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Why? I see no net benefit to the general public.
by genwin 14y ago
Why? I see no net benefit to the general public.
- CamperBob2 14y agoThen go do something else.
- genwin 14y agoWhy? I'm not doing space exploration as it is.
- dbaupp 14y agoNot even the offshoot technologies that have been (and will be) invented and improved as part of space exploration?
- genwin 14y agoDoubtful a net benefit. Those come at tremendous cost to the public, like years of extra work per person. We haven't even paid for the Vietnam War yet, and the interest is compounding on that. We're quickly approaching half of every tax dollar spent on interest. Add space exploration, it could reach 90%.
- dbaupp 14y agoExtra work compared to what? Is there any other reasonable way that space-derived technologies (e.g. those on this list[0]) could have been invented? If the US wants to pay off it debts, maybe the first thing to do is reduce the amount spend on, for example, the military. The US spends $700+ billion dollars (or 4% of GDP) on its military[1], on something that is even less of a net benefit to humanity: killing people. Surely the $20 billion[2] currently spent on NASA pales in comparison to that, and the benefit to humanity of non-military technological improvement is far larger. (Clearly, DARPA et al. fund technological improvement too, but the purpose, and first use, of these technologies is normally quite saddening.) [0]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies [1]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_expenditures http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_military_e... [2]: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA
- mahyarm 14y agoOne net benefit created by 'space' travel are satellite systems. GPS, and more used by billions every day to make them work better.
- genwin 14y agoWell, that's not space exploration. For example we knew about the benefit of satellites before we spent a dime to achieve orbit; there was no exploration required.