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Why Space Exploration Is Worth the Cost
mlimber writes "The Freakonomics blog has a post in which they asked six knowledgeable people, Is space exploration is worth the public cost? Their answers are generally in the affirmative and illuminating. For example David M. Livingston, host of The Space Show, said: 'Businesses were started and are now meeting payrolls, paying taxes, and sustaining economic growth because the founder was inspired by the early days of the manned space program, often decades after the program ended! This type of inspiration and motivation seems unique to the manned space program and, of late, to some of our robotic space missions.'"
So basically all the comments I've seen either complain about the obvious pro-space bias of the persons interviewed, and a few other comments seem to imply that we'll somehow save the world by leaving it for outer space, which misses the point.
I didn't read TFA, but I know the main reason why such things as the space program are needed is that the money invested in it has great repercussions on the economy in the following decades, just think about all the mainstream products/services that are the fruits of such program's research.
That's it, I saved you 10 minutes of your life by dumbing down an article I didn't read into a mere sentence.
You just got troll'd!
It's not about jobs and kids and fame and glory. It's about controlling the high ground, and right now the higher ground that matters is in low Earth orbit. 60 years ago US was the only country in the world that was not wrecked by WWII, and it could afford to be complacent. In 2008 that's not longer true, and if you want to keep your "jobbies" and vacation in [insert your favorite second or third world country here] without fear of local government abuse, US must control the high ground, and make sure that any upstart (such as China, Russia or even EU) know that they have to play fair.
Right now it's US that bans toys made in China and not China the one that bans toys made in US only because the folks in Beijing know that they do not afford to piss off your government, and that, the way the things are now, they can be sent back to the 1850 technology quite fast (or have the flow of know-how cut short, for lesser "transgressions"), in case they get uppity.
These days LEO is as important as Gibraltar was a hundred years ago, as Suez was up to 1947, as Malta was during WWII, as Iceland during the Cold War, and even more important than the Panama canal is right now.
This is the precise reason nobody talks about this side of the story: if any government would issue declarations about the importance of having control over LEO, it would be the equivalent of a war declaration on the other pretenders to supremacy.
The day China would announce it can put 20000 pounds object in orbit with only a couple of days preparations, and if US would not be able to do the same, that day you'll do better to start growing a queue and learning the Han characters.
Profanity? Please. Did I offend your virgin ears with a word like, "shit"? Or maybe it was the "dammit" that offended you.
Please explain how "our environment" is being "screwed over". Is that one of those "we're all in this thing together, so you'd better agree with me, or else" attitudes?
I'm a troll for expressing my opinion that much said on this topic is fuzzy-headed, misguided science-fiction. OK, gotcha. I see where you're coming from and now understand the nature of your response.