Space Exploration Synthesis Essay

Space exploration and its consequences is an issue that is oftennot considered by the American public, or any country's public. Although the development of technology and the possibility of having people on Mars is an amazing stride in technology and the advancement of humans, there are some issues that must be considered before space exploration is to be continued, The most common topic of the argument for or against exploration of space is the amount of financial burden that will be added to tax payers, but the ethical consequences such as the effect of exploration on the environment must also be considered.

When we review the pennies of Federal dolllars that are spent only 6% goes towards space, technology, and the environment development. This amount may seem low, but only 4% goes towards education, employment, and social services (Source C). The argument that our money should stay on Earth is valid, and the question that should really be asked her is: How can we as a nation, believe that it is more important to spend our taxes on space exploration, reather than to improve our own societal issues, and as an imperfect system are we really ready to move out of Earth and settle on Mars?

The next issue to be considered is whther or not space exploration is ethical. in McLean's article "To Boldly Go: Ethical Considerations for Space Exploration", she discusses the impact that space exploration has on Earth's environment and teh environment of the solar system. The argument made is that all humans have ever doneis expand into new frontiers, and destroyed the beauty of nature in the process, so why would we want to do the same to the solar system? It is not our place to invade the solar system, instead we should be the "responsible managers of its wonder and beauty (Source E)."

Not only is environmental destruction an ethical concern with space exploration, but the fact that we could cause "forward contamination" and infect extraterrestrial lifeforms is a huge concern (SourceF). Richard Greenberg provides the fact that when our astronauts returned from space they were quarantined with the fear that they could carry an unknown germ (Source F). With that taken into consideration and even knowing that historically as new civilizations move into another land disease spreads like wildfire (ie Native Americans in the New World), why would we rick contaminating space?

In conclusion the issue of space needs to be well thought out in order to make the right choices, and not harm other communities in the process.

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I find Synthesis essays to be the easiest to write, simply because of the fact that all the information you need is provided through mutiple sources, you must only chose a position and prove it through the sources given to you. This was the most difficult synthesis essay we wrote all year and it was definitely thought provoking and it was difficult to choose a stance on the situation, but withthe information given it was obvious that one side of the argument was a bit easier to prove than the other.