Does Space Exploration Have Value?

Space exploration missions provide benefits to people’s daily lives (such as weather, gps, communications, etc) while other information learned helps us better understand the world around us (origin of the universe, understanding matter and energy, etc). However, space exploration sometimes has negative consequences.

These short video links may help you form an opinion to the question "Does space exploration provide value?"

NFB: Chris Hadfield Mini Lesson

Human Curiosity:

NASA inspirational video (5 mins)

Carl Sagan - Scientist describing the human quest for understanding (5 mins)

Points of View:

Mark Rober - Is NASA a waste of money? (6 mins)

Mark Grist - Royal Institute - Is space travel worth it? (5 mins)

Space or Ocean? Which should we explore? (3.5 mins)

Neil deGrasse Tyson on space exploration (3 mins)

Chris Hadfield - Allies

Pros:

Improvements in technology

NASA Home and City website

Earth observing and monitoring equipment

Satellites what information do they provide? (3.5 mins)

Space data that is used to monitor the earth (2 mins)

Cons:

Dangers

The use of non-human animals in space exploration (4 mins)

Landing humans on Mars - how dangerous is it? (7.5 mins)

7 Minutes of Terror - the last 7 minutes prior to landing on Mars (5 mins)

Effect of space travel on the human body - what happens to the human body in space travel? (3.5 mins)

Waste

Moon trash (6 mins)

What did we leave on the moon (5 mins)

Space Junk (12 mins)

Space debris (6 mins)

Expense

Comparing big company revenue with space exploration costs (3 mins)