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We could try with a much more doable planet like Mars. We could find out if long term survival is impossible, very difficult, possible but difficult, or doable

We could try with a much more doable planet like Mars. We could find out if long term survival is impossible, very difficult, possible but difficult, or doable with the right technologies. It's shocking how little appetite there is for redirecting 50% of the budget which is currently allocated to the military to space exploration. I understand that the military is partly a large welfare program which doesn't compete with private enterprise due to different technologies and classified material, but I wish there was a movement to invest more of that time, money, and energy on basic research, climate change, energy technologies and space exploration. It's a hard sell though because I suspect that these technologies would compete heavily with established businesses.

_joel 9y ago
On the other hand, government funded resource for DARPA created the place we're speaking on now. You could say that created and entire multidimensional marketplace for business. I'm not sure it would have existed if it were purely down to commercials (take Gopher as an example)
njharman 9y ago
The military application of rockets is only reason we got the tech to reach space and military application of satellites is why we figured out how to stay there and the militaristic penis measuring between nations is only reason we reached moon. Also, - large part of budget is salaries and pensions. - looks like %budget for military is lowest it's been in 20 years, (in 2015) 16% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_...
- Dylan16807 9y ago
  > looks like %budget for military is lowest it's been in 20 years The point is the size of it, not the trendline. NASA got 2-4% to go to the moon. Right now it's at 0.5%. Imagine how much space they could do with 8%.
vanattab 9y ago
>It's shocking how little appetite there is for redirecting 50% of the budget which is currently allocated to the military to space exploration. 50% for the military? All the figures I can find say it's 16% of federal spending. Edit: As others have pointed out. OP may have been suggesting we redirect 50% of the military budget to space not that the military budget is 50% of the national.
- pc86 9y ago
  They're saying cut the military's budget in half and put the rest toward space exploration.
- pgwhalen 9y ago
  I believe he's just saying 50% of what is currently allocated for the military, so by your math, 8% of the federal budget.
  - jerf 9y ago
    And the answer is if you accomplished a miracle and cut military spending in half and freed up 8% of the federal budget, there would be a rioting mob charging towards the money... no... that doesn't really capture how much we're talking here... there would be a rioting mob charging the suddenly-available huge pile of MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY and there's very little reason to believe space exploration would be any of the winners.
    - ExactoKnight 9y ago
      Having near certain evidence of life existing on another planet, due to seeing oxygen present in the emission spectra of an atmosphere of another planet, would be a true game changer for space probe and exploration funding. Astronomy funding stagnates when its about rocks and geology. Bring real evidence of aliens into the mix and you've defined humanities focus for the next century.
      - Retra 9y ago

_joel 9y ago

On the other hand, government funded resource for DARPA created the place we're speaking on now. You could say that created and entire multidimensional marketplace for business. I'm not sure it would have existed if it were purely down to commercials (take Gopher as an example)

njharman 9y ago

The military application of rockets is only reason we got the tech to reach space and military application of satellites is why we figured out how to stay there and the militaristic penis measuring between nations is only reason we reached moon. Also, - large part of budget is salaries and pensions. - looks like %budget for military is lowest it's been in 20 years, (in 2015) 16% https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_...

Dylan16807 9y ago
> looks like %budget for military is lowest it's been in 20 years The point is the size of it, not the trendline. NASA got 2-4% to go to the moon. Right now it's at 0.5%. Imagine how much space they could do with 8%.

vanattab 9y ago

>It's shocking how little appetite there is for redirecting 50% of the budget which is currently allocated to the military to space exploration. 50% for the military? All the figures I can find say it's 16% of federal spending. Edit: As others have pointed out. OP may have been suggesting we redirect 50% of the military budget to space not that the military budget is 50% of the national.

pc86 9y ago
They're saying cut the military's budget in half and put the rest toward space exploration.
pgwhalen 9y ago
I believe he's just saying 50% of what is currently allocated for the military, so by your math, 8% of the federal budget.
- jerf 9y ago
  And the answer is if you accomplished a miracle and cut military spending in half and freed up 8% of the federal budget, there would be a rioting mob charging towards the money... no... that doesn't really capture how much we're talking here... there would be a rioting mob charging the suddenly-available huge pile of MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY and there's very little reason to believe space exploration would be any of the winners.
  - ExactoKnight 9y ago
    Having near certain evidence of life existing on another planet, due to seeing oxygen present in the emission spectra of an atmosphere of another planet, would be a true game changer for space probe and exploration funding. Astronomy funding stagnates when its about rocks and geology. Bring real evidence of aliens into the mix and you've defined humanities focus for the next century.
    - Retra 9y ago