People say all the time, "why spend all that money on space when there's so many problems on Earth?"
Why do people never say the same thing about all the money spent on video games and Starbucks? Which is arguably a lot more money.
Why do people never say the same thing about all the money spent on video games and Starbucks? Which is arguably a lot more money.
It's easier to criticize the actions of others than to take responsibility.
From that perspective, it's no wonder why people think it's a waste of space, because they saw no meaningful purpose. Meanwhile, we're doing the opposite of terraforming Earth, by making it more unlivable everyday.
Space research is usually funded with taxpayer money (this is changing, but a fair amount of SpaceX’s revenue is still NASA contracts). Games and Starbucks are funded by folks after-tax wages. In both cases it’s money that they earned, but they have a lot more individual agency with the latter portion of their wages than the former portion.
It's not a bad question though. Someone who wants space exploration should think about that question and be able to answer it in a meaningful way.