Why do we have NASA? What detrimental insight does it's missions offer?

Question

Being a Florida resident, I hear on the news constantly, Nasa is going to try to launch tomorrow, nope it's suspended, etc. My question is stated, but also I want to understand it's purpose. I'm aware of individual experiments, but how do they have any substantial progress on health issues or science issues? Did we just develop NASA to remain competitive with Russia? I have no knowledge of this issue, that's why I'm genuinely inquiring about it.

can use it both ways Otis, Detrimental or beneficial,, thanks for pointing out my error..

Great perspective Firat, but that's what I'm trying to determine, what specially has been discovered, or found revolutionary... thanks for comments.. I'm starting to determine waste of tax payers funding, but believe it's not about taxpapers, its big corporations..seeking further thoughts, thanks for responses thus far.

Answer 1

First, let me say I'm glad you are concerned about how are government spends it's money.

With that in mind I'd like to throw out a few facts and then my obligatory opinion (and try not to offend anyone in the process).

NASA's budget is current $16.1 Billion dollars. With that money it conducts much of the research others have mentioned that literally touch every facet of science from biology to city planning and development, weather to materials research. A careful thing to consider is that while many of these sciences have "payback" both financially and towards better living conditions, NASA is NOT a corporation. It's research is not designed to be for profit. It's "pure" science, which is the pursuit of knowledge. There are not very many institutions that merely seek knowledge for the sake of understanding. It just so happens that with better understanding of all the sciences, it usually comes with a benefit.

But for the sake of ensuring our money is spent well as a tax payer, it has been reported that NASA has had as high as a 1:9 return on investment to our Gross National Product and more recently reported as a 1:3. Meaning for every dollar spent, our GNP reports 3 dollars earned as a result from this "investment". But I'll repeat, that is NOT the intent of NASA, merely a positive side effect.

One of the other reasons this institution is unique is that it attempts to take on risks that businesses can't afford to do. Right now orbital human space flight can only be accomplished by 3 nations. And it requires their respective governments to pay for it. While there are certainly commerical interests in human space flight, they have yet to attempt "orbital" space flight. For comparison, the shuttle (or a Soyuz capsul) travels at 17,500 mph while in orbit. Space Ship One (built by Burt Rutan) only travels at a max speed of 3,000 mph, which means it cannot orbit and only touches the edge of space (100 kilometers) for about 3 minutes. Because of it's much slower speed, that ship doesn't require heat shields or life support systems of any signifigance. The extra weight and speed requires lots of money and infrastructure.

It is certainly debated whether or not human space flight has a significant return on science (how well are we spending our money)? But we certainly learn a great deal more in simply trying. So while the immediate return on a specific science might not be as high, we certainly learn a great deal about engineering, and that information can be utilized later for better designs where space flight becomes more affordable, safer, and potentially yields more scientific results. Comparitively, you wouldn't have wanted the Wright brothers to stop flying or building versions of planes until they could create a Boeing 747. It took years of trial and error to get to the jets of today. Fortunately planes are much cheaper than space craft, so the development of that technology didn't require "just" the government. However, that is one aspect of NASA most people ignore. NASA does still provide a significant impact to the airplane industry. Some of the goals have been as simple as increasing fuel effiecieny and decreasing the sound of an engine, which they've helped research over the years. The new research recently conducted involves the RamJet, which allows jets to go "very" fast (Mach 7-10) and could revolutionize future transportation.

Further comparisons of NASA's budget. During the Apollo era, NASA's budget was 4% of the GNP. Today is it 0.0167% Considerably smaller, yet doing far more science. And comparing it to other programs in our government such as Welfare at $45 Billion a year, it is significantly cheaper.

And not to touch on any nerves (whether you feel we should or should not be in the war in Iraq) that war has cost us close to $500 billion dollars to date and doesn't appear to have a clear goal for completion so will continue to escalate in cost. So just as NASA is debated by some on it's value, many others have also debated whether or not the current war is a benefit or hinderence to our safety (some people speculate that it's actually creating more terrorists).

Don't get me wrong, I believe we need social programs and a military, but I think those programs utilize far more of our money and provide less return on investment (money is spent more poorly) than at NASA.

