Space exploration is a waste of money. Do you agree or disagree?

In recent years, a considerable government budget has been approved to investigate space searching for extraterrestrial life. However, there is no unanimous consent on whether these expenses are well-considered, as some believe that the resources should be allocated to social programs instead. I oppose such a notion and will prove my point by identifying the economic and social benefits these programs may have on present and future generation. Advocates may express their thought that the government funding should be committed to social welfare in order to raise the living standard of people. Their primary claim has always been that the more money spent on societal activities the higher life quality is. Nonetheless, the genuine quality of life heavily relies on the outcome of each household, not solely on authority funding. There are countries – Kuwait and UAE for example – where the citizens’ standard of living is on the top level mostly thanks to their financial efforts, yet not the government’s budget. For this reason, I strongly object to the idea that a large amount of money from the state ought to be spent on the community. Instead the funds should be used for space discovery. To begin with, complex exploration projects demand intensive and extensive research in various domains, thus promoting multiple industries. Take the NASA programs in the 1960s as a typical example, they resulted in men reaching the moon’s surface and breakthroughs in technologies including micro-computers and mobile phones. Accordingly, the government indirectly addressed numerous problems by offering new jobs and business opportunities, then increasing the American life quality. Moreover, that nations portray space exploration as a long-run investment benefits future generations as the main beneficiary. This common practice has been adopted since Medieval Ages, and it helps establish fundamental geopolitical goals. For instance, the Spanish royal family sponsored the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in the late 15th century, which helped Spain to obtain vast territories in America decades later. There is no doubt that the galaxy is far larger in size and value in comparison to the earth; thus, this strategic allotment would someday bear fruit. In conclusion, I think national leaders should proceed to finance large-scale projects because the discovery of space serves as a powerful spur to both industry and society in the long term. Although it is not entirely predictable, the government has foreseen certain monetary obstacles which are yet to overcome, and spending money on space programs today means having a potentially prosperous future community.