Why is so much money spent on space exploration couldn't that money be better spent on improving the earth?

Question

The only answer I could find on the net was interest as to why we study space. Shouldn't we use that money to improve life first. Build more hospitals, provide better health care to those who don't have it, help out the elderly instead of letting them live in poverty, help out of work people that want to work by providing them an education, etc., help those mothers or fathers that have jobs and are trying to provide for their children but don't receive child support, etc, etc, etc, the list could go on forever.

No I did not say those were ways that money needed to be spent....it was just a few things that came to mind. No I do not think that is a waste of money...it was merely a question. No I am not one of those people who wrongly believes that NASA's yearly spending is more than those other activities. IT WAS MERELY A QUESTION TO GET OPINIONS...BUT ALL YOU COULD DO WAS ACCUSE AND NOT ANSWER.

FYI - My daughter is studying to be an Astrophysicist!!!!

A question can be asked to get opinions so you can form an opinion of your own. It does not have to be asked because you know the answer and just want to see if other people believe like you do. What then is the purpose of even bothering to ask a question!!!! Why instead of accusing people of things cant you provide informed answers to enlighten the human race?

And yes campbelp2002 I am mainly referring to you.

Answer 1

It's human nature to look outward. There is a deep elemental need in us to understand the truth about God and His Creation. I agree the money could bring much more immediate benefits to humanity, but NASA forgot to ask my opinion before submitting their budget.

Answer 2

Things on Earth have improved because of space exploration. Improvements in science can have effects in many other ways. You would think that just because you cut funding from science that you could spend it on education, it just doesn't work like that. Helping out people and trying to make this planet a better place is very important but taking away from research and technology is not going to do that. What you need to do is to take away from other expenses that are draining on society and increase the taxes on the wealthy, If you have more money comeing in it will be much easier to spend money on programs that need them.

Answer 3

Stop.

Space exploration has yielded many discoveries. Much of modern lifestyle would not exist were it not for discoveries intended for the space program.

The expense (in dollars) may seem high, but the expense (% of the budget) is not. We spend far more to get far less in other areas. Check the stats at the Office of Budget and Management to get the current budget and the percentage allocated to NASA.

The list of things we should cut before the space program could go on forever. Congressional salaries, Bridges to no where, the multi role jet no one wants to buy, the war on street level drug dealers, IRAQ, etc. etc.

Answer 4

Infact, so much money need not be spent on space explorations. The results may be useful, but i feel that the utility of those facts are not worth of so much money. We spend huge amounts of money to study mars, venus etc. but they do not matter much.

However, money has to be spent on research in science and technology as it would make the life of mankind better. so there is no point in cutting the money from research fields.

Coming to the solving of various problems in society, we can cut down several expenses which are unneccessary and unproductive, both public and private and use them for the purpose of social welfare.

inspiring and thought provoking question :-)

Answer 5

So you consider space exploration a frivolous use of money. Is the money spent on professional sports and vacation trips frivolous too? Or are you one of those people who wrongly believes that NASA's yearly spending is more than those other activities?

Answer 6

Money spent on space exploration does improve the earth. The space program has resulted in hundreds of inventions and discoveries that have benefited you directly. Medical monitoring devices, communication and navigation equipment and protocols, Velcro. Tang and Teflon. The list goes on and on. Go here for details: http://techtran.msfc.nasa.gov/at_home.html

As far as jobs, the space program employees thousands directly and hundreds of thousands of people indirectly through suppliers and other vendors.

Our space program is definitely worth having.

Answer 7

No. money spent on area is barely component to what money is spent on for each thing else. you may not only decrease a huge chew out of the area application or the different application and spend that funds on the topic matters of earth. you may not decrease classes, and then with that inexpensive rates, make a decision to start up a sparkling theory. You both reinvest that funds so that you may want to resume that application later, or you will pay off the overseas or nationwide debt. the topic matters right here in the international are solved by using human beings and authorities sitting down and agreeing on what desires to be performed so as that the human beings born after us, have some thing equivalent to what we had. even as disaster's hit the earth, plans made to advance our existence sort, are sidelined for a short even as, until eventually its determined who changed into responsible for the disaster. All in all, international locations of the international, advance their existence-sort particularly at at time, and the large boom of recuperating it may't be as quickly as maximum might want to like. even as issues take position the position the authorities.is going to a special united states of america or perhaps their own reason they say someone isn't conforming to the regulation of what maximum folk go by using, added delays are made in recuperating our life. keep in mind that by using reducing out classes and spending the money someplace else too quickly, will reason enormous inflation, and bigger confusion interior the marketplace. the area application might want to continually be decrease subsidized, equivalent to the different application, yet those inexpensive rates might want to easily visit help different classes that couldn't reason large jumps of inflation, or go in route of paying off overseas or nationwide debt. :) playstation , even as ever a application does no longer meet the objectives it changed into designed for, that application is discontinued, and the inexpensive rates will often visit subsidize different classes if those classes have not yet been evaluated, besides as paying down component to the overseas and nationwide debt.

Answer 8

A lot of money is spent on space exploration so that when the time comes we may be able to find another hospitable planet to live on because we are greatly depleting our natural resources that take millions of years to reproduce

Answer 9

Easiest answer, cause it wouldn't get spent where you meant it to go. Mostly that stuff ends up in some bureaucrat's pocket.
Also, many 'side effects' of the space program ARE benefitting the rest of us.
Tang (ha!)
Air conditioning
Computers
ultrasonic technology
And like that.
They don't just use it in space.

Answer 10

I think that we could gain alot of helpful information from space exploration, and I think that it is 100 times more important then increasing funds to give to parents who can't affort their own kids or their own lifestyle.

Our government gives the people you mentioned plenty of ways to help thier situation (education is required when you're a kid, remember?)