is NASA necessary??

Question

the amount of money that goes into such efforts to go to other planets is outrageous! for the amount that is spent on space travel could be used wisely to pay off the U.S. national debt, help the poor, build better schools, better hospitals, etc. Does any one else think the money could be better spent??
we, the people on earth do a good job destroying this planet, why ruin another???

Answer 1

Because once this one is ruined, where will we go?

The amount of money spent by NASA wouldn't come anywhere close to paying off the US national debt.

I often hear people ask why we're spending money on space exploration when there are people who need food, clothing etc. on Earth, but this is a very narrow perspective. There have always been poor people, and there will always be poor people. It's a fact. Dismantling NASA and every other government organization will not change this.

As for spending the money on schools, isn't NASA an educational tool itself? The amount of knowledge that space exploration and other things NASA does is a huge educational resource. Limiting our knowledge to Earth and ignoring anything beyond our atmosphere certainly won't make anyone smarter.

There are other ares that the money could be used in, but why should one area get all the money while another gets none? There are many costly government programs that are much less beneficial than NASA. And instead of spending money on hospitals, why not spend it on programs to help people quit smoking or community sports to make people healthier, thereby reducing health care costs? Or why not spend it on education, defence, building roads, foreign aid, and on and on. Somewhere along the way, someone decided space exploration was worth a small investment.

And finally, there's the question of what to do when Earth is no longer enough for us. There are 6 billion people on the planet today and this number is growing exponentially. Do you think we'll be able to maintain centuries of this growth with our limited resources? It's obvious that we'll need to expand for living space, resources and possibly a healthier environment. As a teacher of mine once said, what if we could extract all of our resources from barren, lifeless planets rather than destroying the one we live on? There's a limit to what we have on Earth, we need alternatives, and soon.

Answer 2

Necessary is a relative word.


And uh, you're awfully ungrateful and ignorant. All that money nasa is using on space travel is making leaps and bounds in terms of technological advancements that benefit everyone. Some of the medical research being done on in space is some of the most important research on the planet ( ;p ).

More money won't help the poor anyway. More money won't help schools an ounce. If anything we should be spending more money on space exploration.

You want to pay off the damn debt, stop fighting pointless battles. More money was thrown away senselessly in the middle east than nasa has ever spent.

You want to help the poor? Moneys not going to do a damn thing. All that money raised for africa won't do a damn thing. The government is the problem.

Money isn't going to help the education system an ounce either. There is more money in the system now then there should be. Money isn't he problem. The system is the problem.

And at this rate, we're going to destroy this planet. Don't cry then when all that money we could have been using to save our sorry asses wasn't put to use. Instead we used it to destroy the planet.

Answer 3

You do realize your question is completely moot, right?

NASA is extremely necessary. It has done more for foreign relations through joint projects than any other branch of the government. Not to mention the vast amount of technology that has grown out the program that we take for granted today. Such as: teflon, computer technology, polarized lenses, materials technology, medical technology, and a plethora of other scientific and philisophical advancements.

Before you speak on a subject, make sure you have done your research. Here's some numbers for you...

Of the US national budget, only about 1-3% (depending on the year) goes to NASA. That's about 15-20 billion dollars. The amount spent on the military is about 30% or more. NASA is also the ONLY government branch that actually MAKES money. Without that, NASA would never get anything done, because their piece of the national budget is so small. Not to mention the vast amount of people that are employed at NASA, and through NASA's contractors of which there are thousands. You would put hundreds of thousands of Americans out of work and create an economic crisis to pay the national debt down by <1% (National Debt is pushing over 7 trillion dollars)? Also, by eliminating NASA you would create a much larger base of "poor" people by putting such a large amount out of jobs.

Not to knock the military, as they have given us many advances as well, not too mention protect our rights (and yours) to question the government like you are doing now. However, your questioning is hardly founded. The government should invest more in NASA, not less. Given that we as a human race are a curious species and the US has never been closer than that first launch to the Moon in July, 1969.

Not only do we need NASA, but our nation would lose its last true source of wonder and excitement. I know when I was growing up all I wanted to do was be an astronaut, or work for NASA in some way. And now I do. I am an engineer for a NASA contractor, and work on the Shuttle and Ares programs. Both extremely important programs.

NASA has given more to this country than you will ever know, and to say that all they have done is a waste is not only insulting, but completely ludicrous. Don't you ever wonder what's out there? One of these days, just look up on a clear night. Space is beautiful and incredible.

Leave your cynical "Human's are destroying Earth, so why destroy another planet" comments to yourself. Because that is even more ludicrous. Thank you for underlining the problem with Americans these days... we all want freedom, pride, and the right to do and be what we want, but all we do is complain about things and do nothing to make it better. I'm just as guilty of this as anyone, but I recognize when I do it, and attempt to turn pessimism into optimism. So, please, look into NASA's history. You will be dumbfounded as to how amazingly instrumental it has been in shaping our world today.

Answer 4

The US defence budget is $441 billion. NASA's is $16 billion.
US spends over $3.9 billion per MONTH in Iraq alone.
Just so that your feet are allowed to come into contact again with the ground, the $6 billion that NASA spends is used to pay salaries of engineers, technicians, scientists and workers who would otherwise be without a job (and no they are not overpayed, it is not like an astronaut earns as much as an MD or something, in fact astronauts are paid less than airline pilots)
I give you a well desserved THUMB DOWN to your question you evidently did not research before exposing your pre-concieved notions and pre-judgemental affirmations.

So there.

Answer 5

You do realize NASA's not throwing their budget into a black hole, right? For every dollar NASA recieves in funding, seven dollars are spent in the economy as a result - on education, labor, parts, fuel, research - money that goes back to the people. Personally, I think we should just scrap the military and use THAT money to help people, 'cause it sure doesn't seem to be doing that now. NASA is a great investment, and also has the lowest budget of ANY gov't project.

Answer 6

Two reasons come to mind, one is that Planet Killing asteroid yet to be detected....NASA will be needed to interdict the asteroid 10 years in advance of hitting the earth.

Secondly, the colonization of Mars or one of Jupitor's moons will be man's salvation, especially in 50 years when the earth will be at 10 billion souls at our current rate of growth....zero fossil fuels, zero coal and other natural resources. While it might be nice to hide our heads in the sand and wish that people will recylcle more and save the ozone, without any foreseeable rescue, our salvation will be planetary colonization...but that's just me.

Answer 7

Why do you ask? Are your welfare payments being cut?