How can this be fixed? The answer is simple; NASA needs at least 10 times its current budget. It is currently hovering around a billion dollars. Now, that may seem like a lot but considering a single spacesuit costs about a million dollars, and the fuel needed to push an object into orbit is more than that objects weight in gold, and considering that all new space shuttles need to be built, and considering that the 1962 budget was around 19 billion dollars, then you can see you really can’t do anything with just a billion. The next question, WHY should it be fixed even if it can be fixed? For that answer you only need to look around the room you are sitting in currently. Do you have a phone in your pocket? Have you ever used an LED flash light? Ever used a microwave oven? Do you own a portable video camera? Do you sleep on a Temperpedic bed? Do you use a GPS on car trips? What about Google Earth? Freeze dried food? Dirt devil vacuums? Sunglasses? Solar panels? Fiberglass boats? This computer? If you or someone you know answered yes to ANY of these questions than that is the reason we should continue to fund space research. That is because every single one of the items I mentioned were invented specifically for use in the space program, each one accomplishing a unique task that simply never would have arisen on Earth and therefore the invention would have never been realized and converted for everyday use. Almost everything uses satellites nowadays for something or another, 3G, GPS, maps, TV, your cell phone. How did the satellites get there? (Hint: It wasn’t leprechauns, goblins, fairies or magic.) Space exploration stimulates scientific development by creating unique and extremely difficult problems, it stimulates the economy by placing extremely expensive demands on the private industry, and it stimulates Human advancement by putting us that much closer to our dreams of owning a house on Mars. There is so much left to learn, discover, invent and explore. So the next time you wonder why you don’t drive to work in a flying car yet, or have a robot assistant like the ones from the 1950’s Sci-Fi movies, blame the Governments laziness, the private industries indifference, and the common man’s obliviousness. And while you are blaming everyone also feel ashamed that the next time something important happens in space it very well may take place on a rocket that says “Made in China” written on the side. America is now “floundering in the backwash of scientific development,” JFK must be turning in his grave.
Friday, November 4, 2011
How can this be fixed? The answer is simple; NASA needs at least 10 times its current budget. It is currently hovering around a billion dollars. Now, that may seem like a lot but considering a single spacesuit costs about a million dollars, and the fuel needed to push an object into orbit is more than that objects weight in gold, and considering that all new space shuttles need to be built, and considering that the 1962 budget was around 19 billion dollars, then you can see you really can’t do anything with just a billion. The next question, WHY should it be fixed even if it can be fixed? For that answer you only need to look around the room you are sitting in currently. Do you have a phone in your pocket? Have you ever used an LED flash light? Ever used a microwave oven? Do you own a portable video camera? Do you sleep on a Temperpedic bed? Do you use a GPS on car trips? What about Google Earth? Freeze dried food? Dirt devil vacuums? Sunglasses? Solar panels? Fiberglass boats? This computer? If you or someone you know answered yes to ANY of these questions than that is the reason we should continue to fund space research. That is because every single one of the items I mentioned were invented specifically for use in the space program, each one accomplishing a unique task that simply never would have arisen on Earth and therefore the invention would have never been realized and converted for everyday use. Almost everything uses satellites nowadays for something or another, 3G, GPS, maps, TV, your cell phone. How did the satellites get there? (Hint: It wasn’t leprechauns, goblins, fairies or magic.) Space exploration stimulates scientific development by creating unique and extremely difficult problems, it stimulates the economy by placing extremely expensive demands on the private industry, and it stimulates Human advancement by putting us that much closer to our dreams of owning a house on Mars. There is so much left to learn, discover, invent and explore. So the next time you wonder why you don’t drive to work in a flying car yet, or have a robot assistant like the ones from the 1950’s Sci-Fi movies, blame the Governments laziness, the private industries indifference, and the common man’s obliviousness. And while you are blaming everyone also feel ashamed that the next time something important happens in space it very well may take place on a rocket that says “Made in China” written on the side. America is now “floundering in the backwash of scientific development,” JFK must be turning in his grave.
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