Space Exploration

Are NASA's future missions and budget justified?

  • It's worth the time and expenditures

    Votes: 218 65.7%

  • Complete waste of money

    Votes: 41 12.3%

  • We need to explore, but not at the current cost

    Votes: 73 22.0%
  • Total voters
    332
#1
Grand Vol

Grand Vol

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#1
So I've seen different sides of this on several sites. Some think it's a worthy goal, others think it's a waste of money that could be better spent on more earthly projects.

How does VN feel about the budgets for NASA as well as the goals in our space programs?

ETA: NASA budget typically runs $17-18 Billion and change.

Budget of NASA - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 
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#2
#2
What are our goals?

Some of the programs, such as the rovers, have been quite successful.
 
#3
#3
There are plenty of missions that have been very successful as Velo_Vol said. However I would imagine there are many missions where it's simply data gathering on stars and whatnot. Maybe cutting more of these "curiosity" missions would help? I'm sure NASA has a list of high priority missions that rank above others.
 
#4
#4
Velo Vol said:
What are our goals?

Some of the programs, such as the rovers, have been quite successful.
Click to expand...

I would list them, but they tend to change as Administrations do. Clinton helped push the ISS. Bush 43 had the goals of a return to the moon as a stepping stone to Mars and started the Constellation program. Obama scaled back the Constellation program, cancelled the lunar project and instead focused on a manned mission to Mars and possibly a mission to an asteroid.

Most of the robotic and deep space probe exploratory missions generally don't change between the Administrations.

(and the above is an apolitical statement)
 
#6
#6
At this particular point we don't need to focus on space exploration. I would much rather the money used for it to be appropriated elsewhere. In the future when our economy is in better shape then do some exploring.
 
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#7
#7
Since the moon landing was really filmed in a Hollywood studio.......
 
#8
#8
Space exploration/research is of utmost importance for mankind (not just US citizens). One can argue/disagree what should be prioritized and how money should be appropriated.

I would say asteroid/comet detection/research is under prioritized but should be top priority. The next big group would be research on the ISS and better observation (telescopes like Hubble and listening devices). Going to the moon or Mars is not near as important and more of a dick showing game.
 
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#9
#9
our world has been completely transformed by changes/advances that came from our investment in Nasa and the space programs. Not to mention the dangers we face from unidentifiable objects in space is a very real threat. The ability to recognize and react could save the entire human race. But hey, let's sacrifice any long-term future we might have for a short-term savings that might never be realized. Sounds like a solid plan
 
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#10
#10
utvolpj said:
our world has been completely transformed by changes/advances that came from our investment in Nasa and the space programs. Not to mention the dangers we face from unidentifiable objects in space is a very real threat. The ability to recognize and react could save the entire human race. But hey, let's sacrifice any long-term future we might have for a short-term savings that might never be realized. Sounds like a solid plan
Click to expand...

Bingo.

We have to keep pushing ourselves and there is a freaking universe out there! What if the great explorers of old had decided it was too expensive to travel the globe?
 
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#12
#12
iVol4Life said:
I wouldn't be upset if NASA were the most important part of our government. We've already managed to ruin this planet, so I'd really like for us to find a way off of it. Maybe I'm just a big nerd.
Click to expand...

I think we can "fix" this planet (to a point) and colonize others. But I'm probably being optimistic lol.

If we choose not to expand our planetary horizons, we will have to enact some sort of planet wide population control at some point.
 
#16
#16
A significant policy decision ($$$) is the extent to which we pursue manned space exploration.

I think we should continue programs that allow humans to orbit the earth, and perhaps do another mission to the moon.

But unless we make notable strides in technology, a manned mission to Mars strikes me as a major boondoggle.
 
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#17
#17
NASA has recorded about 1,600 new technologies or inventions each year for the past several decades, but far fewer become commercial products, said Daniel Lockney, technology transfer program executive at NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. It's also tough to predict exactly what technologies may come out of the space programn.
 
#18
#18
"We didn't know that by building the space shuttle main engines we'd also get a new implantable heart device," Lockney said. "There's also a bunch of stuff we don't know we're going to learn, which leads to serendipitous spinoffs."
 
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#19
#19
Innovation as people
But some innovations do not appear as a straight line drawn from NASA to commercial products. The U.S. space agency may not claim credit for computers and the digital revolution that followed, but it did create a pool of talent that perhaps contributed to that transformation of modern life.

NASA brought together hundreds of the brightest scientists and engineers in the 1970s to work on the guidance computers that helped the Apollo missions land humans on the moon. When the Apollo era ended, many of those people dispersed to private companies and to Silicon Valley, Launius said.

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Yet many maintained the informal contact and social networks that can help spark innovation, regardless of whether they worked at IBM or Stanford University or the Pentagon's DARPA.

"I'd suggest that the knowledge base and connections may have been the most significant outgrowth in this area," Launius said. "They would call each other, informally talk, and together build the base of support and knowledge that leads to a modern world."
 
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#20
#20
Gauging the impact
No defining study has yet come up with the hard numbers about spaceflight's impact on innovation, Launius said. And different economic studies have suggested that investment in the space program has per dollar payoffs ranging from 3:1 all the way up to 21:1.

But signs exist all around us in daily life. For instance, NASA's need for smaller, lighter electronics in space has helped drive the greater trend toward shrinking smartphones and other miniaturized gadgets.

"Miniaturization was an attractive area that NASA pushed very hard to make sure it could have more capability per square inch and pound flown into space," Launius said.

For now, another way to look at the space program's impact on innovation is to consider life without spaceflight, Launius said. People could kiss goodbye to much of today's instantaneous global telecommunications supported by satellites, not to mention those handy GPS devices that sit in people's cars and smartphones.

"Ten years ago I looked it up my destination on a big old map and figured out ways to hold that while driving," Launius said. "Today, I punch in the GPS and away we go."
 
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#24
#24
I'm all for space exploration. Would rather spend the money we spent on say Iraq and welfare on this. Sooner rather the later the world is going to waste away either due to overpopulation, an asteroid hitting us, or our sun running out of steam. The survival of humanity is directly linked to us some day being able to leave this world for another. So yes, it is not a waste of money at all.
 
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