Maria Staleos
Mr. Reuter
Econ
Oct. 24 1015
Mars Exploration
Is exploring Mars really needed right now when we’re not even sure of all of the different things on Earth? Human beings are still relatively new to this planet. The earth has been in existence for 4 billion years or so and the human race has only been here for about 6 million years or so, and humans are still evolving. There are still a number of things that are unknown still on Earth. To give an example instead of exploring Mars a substitute scientists could explore the oceans here on Earth, we have only explored about less than 5 percent of the oceans and the planet Earth is about 70% water.
There are things that are unknown on Earth but there is also a lot of mysteries outside of this blue planet we call home, a trade-off could be we could explore a little bit of both, take the budget for one, cut it in half, and use one half for exploring Mars, and the other for exploring the oceans. But in reality, half of whatever the budget for exploring Mars or the oceans probably won’t be nearly enough to try and get new information. Another trade-off is we could just explore one option right now, we could explore Mars or we could explore the oceans. If we did that then opportunity cost wise, the planet could miss out on new information on the one that was chosen not to explore.
This is a very interesting topic, since a mission for Mars is planned for the next couple of decades or so. Although, if we cut the budget for the Mars exploration in half, would we even have enough in the budget to make it there and sustain life? There would be a major opportunity cost there with spending more money to help out the people we would send there. The marginal cost would not outweigh the marginal benefit if we cut the budget in half, as it would if we kept it the same.
ReplyDeleteI agree that we should continue to explore the unknown here on Earth, but I also think Mars should be a high priority as well. That may be a trade off that some people will be unhappy about, but we finally have the technology after years of space exploration and research. Exploring Mars isn’t just about finding Mars things, but it also helps us develop a better understanding of things on Earth. For instance, space exploration in the past has led us to new advances in technology, sciences, and medical research. The things we discover on Mars might help us further our exploration of oceans and other places on Earth.
ReplyDeleteWhile you do make a valid point that we know very little about the earths oceans, I think it is much more productive to explore mars. There are several reasons for space travel, to find new resources, to discover things that cannot exist on earth, and to possibly create a colony. Creating a colony on mars is important, because it would allow us to explore mars much more thoroughly, and at the same time could create an alternative if something happens to earth. Discovering resources on mars is the most important, because we could find something that could improve our way of life. I doubt anything we can discover in the ocean could drastically help us.
ReplyDeleteThis is a cool topic, and I agree that we shouldn't really be spending too much time or money towards exploring Mars, when we live on Earth. There are multiple things about Earth that we still need to explore and discover and we shouldn't be using our time or resources on something that we cannot control. I like the idea of a trade off, where we could perhaps split our budget so we can make time and resources available for both Mars and Earth.
ReplyDeleteI think that we should most definitely go into Martian exploration. While yes, we know more about the night sky than we do about our own oceans, we will have to explore out into the Universe to outlast the time that Earth will come to be inhospitable. The real opportunity cost of exploring Mars rather than the oceans is basically knowing Earth better. I think that if we are to continue to evolve as a species, we need to expand from Earth. Leaving will give us the marginal benefit of knowing that we can make it out in space and discover other worlds of rich resources and new ways of surviving.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this concept of a topic. I would agree with you about the trade-off. I however think that it isn't a wrong time to find out what's outside of earth. Yes it is important to know everything about the earth. But to be honest it's always going to change( at least in my perspective) but so is the outer space. Half and half is an awesome idea. I kind of like the idea of figuring space out more though. Because space is huge. It's never ending and I want to know what could be out there. That's news to me.
ReplyDeleteThis is a difficult thing for me to try to pick. I believe that we should further exploration into mars and then eventually further into the Milky Way; the universe is so vast and we know very little about what could possibly live out in the world. On the other hand I also believe that we should continue to explore the oceans, especially considering scientists and marine biologists are finding new organisms every day on the sea floor. But, for right now, I think we should continue funding for new innovative technologies to help and explore the depths of the oceans since that is what pertains to us humans right now in the present. This would give us the highest marginal benefit, to figure out what lives on earth before we venture out into space further. Perhaps later on in time we could budget our resources and then put more money into space exploration.
ReplyDeleteWhile it is important to continue expanding our knowledge of Earth, I think that scientists should continue to work towards an exploration of Mars. Mars exploration will create an innumerable amount of jobs, because so much has to go into space exploration, including labor, money, equipment, land, and machines, or capital. The creation of all of these jobs will help lower the unemployment rate and stimulate the economy as people are able to spend more with their new income. Additionally, because our planets resources are becoming scarcer by the minute, space exploration may be the only way to provide for ourselves once we run out.
ReplyDeleteWhile I do think that exploring and expanding our knowledge of Earth's oceans is vital, I feel that scientists and NASA should continue to look up into space, rather than downwards into the deep dark ocean. Although oceanic exploration is important, what humans could eventually find on Mars would be far more important to the future of the human race. Overall, I thought that you did a nice job on your blog post, despite some grammatical errors. Also I felt that you could have had a stronger conclusion. But, the topic was very interesting and the economic terminology was incorporated with accuracy. I think it is interesting to add that according to MarsOne, a four manned mission to mars would accumulate to 6 billion USD in expenditures while the oceanic exploration could cost only 270 million in first year costs. Certainly, when examining these prices, the benefits of doing either activity should be analyzed before writing the check. Overall, nice work!
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