Space exploration: price issue

Going to space is an ever so amazing thing, but the price tag that comes with that task is just a tad more than your average day expenses. A shuttle alone will cost the American tax payers at least 1. 7 billion dollars. Well instead of the American tax payer paving the path to space, we need to look to privatize space exploration. Allowing this action to take course will give NASA the abilities to pay private companies a cheaper price than what they are paying Russia to do. Private companies, that are based in the United States, bring so much opportunity for future space travel and the United States. There are several different ways to get to space, but with the abilities private companies bring to the table, nothing else stands a chance.

Private space companies are paving the way for space travel. There are six big space companies trying to prove their worth in this voyage to space. SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are the two front runners when it comes private companies in space. They are both making cargo vessels that go to the International Space Station. Next is Blue Origin and they are working on the the little things, like keeping the astronaut safe with astronaut escape pods. Bigelow Aerospace is different than any of the other companies because they are making space stations. SpaceDev is another company that wants be able to complete supply missions for the International Space station, but their space ship looks more like an actual plane. For the last company venturing out to space, Virgin Galactic, and they are making commercial flights in sub orbit. All of these companies are looking for government contracts, whether that be for cargo missions, parts and pieces for space ships, or even rides to outer space. They just want to come in and do what NASA needs to do for a lower price than what they were going to pay for.

NASA has been spending way too much over the years, and they finally found a way to split the check. Ever since we retired the space shuttle, Enterprise, we have been hitchhiking with the Russians up to space. This is all fine and dandy until you see that they are charging us seventy million a seat. That’s right a seventy million dollars round trip, seems a tad bit steep to me. Well SpaceX came in with a quote around twenty million dollars per seat. Not only do you not spend fifty million dollars, but twenty million stays in the United States. These companies allow NASA to put money into new research now. They do not have to spend money no things we have already accomplished like reaching the International Space Station.

There is just one thing holding back the private space companies, and that is the lack of laws. Until recently nobody made laws about going to space, it was all considered Science Fiction. Alan Duffy thinks we are at that point saying, “ Except 50 years later we ‘ re approaching the very real possibility that a private company will get to the moon, or certainly will attempt the landing, and ushering in this new era potentially of extracting resources from the solar system.” Laws in space need to be a thing, because without them, people that are in space will abuse the power it gives them and some type of disaster will happen. Roger Franzen talks about a time when there was such law, “ The other treaty that ‘ s involved is the Moon Treaty, which was actually a failed treaty because it sought to prevent the exportation of the moon by people that would take advantage of it to the exclusion of others.” It is sad to think that you would need to have a law like this enacted to prevent such ludicrous actions, but it would keep more people safe.

Private space companies hold a lot of the load for future space travel and without them other countries make take the first leap, but with them we still have a great future ahead of us. There is still a lot of work left to do, but with NASA and all of these private companies we have a great opportunity ahead, so lets save money, stop paying Russia, and get to space.