Why should we spend money on NASA when we have so many problems here on Earth? Our planet is riddled with numerous issues, such as poverty, starvation and global warming just to name a few. The money we’re spending towards space exploration would be put to much better use by solving the problems on Earth first, right?

Wrong.

Despite it seeming like space exploration is a waste of money on the surface, once you dig deeper, you’ll realise it actually has several benefits. Aspiring towards new heights often creates solutions for us.

For example, SMAP (Soil Moisture Active Passive) is an Earth-orbiting satellite developed by NASA; once it’s in orbit, it deploys an antenna boom which has a radiometer attached-which can measure the soil moisture levels on Earth. This allows us to predict droughts, monitor floods and even predict crop yields for a given year!

That’s not all. According to NASA, there are 5 rovers on mars as of today, exploring the terrain and whether the red planet could be habitable in the future. Life on earth may be threatened by climate change, pollution, depletion of resources, infectious diseases or even nuclear war-making space exploration necessary to see if humans could pursue their lives on Mars. The likelihood of something catastrophic happening anytime soon is unlikely, but the consequences it would have are deadly, so it's best to be prepared!

Space technology is involved much more in your daily life than you would think. Communication satellites-also called ‘space mirrors’-allow us to perform basic tasks like get GPS driving instructions on your phone, as well as enabling us to watch TV, and we can even predict the path of hurricanes more accurately.

Hansika Vemula-15-agrees with these points, she thinks, “space exploration is important, as it allows us to learn more about our universe.”

In spite of all these hugely beneficial advantages of space exploration, we must consider the drawbacks too. Many people feel there is a possibility of polluting space with old satellites and other pieces of equipment. This is quite a significant concern-we've already polluted the Earth and are experiencing the consequences; we can’t let the same happen to space.

Funding a national space program is also very expensive, including all the costs dedicated towards research and resources.

Aesha Patel-also 15-thinks, “We can use technologies made for space exploration to benefit us on Earth, however, it can also be considered a waste of money as that money can be used in better ways.”

Personally, my opinion on this falls somewhere in the middle. Space exploration clearly has major benefits for life on Earth and in space and I feel like I lean towards this side of the argument more. However, I can understand the disadvantages some people may see of this program.

I think space exploration should continue to happen, we'll be grateful when we reap many of its benefits in the future.