Factors of Production- Astrobiology Saanvi Kunisetty

 Factors of Production- Astrobiology

Saanvi Kunisetty

In government class, we’ve been discussing economics, one such topic being factors of production, especially in businesses and professions. One of the professions that sticks out to me is an astrobiologist, scientists who research the origins of organisms on Earth, and their connections to possible life on other planets and exoplanets. One factor of production that astrobiologists heavily rely on is land. The Earth is one of the main sources of resources such as samples for astrobiologists. Things such as hydrovents, which are like deep sea mini-volcanoes, are home to a lot of interesting specimens that can somehow survive these harsh conditions without sunlight, and studying these organisms will give us more clues toward life underneath frozen oceans on Europa and more. Another factor of production is labor, which is simply just work done by people. This can be as simple as astrobiologists studying specimens and dissecting them, to someone building the tools necessary to study organisms. This brings us to the factor of production known as capital, which are the tools, machines, and factories themselves. These can be microlens arrays, microscopes, and more. The last factor of production is entrepreneurs, or anyone that brings new and innovative ideas to the field, like creating new machines, discovering new organisms, finding possible exoplanets we could live on, and more.