Is Outer Space Worth Our $$$?

Question

I know that events like the moon landing were very important to American history...but do you think the millions (possibly billions?) of dollars spent each year on the space program is really worth that money? Couldn't it go to something more important?

Answer 1

When you think about the number of things we have to do without if we didn't have a space program, it's pretty staggering. Most of our communication systems. Weather prediction. Many things I lived in the world as it was before we had ANYTHING up there, and I can tell you that much of what most people take for granted today wasn't even considered possible then. Predicting a hurricane? Locating underground water, as was done last week in Darfur? Measuring ocean currents and temperatures? Live TV from the other side of the world? Monitoring the rate of deforestation? Detecting new forest fires quickly in remote areas? All pure science fiction.

The disinformation artists like to rag on the idea that the money spent on space is more needed for social programs. The amount spent on space has NEVER in it's whole history equalled the amount of money that is lost, misplaced, or simply can't be accounted for in the Health and Human Services budget the same year. Not their whole budget, just the amount that "disappears" every year.

Answer 2

The investment into the space program is well worth our money. NASA's 2007 budget topped out at roughly $17 billion. While this may seem to be a significant sum of money it really isn't. Consider that in 2005 the US spent $81.5 billion within the Department of Education alone, and spent $85.2 billion within the Department of Agriculture. These two agencies are only two of the many that enjoy huge budgets each year. Considering that NASA's budget is an investment into our future these numbers are disappointing to me. Would you only invest less than one percent of your income on your retirement?

Does that analogy seem far fetched? It shouldn't, considering how much we rely on space technology nowadays. For those of you with GPS, you know how handy it can be to know where you are within a stange area. Navigation has become an integral part of many people's lives- civilian, and military alike. Who conducted the first satellite navagation? The Navy, with experience gained by working with NASA.

Satellite communications allows nearly instantaneous communications to take place around the world. Satellite communications has literally changed the world. Who did the first communication satellite research- NASA.

The Hubble Space Telescope has changed how we look at the universe- literally. This vital, I dare say critical, mission has provided so much data to scientists it boggles the mind. New insights are found frequently. And Hubble is only one of many research satellites in orbit. Who runs and maintains the Hubble and many other research programs- NASA.

The last important point to keep in mind about the space program is something NASA calls "spin-offs." Spin-offs are essentially technology or techniques discovered during research, but were not the main intent of the research program. While many disregard the benefits of spin-offs, and they do not necessarily quantify conducting any program in particular, they are still an unquestionable benefit of any space program. The NASA spinoff page can be found at the following link:
http://www.sti.nasa.gov/tto/

I highly suggest taking a look at the links provided and consider the importance and impact that our (meaning the US) space program has had for our country and for the world. Considering the small amount of money invested in this program, huge payoffs are being rolled in. And sadly far too many people are unaware of the benefits that the space program has awarded them.

Answer 3

There is already a vast amount of money being poured into 'more important' things such as healthcare and social security. Just because space research is more visible doesn't mean it's more expensive. Also, space research has had many many positive applications. Your satellite TV, handheld video cameras, satellite navigation systems, computer technology, medical technology... all these things came out of the money spent on the space program.

Also, consider where the money actually goes. It costs millions to build a satellite, but most of that cost is the money paid to the people who do the work. All the money is spent here on Earth.

Space research is not a frivolous use of money, nor a waste of time. The average person spends far more money on far more pointless stuff than governments spend on space research.

Answer 4

There are vast amounts of natural resources outside our little cue ball.
Take Mars for instance. The reason why the planet is red colored, is because the entire planet is filled with iron oxide. There is most likely rare metals and precious gems, besides the huge store of other typical metals.
With the proper technology, Mars could be terraformed to be a habitable planet.
Many of the moons and other large bodies in the solar system also have vast amounts of natural resources waiting to be exploited. A few billion spent on space exploration is well spent.
When Queen Isabella of Spain gave Columbus the money to explore the Americas, she got a return on her investment thousands of times more then she ever spent.

Answer 5

Aside from any talk of colonizations, space exploration with probes is as important to scientific research as any other area of research. The things we can learn in one realm of research often have broad implications for other areas.

Human exploration of space is a little tougher to justify from a practical point of view due to the immense costs involved and the arguable gains. From a purely scientific perspective, sending humans into space is not really worth the cost. Indeed, there are many in the scientific community who oppose NASA's planned moon colony and Mars missions because they feel that the resources would go much further if spent on unmanned missions.

So if you are to justify human spaceflight, I think there are only two real arguments: 1. that future space colonization is essential for mankind's survival, or 2. that humans are born explorers, and we should explore space because we are meant to do so. I think both of these arguments can have merit, depending on your outlook for the future. I personally don't believe argument #1 justifies the staggering costs that would be required because that will just mean that even fewer resources can be devoted to protecting Earth. Ultimately, I think that if the Earth were to become uninhaitable anytime within the next 100-200 years at least, then humanity will be doomed anyway, regardless of any action we take now (I'm not saying that our doom is inevitable, I'm just saying that space colonies are a very, very long-term solution). Hence, we are better off not going into space and devoting ourselves to saving Earth. Even still, you can always use the counter-argument that the things learned in this endeavor could help us save Earth as well.

The second argument, is much harder to contradict, in my opinion. I do think that we should always explore new realms. The day we stop exploring is the day we stop being truly human. Who knows what discoveries await us, if we just have the persistence to pursue them. It is for this reason that I think manned space travel should continue.

I think it's just something that you have to decide for yourself.

Answer 6

At the moment the space program is our one and only hope of the long-term survival of our species. For example..if we found out tomorrow that a 100-km wide asteroid is going to strike the Earth in 50years time and there is no way to change that, then we need to get off this planet. Now here's the really scary part. It WILL happen eventually, okay, perhaps not that large an asteroid, but a potential species-killer IS out there with our names on it. We need to be ready and keeping all of our eggs in one basket is a sure-fire way of getting wiped out eventually.

Oh, and it doesn't need to be an asteroid either. The same logic applies to both nuclear holocaust and deadly disease.

Answer 7

If you were to take the time and remove EVERYTHING in your home that was a direct result of NASA engineering and research, your way of life would be drastically changed; and you'd hate the result. The usual, more common things GPS, satellite communications, astronomy knowledge gleaned by the Hubble, long range low interference microwave frequency transmissions aka cellular phone network, and on and on. And, my favorite and product most used by the general public: velcro. TANG was cool too.

Answer 8

There really is value to it. Research will eventually help solve a lot of the worlds problems, especially the energy issues and how they pertain to global warming. This is the age when private business will take over from countries and this will have a direct and positive effect on all those money woes.

Answer 9

It is definitely worth it for how else can we ever learn anything about space and we know so little yet

Answer 10

yes, because if the earth becomes too polluted to live in, we will be able to move to another planet which has the same components on earth that are needed to live...