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> Their science missions are inspiring, but not as inspiring as they ought to be Are they 1% as inspiring as what the DoD does with their budget? I don't mean
by jebarker 1y ago
> Their science missions are inspiring, but not as inspiring as they ought to be
Are they 1% as inspiring as what the DoD does with their budget? I don't mean to be snarky, but level of inspiration is pretty subjective and difficult to put a price tag on. Honestly, I feel like the NASA budget needs to be considered in context relative to the DoD budget and then these cuts look much less convincing as being necessary.
- giantg2 1y ago"Are they 1% as inspiring as what the DoD does with their budget?" It would be closer to 2%, but we could measure it by engagement. Ask people what their last positive interaction was with NASA vs the military. The military does all sorts of outreach with things like the Blue Angels, stadium flyovers, competitions at fairs, etc. Ask them what NASA has done over the past year vs what the military has done over the past year. Chances are many people couldn't name something NASA achieved in the past year. Would it be at the 2% number? I don't know. I'm not saying one is better than the other. I think both should look for budget inefficiency, but until those are identified I wouldn't propose budget cuts. But it does seem that the NASA missions could be more inspiring recently.
- lenkite 1y agoHello, US Military FY 2024 enacted budget: ≈ $842 billion VS NASA FY 2024 enacted budget: ≈ $24.9 billion That is a ~35x multiplier. By bog-standard logical implication your question answers itself.
- mrobins 1y agoHow many people on HN have a James Webb wallpaper?
- Hikikomori 1y agoClearly NASA should do more stadium flyovers.
- giantg2 1y agoThe point is that most of what NASA does is not something that people are exposed to. Nobody cares about the dozens of small breakthroughs that happen in the years leading up to a mission. Just as nobody cares about engine tech advancements in the planes flying over.
- VerminOctopus1 1y agoI’m sorry but this is asinine. All of the “positive interactions” you listed are literally propaganda events to increase the palatability of the US military and encourage enrolment.
- giantg2 1y agoYes, and propaganda to put the public on it's side would benefit NASA in it's budget battles.
- CivBase 1y ago> Are they 1% as inspiring as what the DoD does with their budget? I dare say a great many people are very inspired by what the DoD does with their budget. Inspired to what... well, that's another subject. And the most inspired people are not the ones living in the US.
- robertlagrant 1y ago> Are they 1% as inspiring as what the DoD does with their budget? People aren't inspired by safe shipping lanes. But quite a few are alive because of what global shipping enables.
- jebarker 1y agoI agree that inspiration is probably not a great metric for many tax payer funded organizations including DoD and NASA
- potato3732842 1y ago>People aren't inspired by safe shipping lanes. Captain Phillips was a pretty good movie.