Salman 1

Nataly Salman
Mr. Brook
Economics
19 March 2014
Fun-dings
Over the years, technology has made huge advances toward the well-being of humans.
Recently, there has been controversy regarding the funding of space exploration by the federal
government. While many believe that this financing is beneficial to the overall knowledge of our
solar system, others believe that government should cut down its funding for space programs, as
the money could be used for the sake of our own people, that we are already in debt, and space
wouldn't fit into the list of the Unites States' top priorities.
First and foremost, the exploration of space is very costly. Billions of dollars have already
been put towards these programs, and new programs would cost roughly $550 billion to $1
trillion dollars! Thats $50,000,000-$1,000,000,000,000 dollars; and, as of right now- the
national debt is at about $18,000,000,000,000 and is increasing at a rate of $2.76 billion per day!
Therefore, before spending more than needed on various programs, the nations budget deficit
needs to change.
Although in the year twenty-fourteen, Earth is still facing many challenges and different
types of crises. Increases in global warming, dirty environments, extinction of animals, world
hunger, terrorism, wars, diseases, etc. All of which affect the daily lives of many civilians, as
well as the condition of our home-Mother Earth. Just as a teenage boy would neglect his
homework for video games, by focusing too much on new discoveries and the technology that
goes into it, we are simply forgetting to care for our own home, the environment, and its people.

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It is bad enough that we face these challenges at home, let alone neglect them and instead
attempt to explore the terrains of everything else in the solar system.
How can we ignore the wreck of the Earth and barely try to bandage its wounds, and,
instead, try to retain information and spend time on the boundaries of our solar system. Of course
these inventions can benefit us in the long run, but the preventions of cures and the starvation of
children and the establishment of a stable society within our country, or even the world, should
be far greater of our concern at the moment rather than the speed of a star or the weight of the
moon. It only makes sense to secure our well-being here on Earth before using the governments
money to explore other regions and planets of the universe. After all, the terrains of our Earth
have yet to be explored. Far beneath the ocean, rainforests, deserts, caves, animal species,
uninhabited land-all left untraveled.
Many people believe that space exploration is needed to sustain life on Earth; but twohundred years ago, when it wasnt supported and brought forth as much, people still survived in
a stable manner. Did they not? Sure, velcro wasnt founded, and we didnt know the distance of a
nebula in light years; but how does that affect us-our planet, our people, our environment- as
civilians of the Earth? It doesnt. How are we sure that there are aliens in space? And why would
we spend trillions of dollars per trip just to barely get any evidence? And what will these aliens
do for us-if they even exist? Many questions come to my mind when the topic of federalgovernment funding of space explorations is brought up, and considering the condition we, as
humans living on Earth, are in, the discoveries of stars and soil on planets can wait a couple of
years.

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