Lastly, I'll comment that a great deal of the science that is worked on at NASA or partially funded by NASA goes unnoticed by the public (and that's a real shame). I believe there are two main reasons for this. One is that the media believes the only thing that will sell is "sensational" news (usually negative). So if something appears to be wrong, the media sells it. But rarely does the media contribute to the positive. The second reason is that most people don't understand the science or the significance of why the science/experiment is being conducted. This lack of education or concern for knowledge is rather depressing. Not that I expect everyone should be an egg-head and interested in the most extreme of science, but they shouldn't scorn science because they don't understand it. And it's not because of stupidity, but merely ignorance - and that can be fixed by informing people.

An example of a recent experiment that was phenomenal, but almost completely unnoticed was the Gravity Probe-B mission. This mission was in planning for over 40 years. The main reason why is that the technology didn't exist to test the theory posed by Einstein concerning space-time distortion in a phenomenon known as frame-dragging. In order to do this experiment a sphere needed to be created that was near perfect in shape (within 40 atoms of a perfect sphere) and it needed to be monitored for over a year in orbit. While the theory of relativity doesn't seem to have an effect on our daily lives the verification and understanding this test provided helps mathmatical models that get implemented in the machines we use and the machines that will be built. One example of how this one experiment can help is in relation to Global Positioning Systems (GPS).

GPS uses triangluation to determine where the point of reference is on the Earth. In order to get the distance, it sends a signal and measures the time it takes to get there to provide the distance. The clocks used are VERY accurate, called atomic clocks, which measure the frequency of cesium atoms, and if placed side by side, would keep time with one another for thousands of years. However, these satellites are in different orbits moving at different speeds. This causes time dilations that cause them to go out of sync. So every couple years the military has to create a "leap-second" in order to resyncronize the clocks so that the triangulation can provide the accurate location.

How this experiment might benefit us in the future is in the development of quantum technology, enabling computers of unfathomable speed (allowing us to have better models of the human genome, climate, particle physics, etc...) Taking us out of the "information age" and into a new era of "quantum tech" which will drastically transform life on Earth as much as Electricity has over the last 100 years.

So if you ask me if I think NASA is worth being funded? I'd have to say Yes. Sure, I get dismayed by the occasional mistake, or a bureacratic boondoggle, but if that's the small price to pay for the fantastic transformation of science and better life on Earth, I'm willing to give more.

Feel free to write me if you'd like to discuss anything further (either in debate or simply if you're curious about a great deal more of what NASA or any other science stuff you'd like to discuss).

Thanks!

Answer 2

I am sure prestige has been a great part of the "reason d'etre" of NASA, especially some 40.-50 years ago when the space race was part of the cold war. Nowadays it is more scientific curiosity and preparation for long term exploitation of space then anything else. As the american military took over the oversight of the spy sattellites, NASA's military importance has also diminshed. However NASA's know how on space issues is probably the most extensive and as commercial use of space is a growing entrprise I don't think anyone really considers NASA as a waste of taxpayer dollars. I am not aware of any specific discoveries related to human health and other "worldly" issues by NASA, but I am sure there must be anumber of them.

Edit: As it appears cdf-rum was just waiting to contradict me. Well as hospitals are made possible by "non-abstract knowledge" which you collect from your holy book as opposed to scientific experiments, I have to apologize. I am sure he would also be very happy to give up military equipment in space, forget the abstract knowledge that allowed nuclear energy (which I don't like either) and would be more than happy if we stopped using space telescopes and go back to earth-centered model of the universe.

Answer 3

Human nature is to explore, and invent. add them together and there is the need to explore using the latest technology. As far as reasons..well this is where I get some crap from people. See, the human race is like a virus, we spread and destroy what we touch. As a virus, we have to have an avenue to expand our infection of the universe. Space travel is still in it's infancy but slowly, we will gain more knowledge and soon will be trekin off to another plant to start to ruin. The current budget for NASA is way lower than it was during the cold war. It is understood by the people writing the checks that the amount of knowledge we gain by studying the effects of a mouse in a zero gravity experiment doesn't really pay off. Most of the launches today are companies paying top dollar to NASA to hang a satellite.

