NASA and our tax dollars?

Question

I understand that we've done some amazing things in space, but it seems that we are blowing a ton of cash on day-to-day expenses that could be better used elsewhere. Aside from satellites and the Mars landers, what are we gaining by sending missions up all the time? I hear many arguments about the advances that Nasa has brought us, like Velcro for example. Your telling me they needed to be up in space to invent this stuff? No. FUNDING is what brought us these advances NOT being in orbit. Just once I'd like to hear about a mission that ends with a breakthrough, but it never does. Yet every time we go to the ocean floor we discover a new creature! It's time to sort out all of Earth's problems and mysteries before we set our sights on leaving it. Because right now all I think of when I hear about a shuttle launch is "Gee, I hope it doesn't blow up" I wish I could think "Yay! I wonder what they will do up there!" But no one really thinks like that...

MOTIVATION? The scientists don't get a ticket into space, so what do you think motivates them? (Hint: They don't work for free.) Aside from satellites, everything Nasa has invented has been discovered on the ground. Space is dull and empty and there's no need for man to be up there all the time.
That slug on the ocean floor may provide immunity to AIDS, or cancer. Nothing is gained on the gray rock known as the moon or the red rock called Mars. We are spending money on other planets when we haven't mastered this one yet. Here's a science fiction scenario for you: We go into space and meet an alien who asks us about our home planet and many of our answers are "We don't know." or "We haven't figured that out yet. Can you help us? Our priorities are messed up."
Embarassing.

It's better than the Iraq war....
Iraq or Nasa, those are the only two choices for tax money, right? What a foolish assessment.

Answer 1

Actually, most of us do. I'm sorry you, and a lot of the public, only seems to see the negative side of things - most news stations ignore the fascinating science and focus on the negative, which are few and far between.

NASA is the least-funded of any gov't agency and have the smallest budget. The money isn't being thrown into a black hole - they are spending it here, in our economy. On engineers, scientists, computer programmers, students (including me!), education, fuel, land, construction, engineering, you name it.

Try reading popular science magazines - that's where you'll see the breakthroughs written up for most people to understand. But you'll never get it from the news stations. They just don't care.

Answer 2

It is not FUNDING that causes breakthroughs, it is MOTIVATION. Just like the fund raiser celebrity golf tournament could in theory raise more money by just asking for donations without the expense of the tournament, but that does not work because without the celebrity golfers, nobody cares and nobody donates.

Discovering a new creature on the ocean floor is no more a breakthrough than discovering a new volcano on Mars. You say who cares about another volcano on Mars and I say who cares about another worm on the ocean floor.

And NASA DOES know they are stuck in Earth orbit doing the same thing over and over. That is why they plan to retire the shuttle in 2010, to free up the money spent on that for building the new Orion vehicle which is intended to not only service the space station but is also designed to be able to easily be expanded to be able to send people back to the Moon and on to Mars.

And spinoff technology is far more than Velcro. There are tens of thousands of products, including devices to clean up oil spills and medical technology and space blankets and air purifiers and thousands of things you never think about that would not even have been imagined much less developed and built without the need that the space program had to solve some problem in space. It was only later that we discovered that it also solved a problem on Earth. It is a way to think up new things to try and invent that would never have entered anyone's mind otherwise.

Answer 3

I agree. Manned missions are government pork. But inside NASA there is a little more detailed understanding about it. The sad truth is that there would be no unmanned and highly successful scientific research program without all the government pork that goes to the contractors though the manned space flight program. Period.

So you got to steal $15 billion from the tax payer each year to get to put $1 billion into the world's best space sciences program, by far.

Does it suck? From here to the moon. But it is better than nothing.

Answer 4

No offense... yet while did you start up believing the government definitely gave a crap approximately the place they spend the money they grab from the electorate? There does not could desire to be a purpose, with this or something, interior the governments eyes. as lengthy as they pay sufficient lip provider to the belief's of helping those in choose, human beings will shop on electing them, and that they are going to proceed to do what they please. individually, i think of there are worse examples of government waste than the NASA area software. a minimum of many of the technologies that became into designed via ability of this technique has been utilized in different section's interior the community. can no longer say an analogous for a number of the different ridiculous courses and initiatives accessible. i'm not sure area exploration definitely helps the financial equipment to enhance, yet as I stated, there have been technologies and designs developed for the time of this technique utilized in different section's. Is it a waste pondering a number of the different issues that could desire to be funded? maximum extremely. no longer the worst undertaking we've wasted money on in spite of the undeniable fact that.

Answer 5

Did the US need to invade Iraq? No. Did you need to spend the trillion dollars that war has cost so far? No. Is that how you´d rather see your tax dollars spent? Enter uneducated answer here.
You show me a space mission that has cost as much and killed as many americans as the Iraq war and maybe I´ll be inclined to believe that space exploration is a bad idea. What has the Iraq war produced? Atleast the spaceprogram has yielded tang...

Answer 6

America benfits greatly for every dollar spent on NASA... the investment there actually comes back and helps the economy.

We don't take all this money and stick it in a rocket and crash it into Mars, this money goes back into our economy, making high-tech jobs and inspiring young people to become well-educated. It provides a lot of work for outside contractors and manufacturers.

Answer 7

To send men and probes into space,NASA had to manufacture computers and electronics smaller and lighter than anyone could imagine.Thats why we have
LAPTOPS
FLAT SCREEN DISPLAYS
CELL PHONES
DIGITAL CAMERAS
COLOR VIDEO CAMERAS smaller than a dime.
PORTABLE HEART DIFFIBRILATORS
FUEL CELLS
HYBRID CARS
TEFLON
CARBON FIBER
MICRO ELECTRONICS
The list goes on and on
BTW NASA did not invent velcro
How ironic you asked this question using a computer
made smaller and better by your friends at NASA

Answer 8

It seems to me that the only space-related research that the federal goverment should be doing is directly related to national defense: military projects, NEAT, and the like. The rest of it should be left to private enterprise. -yk