Space‿ exploration

My name‿ is Laura. I teach physics,│ an(d) my students‿ invariably raise the same‿ objection:│ why spen(d) billions‿ on space│ while hospitals‿ are‿ underfunded?

The objection deserves‿ a better^be-der‿ answer than‿ it usually receives. Meteorological,│ navigational‿ an(d) communications satellites cost‿ a fraction‿ of‿ a crewed mission‿ and‿ are used daily by every person‿ in the room,│ an(d) spin-off technology from space programmes‿ is‿ embedded‿ in hospitals,│ in materials‿ and‿ in the device that measured my hear(t) rate this morning. That‿ is not‿ an‿ argumen(t) for‿ unlimited‿ expenditure,│ however;│ it‿ is‿ an‿ argumen(t) for distinguishing between‿ a probe‿ and‿ a vanity mission,│ a distinction politicians rarely make│ because the latter photographs better^be-der.

Commercialisation has‿ altered the arithmetic,│ since private companies now carry cargo│ an(d) have reduced the cos(t) per kilogram considerably. Whether people will live‿ on‿ another habitable world‿ is‿ a differen(t) question,│ and‿ I am less‿ optimistic than my students,│ partly because the rhetoric‿ of colonisation has run far‿ ahead‿ of the engineering. Were‿ a governmen(t) to consul(t) me,│ I would fun(d) research‿ an(d) robotic missions,│ protec(t) the orbital‿ infrastructure‿ on│ which‿ everybody now depends,│ an(d) be candid that human settlement‿ elsewhere‿ is‿ a prospec(t) no one‿ is currently in‿ a position to deliver.