Question

Do you think the cost of space exploration is justified? To answer this question with facts do the following: Listed below are two lists. List A has astronomy-related projects and List B has other entities. Choose one item from each list, research their budgets and give a link to the data. Next give your frank assessment about the numbers you discovered. Do you think the costs are justified?   Support your answer with reasons.

List A

Apollo Moon Landings, International Space Station, Hubble Space Telescope, Mars Rover Spirit, Mars Rover Opportunity, Mars Rover Curiosity, Chandra X-ray Observatory, Spitzer Infrared Telescope, SOHO, Voyager missions, Cassini-Huygens Missions, Dawn Spacecraft, New Horizons Project, Keck Telescopes, McDonald Observatory, Very Large Array (VLA), WISE Mission.

List B

Dallas Independent School District, Dallas County Community Colleges, Parkland Hospital, University of Texas at Austin, Texas A & M University at College Station, Dallas Cowboys, Dallas Mavericks, Texas Rangers Baseball, Dallas Stars, Texas Instruments, Walmart, Microsoft, Apple, Blackboard, Exxon-Mobil, LBJ Frwy Expansion Project, American Red Cross, Salvation Army.

Answer 1

From the list A, I chose Hubble space telescope.

Although hubble telescope is a costlier affair but given its ability for deep space exploration, this cost is just a number. The use of this telescope has enabled the scientists to look where we never ever dreamt of looking.

However, if we need to talk about its cost, The construction , designing and launch of hubble telescope has incurred a total cost of around 4.5 billion dollars. However, it's not like that we just launch and forget. NASA has to keep an eye on its trajetory and its functioning because a small malfunction can make this billion dollar telescope useless. It is estimated that around 90 million dollar per year is to be spent by NASA for its successfull operation.

From list B, I chose University of Texas austin, As per a report published , The University of Texas System Board of Regent approved an $18.3 billion operating budget for the 2018 fiscal year to fund operations which is around 4.5 times more than initial budget of hubble telescope and however, hubble also has operating cost, but still budget of UT austin surpasses total cost of hubble and its operation.

So, I think cost of space exploration is justified with a fact that it gives us immense opportunities to look at the possibilities of new world.