Is Money Spent on a Space Exploration a Waste (Essay Sample)

Is money spent on space exploration a waste?
Name:
Institution:
Is money spent on space exploration a waste?
In the modern world, much money is spent on various projects that significantly affect human life. Governments, research, and scientific institutions from around the world spend an enormous amount of taxpayers’ money on projects aimed at solving the complexities of real world problems. Space exploration is one such project, which continues to cost billions of dollars to the taxpayers. The big question that lingers is whether it is worth to spend all this money on space exploration. The money spent on space is every penny worthy because it is not that expensive while at the same time it has opened opportunities to monitor the earth planet as well as promoting the development of modern communication platforms.
The amount of money spent on funding space exploration projects is not enormous contrary to most people belief. NASA, for instance, is reported to have agreed a proposed budget of $1.6 billion to sponsor a mission to send astronauts to the International Space Station (Bizony, 2011). Similarly, the European Space Agency spent an estimated 4.3 billion Euros in 2013 alone (Farrell, 2014). These figures might appear rather huge, but the truth is that there are projects, which costs much more. For instance, the cost of funding various wars in the world today is rather enormous compared to these figures. Money spent on space exploration is worth every penny considering that these projects are designed to help improve human life.
Another reason that gives credibility to the money spent on space exploration is the fact that it is now possible to monitor the earth more comfortably. The European Space Agency’s Earth Observation is a good example whereby they provide critical information regarding the earth’s service (Farrell, 2014). Specifically, it is possible to identify catastrophes and disasters such as floods, bushfires, tsunamis, volcanoes, and earthquakes among others. All these have been made possible thanks to efforts made possible through space exploration. The development of spacecrafts and satellites would not have been possible without allocating enough money to space exploration.
The development of modern communication platforms is perhaps one of the biggest benefits of space exploration. Long distance communication satellites have helped in resolving modern communication challenges. For instance, Google has numerous satellites in space, which aids in navigation and tracking using the popular platform known as Google Maps. Likewise, most telecommunication companies have individual satellites that help in relaying their communication data. More satellites continue to be established in space thanks to the development of space exploration (BBC News, 1999). All these developments would have been futile were it not for the efforts of space exploration.
In conclusion, it is imprudent to argue that money spent on space exploration is a waste. The amount of money is not as large as many people think...