Our potential in space

The Space Review ^ | 10/09/07 | Frank Stratford

[KevinDavis]

Is human spaceflight worth the investment? This question has been asked and answered many times within the long decades that man has been exploring space. Take Mars as an example. Speculation about lost “civilizations” and ancient canal builders filled the popular mindset until Mariner spacecraft revealed a lifeless barren world in the early 1960’s and debate has raged ever since about whether or not our destiny lies among the stars or should be abandoned. When we watched the shuttles Challenger and Columbia disintegrate into so many tragic pieces the question of why we should put humans into such environments rose painfully in our consciousness, and each time we asked, “Why put humans in space?” the answers that came back sounded less and less convincing.

[KevinDavis]

[jas3]

Totally not worth the cost. And (of course) not worth even a single taxpayer dollar.

jas3

[KevinDavis]

Yes it is.. NASA takes only .5% of our national budget..

[damondonion]

Is human spaceflight worth the investment? This question has been asked and answered many times within the long decades that man has been exploring space. Take Mars as an example. Speculation about lost “civilizations” and ancient canal builders filled the popular mindset until Mariner spacecraft revealed a lifeless barren world in the early 1960’s...

Mars was not always lifeless and barren; it used to be inhabited. We need to get a look at whatever's inside those megaliths.

[Coyoteman]

Mars was not always lifeless and barren; it used to be inhabited. We need to get a look at whatever's inside those megaliths.

And your evidence is where????

Heinlein's Red Planet?

[Coyoteman]

Totally not worth the cost. And (of course) not worth even a single taxpayer dollar.

Right. Columbis was a dope!

[jas3]

He may have been a dope, but at least he knew how to spell.

jas3

[jas3]

Yes it is.. NASA takes only .5% of our national budget..

NASA will spend about $17 billion in 2008. Since there are about 300 million people in the US, that means I'm paying about $56. Throw in the wife and kids, and we're looking at $224.

If you want to spend $224 per year for people to play with a crappy space shuttle, that should be your decision. And I would not question it. But for you to force me to spend $224 for something that is a complete waste of time and money is coercive and authoritarian.

I love astronomy and space. But I would never force other people to pay for my benefit. And NASA hurts private sector space efforts, besides wasting tax dollars.

jas3

p.s. If we eliminated every agency that spent only .5% of the national budget, we could VERY substantially reduce the TOTAL national budget. NASA should be at the top of the list of agencies to terminate. ALL of it's responsibilities would be better off in the private sector.

[Coyoteman]

Right. Columbis was a dope!

He may have been a dope, but at least he knew how to spell.

Ooooooh! Right you are!

But do you have any response to the post itself, now that we have corrected a minor spelling error?

(I spell checked this one three times!)

[jas3]

But do you have any response to the postitself, now that we have corrected a minor spelling error?

I have many thoughts on the topic.

First off Columbus was not a dope. Neither is NASA populated by dopes.

Secondly, Columbus didn't actually discover America. Besides those who came over the Bering land bridge it is possible (even probable) that Europeans settled North America at the end of last Ice Age as well. Further genetic analysis of "Native Americans" may prove that point.

The Vikings were certainly in North America before Columbus.

Mark Kurlansky makes a very strong case that the Basque cod fisherman were in Newfoundland at least 50 years before Columbus.

And I expect that Pacific Islanders were in South America prior to 1492.

Plus the Chinese may have been in Alaska and the high Arctic.

So while Columbus was not a dope, and while he was certainly an adventurer, he was not covering brand new ground.

But the fundamental questions is, dope or not, should he have made his voyage on the taxpayer's dime? I doubt Leif Ericson was funded by VASA (Viking American Sea Adventures) and would humbly suggest that he was exploring privately.

I support exploration. I support humans in space. I just don't support forcing people to turn over their money at the point of a gun to do so. Taxation is legalized theft. And I'm hard pressed to find any reason to enforce taxes on my neighbors other than for a common defense and a very very few other endeavors.

Space exploration would be better conducted by the likes of Burt Rutan and his colleagues in the private sector.

jas3

[SunkenCiv]

Speculation about lost "civilizations" and ancient canal builders filled the popular mindset until Mariner spacecraft revealed a lifeless barren world in the early 1960's...

A) it still does, and B) the Mariner spacecraft was unmanned, as have been all missions to all celestial bodies other than the Moon.

[SunkenCiv]

Whoops, sorry, I’d planned to make that a blank reply field. :’(

[RightWhale]

Hoagland has his new book out and already 200th on the best sellers at Amazon. He is partly correct and will be perfect once he recognizes the role of the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty.

[Kevmo]

bookmark this old post because it covers much of the same ground I’ve mentioned in the past, such as Basque fishermen going for cod a generation before Columbus and whether or not exploration should be private or public...