CNN BUSINESS | The reason we can’t fully explore space is fixable. Here’s how

With so many challenges facing us here on Earth — the pandemic, climate change, the economy — it might seem like an odd time to focus on space.

But space exploration offers enormous benefits for all of us. There’s a long list of innovations that have emerged as a result of space research that have already spawned entire industries: the Global Positioning System, phone cameras, portable computers, water-purification systems, cochlear implants, artificial limbs, wireless headphones, CAT scans, LASIK and even the dustbuster handheld vacuum.

And many of us are able to live and thrive partly because satellites help farmers assess climate and growing conditions and decide which areas are best for cultivation, while also alerting them to unfavorable weather conditions or predictions of longer-term drought. Looking ahead, space commercialization — asteroid mining, manufacturing and scientific research — will require vast amounts of capital and the hiring of skilled labor, creating both wealth and jobs.  —read more—