Maybe it’s the idea of an entirely undiscovered universe or the idea of being stuck in a metal tube for who knows how long, but I have never been a fan of space. If the world was ending and I had to choose between going into space or staying on Earth, I’d choose Earth. Growing up watching movies and shows like “Armageddon,” “Interstellar,” “Gravity” and “The 100,” each filled with tragic death and horrible living conditions, I never really thought space was the salvation of mankind. Why would I want the fate of these fictional characters?
The human race sent the first person into space in 1961, but the fascination and study of space have existed for thousands of years. From Babylonian astronomers to ancient Greek philosophers, we have been trying to understand the universe we inhabit since the first and second millennia B.C. This curiosity is natural and I’ll even admit I went through an astrology phase myself, trying to read the stars and understand what they meant. It made sense to me that the time and place you were born could heavily impact personality, and I connect to the idea of everyone having a fate, whether or not they choose to follow it. While I can guess your rising sign like no one’s business, I can’t see why we are investing so much time, money and resources into space exploration when we are quickly approaching irreversible climate change here on Earth. In 2023, $32.33 billion were distributed to NASA by the federal government, accounting for 0.3% of the total U.S. federal budget. And yet, the agency plans to spend only $6.48 Billion.
Rene Castro Salazar, assistant director at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, said in 2019 that an investment of about $300 billion “will stabilize the atmospheric changes, the fight against climate change, for 15-20 years.” NASA has $25.85 billion dollars they don’t plan to use, a sum that would cover 8% of a life-changing sum that could contribute to saving the Earth, and it is going to waste.
While there are currently many climate change initiatives attempting to repair the damage to the ozone layer and reduce the global temperature, if the global initiatives continue on their current track, the average global temperature will increase 2.8 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels by 2030. This disastrous leap would cause catastrophic damage to the earth in the form of heat waves, flooding and more. Not enough is being done to repair the damage to the Earth, and not enough resources are being allocated to the issue. Meanwhile, space exploration is receiving billions of dollars they do not plan to use, and it has yet to find a suitable alternative to Earth should the apocalypse occur.
Billionaires like Jeff Bezos say they spend more money on climate change than space travel, but there’s still a public desire by him and others such as Elon Musk to commercialize space travel, build space hotels and colonize Mars. It’s their money and they can do with it what they like, but why are billionaires so invested in getting to space? Maybe it’s because they grew up watching “Star Trek,” which Bezos himself admits to being a fan of. Maybe they all heard the phrase “reach for the stars” and took it a little too literally. Some have even called this modern Space Race among billionaires a “wasteful ego contest.” With money there is power, and when the people in power dedicate massive amounts of funding to things such as space exploration, they have the potential to influence a great number of people.
Space exploration itself has its flaws. In the first stage of a rocket launch, 116 tons of CO2 are emitted in 165 seconds. Because the rocket pollutants are released closer to the mesosphere and in the upper parts of the atmosphere, this pollution lasts for a longer time than that emitted by low-flying aircraft. Pollutants emitted by rockets are also almost 500 times more efficient at holding heat in the atmosphere than all sources of soot combined. Though space exploration is not the largest contributor to pollution, the rise in space tourism could change this. Our attempts at finding a second chance should the Earth fail are hastening our impending doom as our planet is becoming uninhabitable.
Why are we trying to find another planet for the human race to inhabit when we have evolved and developed here on Earth? The idea that Earth is the only planet in the entire universe with inhabitants is entirely unrealistic. I have always believed that there are aliens out there, but not funny green blobs or scary parasites that come out of your chest. If we continue to increase the funding for space exploration, we could colonize and find another planet to hold humans, but I don’t see why we should. We have proven we cannot take care of our home planet because this climate crisis is a direct result of the actions of humans. Who is to say that we won’t bring the same troubles we have experienced on Earth somewhere else? This might be a pessimistic view of the human race, but we need to face the problems we have created instead of trying to run away from them.
Let’s say that we miraculously create spaceships that can support human life for decades-long travel and find another planet: Who gets to go? Logically, we would need people with professions such as farmers, doctors and engineers to create a sustainable living environment. It can be argued that once we’re up there, we won’t really need the billionaires that are obsessed with space. Their money will have no use on Mars or in the process of dealing with aliens, and I think they know that. Of course, you can’t really tell the people funding this backup plan they are not needed, so on the ship they will likely go. When it comes to everyone else, though, we can’t decide who is worth saving, or who should do the saving. It is a situation bound to end in disaster because it will be a decision made by what one person believes is best. Don’t worry, I’m taking myself out of the picture. I’ll wave goodbye to the ship and enjoy the apocalypse.
Just because I believe that deciding who gets on the ship will be a disaster doesn’t mean I think no one should be able to. If such a situation were to happen, I can only hope that everyone who wants to go is able to, but that’s unrealistic. The people in power will decide. Consider getting in touch with some billionaires if you want to throw your name into the mix.
For those who are not completely terrified as I am of the endlessness of space, and dream to travel beyond this atmosphere, I hope one day you will get there. But more than anything, the Earth is in crisis, and the clock is ticking on how much time we have left to save it. The solutions to this problem cannot be found in the stars.
Lara Tinawi is an Opinion Columnist writing about campus culture, society and her everyday musings. She can be reached at ltinawi@umich.edu.