Answer 4

I work as an engineer for a NASA contractor. I grew up studying spaceflight and astronomy. Here are just a few of the things we have learned from manned spaceflight.

Human response to low-gravity environments, which has led to a better understanding of human physiology in general.

The development of new medical treatments, such as advanced hypobaric chambers, better sanitation, and advances in materials (especially plastics and composites).

The development of UV protection and polarized lenses, such as in sunglasses.

Teflon was originally developed for space application.

Thousands of new advances in materials technology, computer technology, biotechnology, astronomy, physics, and our understanding of the Universe.

These are only a few of the things from manned spaceflight. NASA's unmanned missions are bringing us to Pluto in 2015 to get our first true glimpse of the surface of Pluto and Charon, as well as some Kuiper Belt objects. These will help us to discern the very beginnings of our Solar System.

The Mars missions which we have been utterly successful at, unlike the guy above will have you believe. The ESA was responsible for the missed and lost rovers. Yes, we lost one as well, but still have 2 on the surface which are still running and sending back important data about Mars which will help us as we attmept to send Men there.

The hundreds of probes and other satellites, such as Deep Impact and Stardust have proven invaluable in increasing our understanding of space.

NASA is also an aeronautics agency. Many advances in atmopheric flight have been made and are still being made. Ramjet and scramjet engines, which may someday take people from New York to London in under 2 hours, are in development. And many composite aircraft that are being built such as Boeing's 787 got the technology from joint projects with NASA.

NASA was indeed started to compete with Russia during the Cold War, this much is true. However, it has been the governments most invaluable asset. Did you know that NASA is the government agency that provides the largest percentage return on investment of any other agency. The CIA, the NSA, Homeland Security, all these groups do is spend money, and for what? War. NASA through contracts, patents, licensing of technology, and several other outlets actually makes money. The government is continuing its cutback at NASA to pay for an unfounded and unneccessary war.

Anyone who says that NASA is just throwing away money is an idiot. And those that say if that money just went to help other things then the world wouldn't be so bad, are also misinformed. NASA's budget is less than 2% of the total national budget, and that continues to decrease. Guess how much we pay out for War-ventures... 30%.

NASA has done more fro Americans and human-kind than any other government agency, and will continue to do so. What NASA does is provide wonder and joy to those people who actually care about this world and its people. It gives an outlet for us to look up at the stars and say "Jesus, that is beautiful". I am more than 100% behind NASA in everything it does and if the rest of the country was too, it would have the money to accomplish the goals it seeks.

It's all about curiosity and wonder folks, and the advancement of our species. Not just for Americans, but for the world.

Answer 5

Look, we have to have a way of throwing away money by the hundreds of millions per shot, without getting anything for it (hence, the failed Mars probes which crashed, went off into deep space, were shot down by Martians, etc.) or we would experience low prices and prosperity the likes of which you've never seen, and then the Party would have nothing to complain about! (YOU figure out WHICH Party I'm referring to!)


I don't think it is necessarily an insight that NASA provides which is detrimental, but the basis of its philosophy, that our finite minds can understand the universe out there, and that it matters if we do. Think about it. At a minimum of a hundred million per launch, to say nothing of the costs of delaying launches, we could have built a lot of hospitals, orphanages, power plants, libraries, cured diseases, irrigated deserts, etc., etc. And what do we get for our money...? 'abstract' knowledge.

Answer 6

Take a look at this website where you'll find a FEW of the spin offs directly related to NASA and its space prorgram ==>http://www.thespaceplace.com/nasa/spinoffs.html

Answer 7

I don't mean to sound cynical (well maybe a little, LOL!), but we need to keep our butts on this planet and figure out how to keep things together down here before we go gallivanting off into space to screw other planets up. Unless they are going to build a penal colony on the Moon. That would be a good place to put child molesters and the like.

Answer 8

Hi. We humans like to explore. NASA is exploring space, some folks are exploring Antarctica, some explore genetics, etc. The act is simply human.

Answer 9

2 hours ago you were looking for beer after 12PM. What a change of questions. Perhaps you are sober now?

I suggest a visit to the following page will enlighten you.

http://www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/history.html

Answer 10

I dont think nasa has done anything useful, other than getting weapons to space..