This year, the James Webb Space Telescope was finally launched after many delays throughout those past 10 years. With its cutting-edge technology, it will allow us to peer further into space than any other telescope. A humongous sum of around 10 billion US dollars was spent in its construction. This has left many people wondering whether that much money should have instead been used to help the poor. Let us have a closer look at this issue. Many people believe space exploration is a waste of resources. After all, in the United States, around 35 million people are still living in poverty. That is around 25 times the population of Mauritius! Those people believe that this money should instead be used to provide food, clothing and finance education for destitute people. The US government spends approximately 20 billion US dollars to fund NASA while investing around 800 billion dollars in its military. Comparatively, NASA actually only has 2.5% of the funding of that the military receives. Why does the space industry get all the blame for wasting money while billions are spent to wage pointless wars? The space industry has indirectly helped many poor people by providing them with jobs. Unlike before, space is no longer a monopoly. With companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin emerging, thousands of new jobs have been created. Software engineers, financial advisors and even janitors are but a few examples. The space industry is not only responsible for creating new jobs but also new technologies. Artificial limbs, insulin pumps, firefighting equipment and solar cells are among the technologies that were improved on by NASA for its missions. These technologies have improved and even saved the lives of many people. People living in poor countries mainly use solar power and artificial limbs have enabled disabled people to overcome their handicap. Few people know that this is thanks to companies like NASA that all of this was possible. Who knows, if more funding was invested in the space industry, how many more people would have their lives improved? Devices like satellites, which were invented for space exploration are helping to fight poverty. They can examine living conditions of people and assess their economic conditions. It can be extremely hard to carry out reliable poverty surveys. One such example is Africa, where 14 have not been able to conduct any poverty survey in the last decade. To better fight poverty, we must first understand it. Satellites can also help to predict natural disasters and evacuate people in the regions that will be affected. In 1986, NASA partnered with the U.S Geological Survey to detect and prevent famine through the Famine Early Warning System (FEWS). BY using NASA satellites, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) was able to predict famine conditions in sub-Saharan Africa and save the lives of thousands of people. Right now, tens of thousands of people around the world are forced to work in hazardous work sites like mines to obtain rare earth metals. These metals are essential for the devices we take for granted, like computers and cell phones to work. Workers who work in those mines are most of the time, poor people who have no other options and often die early due to radioactivity or the poor quality of the air in those mines. Even worse, sometimes even young children are forced to work in these atrocious conditions just to survive. According to the Guardian, children as young as 7 were reported working in perilous conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo to mine cobalt which is used in our cars, smartphones and computers. With new technology, it would be possible tom mine these metals from space. There are many metals rich asteroids near the earth that are prime targets for mining. Granted, the technology has not been completely perfected but many scientists and engineers around the world are working to make space mining cheaper and more accessible. While it is true that many people are living in poverty around the world, defunding the space industry is not the solution. Other industries like the military should have their fi=funds cut in order to help the impoverished and provide them with education. To cripple an industry that provides hope and opportunities for people instead of one that causes pain and destruction is folly.
BY HAASHIM EARALLY
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