[Letters] Poverty, the next frontier?

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[Letters] Poverty, the next frontier?



Space exploration is quite a contentious issue these days, and has been used frequently as a topic in school debate tournaments as well.

Space exploration has arguably become something of a necessity. Through exploring space, the human race has achieved a lot. Thanks to the anti-gravitational environment, the medical field has made such advancements as Lasik surgery. Many inventions, such as calculators, would not be in daily use if it weren’t for space expeditions.

However, there is a drawback to space science.

Space expeditions are very costly. Billions of dollars are invested in NASA each year, and a big part of it comes from the government. As we all know, NASA is not alone; there are other national space programs and international organizations, including the European Space Agency and Korea Aerospace Research Institute.

While such investments are not futile - they definitely bring about worthy achievements when constant efforts are put in over a long period of time - we must, nevertheless, attend to other urgent matters on Earth.

The UN set up the Millennium Development Goals in 2000 to address such issues. These include human rights, extreme poverty and diseases.

Unfortunately, the project has not been a success, mainly due to a lack of funds. People are dying on this planet, but our attention, along with our money, is out in space. Lee Jee-soo, student
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