This is an opinion essay on why space exploration is worth spending 15 billion dollars on it

Essay by i-pimp-nerdsJunior High, 9th grade February 2004

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NASA's Budget is Worth It

The large budget given to NASA is worth it. With the space program we gain a lot of knowledge about our surroundings and our future. Through the space program we can measure all sorts of thing about our planet, like air pressure and ocean water temperature. The technology that NASA has developed helps us in everyday life. Satellites relay TV and communications signals. Information gathered in shuttle development prompted improvements in smoke detectors. The development of space suits helped scientists create better home insulation for those cold nights. Another way that NASA based technology develops helps us is found in the suits that astronauts wear in space. These space suits helped in the development of better suits for firefighters. President Bush proposed to increase NASA's budget to 15 ½ Billion dollars in 2004, raising the budget 90 million dollars from last year and up 2 billion from 1998.

From our space program we learn all about our planet. For example, how much water there is and how hot the earth is. In the early 70's NASA started to launch a series of satellites designed to survey the Earths surface. The ability to observe changes on Earth over a long period of time provides important information in such areas as agriculture, prospecting for oil and minerals, locating fresh water, preserving wildlife, monitoring water and air pollution, mapping the growth of cities, and flood control.

From NASA, studying other planets and their history helps us predict what might happen to earth in the future. The scientists at NASA are studying Mars in depth to see how come all the water on Mars is in the polar caps and nowhere else. They sent up another mars rover named Spirit that landed on mars on January 3, 2004 but...