Why do we explore space when we need the money for things here on Earth?

Answer 1

understanding our surroundings helps us understand what ROLES we can play in CONTEXT to everything else in the universe.

understanding the creation of everything including us. maybe this is all to prove whether god is real or not.

to learn more about time, gravity, psychics and quantum physics... which could all help us understand reality, and or even control it.

learning more about space has helped us refine our scientific reasoning process and given more info which we applied to other fields like physics and chemistry.

developing new materials and computers systems for the survival of automated robotics or probes

global communications = satellites.
http://www.cisco.com/web/strategy/government/space.html

possibly to save the human race in case of an planet wide disaster.

to spread and secure an interstellar area sharing resources and energy.

possible interaction and learning from other species

creating new governments

new opportunities.

new land

and money !!!!

Answer 2

Compare the space exploration budgets (of countries that have space exploration budgets) with the military budgets, or the education budgets, or the social security budgets.

Australia, which is not the largest country in the world, spent almost 800 million dollars in the late 1980s on building a new federal parliament house. People were "horrified" at this and thought of all the places where the money could have been spent - elsewhere. Building the place took a few years, and of course a lot of people got paid work out of it. Just like a lot of people get paid work out of space programs.

Now the amazing thing is that every two weeks in the late 1980s the Australian government was paying out more than 600 million dollars in age and disability pensions, war veterans benefits, unemployment benefits and other social security payments. So every eight weeks they spent 2400 million dollars on this, which could have paid for three parliament houses.

I don't know what a space shuttle launch costs. But I will bet my socks that the US government spends far more in two weeks on social security payments.

Gremlin guy screams about paying social security money to "losers". Of course the screaming stops when it is his disabled brother or war veteran father that receives the money.

Answer 3

why do we waste money on welfare and jailbird programs for losers, when we could be investing more in exploration and creating new technologies and products? Human beings are dime-a-dozen, people by the MILLIONS waste their lives just existing, only a small fraction ever reach the potential of an Albert Einstein, Tesla, Beethoven, Mozart, etc. Why worry that a small fraction of them are in fact hardly worth worrying about, and that even if you COULD save them all, many will hardly appreciate it ? The MISERLY 16 Billion given to NASA is like your getting 3 cents allowance, and your sibling a dollar. I think you'd whine too, if that's all you got, yet NASA is still capable of producing Hubble, Mars Explorers, Cassini, and other awe-inspiring space projects. Think what could be accomplished if they had MORE resources...say, what if WE starved the Big Government of funds? Don't you think they'd get more wise and thrifty with our dollars? And spend them more wisely? You'd be right, but every do-gooder seems to think that giving money away to losers helps, when it really hurts them. They don't learn self-reliance, and just keep reaching for more. Cut them off, and then make them EARN it, and they'll appreciate it more when they DO get it. More money for space, less for space-heads on earth, is my thinking.

- The Gremlin Guy -

Answer 4

No, it does no longer. All technology examine is costly. and infrequently pays off in direct advantages. yet technology is the commencing place of engineering and technologies. If funds interior the previous have been spent on despite "greater constructive issues" have been politically superb on the time, we would have not have been given any plane, no vehicles, no antibotics or different cutting-factor drugs, no desktops, and so on. specially, here is countless the flaws we've already gained from area examine: scientific diagnostic technologies Miniturized computing device aspects, and each little thing that is going with them--the internet, GPS structures, cellular telephones, and so on. climate satellites that save hundreds of lives each 365 days. Communications satellites. the latest era of plane that are 20% greater gas effective, stronger, and safer--are equipped with supplies developed by using NASA. etc. in case you elect a greater constructive destiny--positioned funds into technology. Or settle for the inevitable decline of united states of america right into a 2d-value financial and technological capacity. because of the fact different countries ARE making an investment in area exploration and technologies. We the two compete--or we are able to be the losers. And our toddlers.

Answer 5

Man has been explorers, in the beginning man explored the world and now to make a long story short we are exploring the universe because we want to know, besides the fact that earth will soon be to overpopulated to maintain life as we know it, we need to look for ways to expand,

Answer 6

Putting off space exploration by considering every unsolved problem that needs money means space exploration will never occur. Having said that, I'm not sure if Boatman is suggesting that all social necessities ought to be abolished to free up resources, or he is making a comparison.

Answer 7

Massive, MASSIVE amounts of money are being spent on every day problems on Earth now. Hundreds of billions of dollars. The 16 billion NASA gets would just disappear into the vast pool of social programs without helping at all, while we would be loosing our future; because space IS our future. Nobody is saying that we should use ALL our money on space, so I want you to stop implying that we should use ALL our money on whatever Earthly problems you have in mind.

Answer 8

NASA gets $17 billion dollars this fiscal year. Compare that the hundreds of billions spent on national defence and health programs in the US per year. It's a tiny fraction of the available funds that are directed to space exploration, and the benefits of the space program are legion, if not obvious.

Answer 9

You mean the TINY TINY percentage of the National Budget that we allocate to NASA! Check it out ............... not much money compared to all other budget items............ (OFF TOPIC BUT!)------- we would save many times NASA's budget by eliminating the totally unnecessary Federal Education Dept, the Federal Housing Dept and the Depart of Energy! (just my opinion OFF TOPIC)

EDIT-------- ??????? where do folks get the idea that we will use up all the Earth's resources? Crops grow on the same piece of ground for centuries--------- trees grow ON THEIR OWN with no help from us------- the oceans contain Billions of years of potential energy (if we discover an economical way to recover the hydrogen in water)--------- this "idea" continues to amaze me.

Answer 10

There are many more important things in space that contributions to your personal welfare. Your question confirms the fact that more money needs to be spent on education than welfare and food stamps.