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NASA Wants To Fund Space Taxis
NASA plans on using $50 million in stimulus funds to seed development of a commercial passenger transportation service to space. Potential space taxi inventors have 45 days to submit their proposals. The proposals will be competitively evaluated and the winners will be announced by the end of September. It is unclear what other Commodore 64 games NASA plans on making a reality, but I hope Arkanoid makes the short list.
Wrong! You saw that stimulus money when the government took it out of your wallet!
Say thanks to Uncle Sam.
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It's worth nothing that, while few people are directly involved w/the space program, the space program has historically had indirect benefits which have benefited society. To list a few (from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off):
Health and Medicine
Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs) (2005)
Infrared Ear Thermometers (1991)
DeBakey's Ventricular Assist Device (VAD) (2002)
Artificial Limbs (2005)
Transportation
Aircraft Anti-Icing Systems (2007)
Highway Safety Grooving (1985)
Improved Radial Tires (1976)
Chemical Detection (2007)
Public Safety
Video Enhancing and Analysis Systems (2001)
Land Mine Removal (2000)
Fire-Resistant Reinforcement (2006)
Firefighting Equipment (1976 onwards)
Consumer, Home, and Recreation
Temper Foam (1976-2005)
Enriched Baby Food (1996, 2008)
Portable Cordless Vacuums (1981)
Freeze Drying Technology (1976, 1994)
Environmental and Agricultural Resources
Water Purification (1995, 2006)
Solar Energy (2005)
Pollution Remediation (1994, 2006)
Computer Technology
Better Virtual Software (2005)
Structural Analysis (1976-1998)
Internet-Connected Ovens (2005)
Industrial Productivity
Powdered Lubricants (2005)
Improved Mine Safety (1978-2008)
Food Safety Systems (1991)
-Z
NASA plans on using $50 million in stimulus funds to seed development of a commercial passenger transportation service to space. ... More stimulus funds that 99% of the middle class will never see. How is this gonna help my 401k?
Ah, the old "spending money on the space program means ferrying dollar bills into orbit and dumping them there" argument. One day people will get it into their heads that money spent on the space program is spent pretty much exclusively on Earth where jobs are created, new technologies are developed, and countless other economic and social spin-offs are generated. In the meantime, I'll have to keep on posting this reminder.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
Believe it or not, but the stimulus isn't supposed to pad your 401k, it's supposed to create jobs.
First, engineers and scientists get jobs, and practice their craft. And do you think the scientists and engineers assembled the rockets with Erector sets in their own private labs? No, they had manufacturers build the parts and the craft. You have small manufacturers building the parts, and large ones assembling the pieces, with distributors in the middle moving the material and making sure it's all on time and available when needed.
And then those people go home and spend their money on stuff...
The best kind of stimulus is the kind of stimulus that puts people in jobs. And if you think space taxis are nothing but an idea for the very rich to go into space, just realize that the next thing we need to figure out in space is how to get people into space both safely and cheaply. Hey, get people safely and cheaply into space? That means more satellites, more repairs, more tourism for the common man, more economic opportunities.
"All great wisdom is contained in .signature files"
Remember, the reason the broken window fallacy is a fallacy is that it assumes that breaking a window and having to fix it is the only thing that gets the money moving and thus you're making things better by breaking the window. The observation that this money could have been spent on new development with equal or greater effect on the economy is what nullifies it.
Investing in space tourism is investing in cheap access to space. That's not anything like digging ditches just so you can fill them in, or breaking a window so you have to fix it, or going to war so you have to spend tons of money blowing things and people up. It's more like (though not exactly like) the U.S. highway system. A public works project that had a huge economic benefit.
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