our goals of going to the moon. NASA has also done other astounding things in space. One major benefit from NASA is their satellites. The satellites NASA has created

Since the beginnings of our existence as a human race we have been exploring. We have sailed the globe and civilized wilderness frontiers. Now that we have completely explored the earth, we begin to look toward space. Exploring space is an enormous challenge that requires brilliant minds and leaps forward in technology. In order for space exploration to be successful we need it to be a priority. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has long been a pioneer in the field of space exploration, but due to changing political attitude it is at risk to lose much of its funding. NASA should not have its funding reduced because: NASA develops the technology that benefits the public; their missions bring countries together; they are developing technology we will need in the future; and the advance to progress of the human race. The future of humanity will depend on the technological innovations and the international cooperation that NASA facilitates.

NASA(National Aeronautic and Space Administration) Is america’s space program but we also have another private company called SpaceX which is owned by Elon Musk. The average Nasa space shuttle launch ran about 1.2 billion dollars. Yet, a rocket launch from SpaceX’s largest rocket costs about 90 million dollars While this is still a considerable amount of money it is still a fraction of what the space shuttle would use. Even Nasa new rocket that they are developing will cost a projected 500 million dollars per launch. Another thing that makes SpaceX’s rockets so cheap is that they have recently became reusable as of June 25,2015. Nasa has been surrounded in controversy since the first moon landing. People believe it was faked by the government

The funding for NASA in comparison to other forms of discretionary spending by the government, shows an unfair distribution of money by miscalculating the worth of the space industry. In the past, NASA has proven its resourcefulness to the people by transferring a multitude of space technology and services to commercial use. By the year 2018, NASA will obtain a budget of $19.7 billion U.S. dollars (Office of Management and Budget), an amount that underestimates the value of NASA to the U.S. Studies estimate a $7-$14 return on investment for every $1 of NASA expenditure, with all of it going directly back into the U.S. Treasury (NASA: Spinning Off Since 1962), this means contributions towards government owned space agencies offer an economical

Companies such as Space Exploration Technologies offer NASA a cheaper, and overall better to reach Earth orbit and interplanetary space than any projects currently in development by NASA. When Elon Musk founded Space X, he wanted to radically change how rocket launches worked. He had the idea to recover the first stage of rockets, and then reuse them. He believed that this would allow him to offer launches at a considerably reduced cost when compared to non-reusable rockets. As it turns out, Musk was right. The current Falcon 9 version costs at lowest 49 million dollars to launch, a large decrease over the average NASA launch cost of 200 million dollars. (Falcon 9) The main reason that SpaceX is able to offer these low costs is due to their

The world today revolves around technology and is in an ever upward spiraling path of new advancements. This path is now at what some people call the “final frontier”, or the space age. The discoveries being made on this front are overwhelming in comparison to the technology that the world had only twenty years ago. Space exploration was once left up to the governments, as they battled to be the first country in space, but with national debts raising and the cuts made in response, space exploration is beginning to become new grounds for private business owners. Private companies are already beginning to send off rockets at a fraction of the cost that government does, but if more money was put into the government space program, then they