Public benefits that flow from space-related activities include scientific advances that have an impact on people’s life at various levels, including intellectual stimulation, access to a manifold spectrum of applications, from commercial and economic, to personal applications, but also national defense and national security. [1] Leaving Earth offers a better, clearer view of the universe, without atmospheric obscurations. Scientific advances may seem to benefit a small niche, specific fields such as astronomy, geophysics and geology, but also life sciences – biology and chemistry, which in turn have an impact on the science medicine and pharmaceutics. The progress made in medical technology is also a byproduct of space activities. Since every single person’s life is impacted by the field of medicine, there is no doubt that scientific advances brought by space exploration had tremendous benefits for everyone. [2]
Satellites, either meteorological, of navigation, or communication, have brought comfort in everybody’s life. Remote-sensing satellites improved the commercial and economic capabilities. Exploring space allows experimentation in a free fall environment, allowing testing and developing materials. Space exploration offers access to plentiful resources such as solar energy and materials that are not existent on Earth. [3] But space is also the final frontier of exploration and therefore it offers a new and unique challenge, stimulating the inherent human quality to explore. Space activities expand humanity’s knowledge and range of action. Finally, national defense has been greatly impacted by rocket science and various types of satellites in Earth’s orbit. However, exploring space not only brings security, but also propels a nation to a higher step in the world’s hierarchy. A nation capable of exploring space is a powerful nation.
Despite all these benefits, there are people complaining that the tax-payers have to pay for an expensive space program without having any immediate advantages. On top of the fact that any scientific research is conducted for the benefit of all humanity, much of people’s comfort comes from space exploration. Nobody would give up his cell phone, computer or TV. The space program is not only worth every penny, but it is probably the most profitable there is for the entire humanity.
NASA has released an application that demonstrates how space-related activities impact everyone's life on a daily basis. The application is called NASA @ Home and City and it is worth giving it a try. [4]
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Notes:
[1] Kay, W.D. Defining NASA: The Historical Debate over the Agency's Mission. State University of New York Press, Albany, 2005, 8.
[2] Ibid, 8.
[3] Sellers, Jerry Jon. Understanding Space: An Introduction to Astronautics, 3rd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005, 3.
[4] NASA. NASA @ Home and City. http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasacity/index2.htm (accessed March 15, 2012).
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References
Kay, W.D. Defining NASA: The Historical Debate over the Agency's Mission. State University of New York Press, Albany, 2005.
NASA. NASA @ Home and City. http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/nasacity/index2.htm (accessed March 15, 2012).
Sellers, Jerry Jon. Understanding Space: An Introduction to Astronautics, 3rd Edition. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2005.
