The U.S. space program has been a national treasure since the great space race in 1969. NASA gave the country inspiration and hope in a bleak and depressing time. However, funding for space exploration has taken a beating lately because of the disinterest and the more urgent problems of the downward spiral of the economy. However, with recent innovations and new ideas, if we were to supply scientists with the means to create and research, we could further our knowledge of the universe. Hopefully the funding of new space travel would give our country the encouragement and motivation to get out of the slump we are in today.
Our country is in a decline and most everyone knows it. When we think about the economy, bailouts for corporations, and just politics in general, people seem and tend to get depressed or annoyed. But a solution, however pricey, would be to put aside some money for a project that could and would raise the hope for the future. Creating new technology and inventions always boosts morale in humans when we know that we are working together to enlighten our minds and making our future more interesting.
Lately there have been private funds for research for the continuance of exploration of the universe. Certain donors give this money because they realize that to make things better for what lies ahead, funds need to be provided. Not many will work for free and equipment for the largest vessels known to man doesn’t come cheap.
Space exploration takes a long time to plan out. In the late 1950s the Soviets launched many satellites into space. We needed to get on board with the fact that the U.S. wanted to be the first to land on the moon. Many advisers began planning to factor in a budget within the government funds. It takes a long time to organize a trip into space, not to mention set up the correct gear, find the best men with training for the job, and analyze the environment of space so that there are no mistakes. For this reason, research and development need to happen now so that it doesn't take the U.S. as long as it did in the late '50s to finally get back up into space.
Article comments
1 - Pedro
Would you agree with me that NASA could/should be partially, if not completely, privatized?
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Thank you, very nice article of urs.
2 - Dr Dreadful
Parts of NASA could certainly do with being privatised but it is as a research and development agency that it has made its most significant contributions, and most pure R&D is funded by government. NASA is one of the most maligned and underfunded government agencies, taking up only about 2% of the federal budget, yet people (members of Congress included) still have the perception that space exploration wastes huge quantities of taxpayer money.
The task of ferrying humans into space can and should be done by private launch companies, and this is in fact current administration policy. Obama also quite rightly cancelled the Constellation program, which was duplicative, inefficient and over budget, in order to focus NASA's efforts on robotic exploration, which has yielded the agency many of its most spectacular results and returns, and on manned missions to Mars and to the asteroids: places we haven't already been to. (Not saying that we should abandon the Moon, but the private sector is quite capable of managing a restored human presence there too.) This space vision is the most far-sighted and imaginative since Kennedy's, IMO. Such a shame that it will almost certainly be abandoned the moment Obama leaves office.
Couple of other points: it's unlikely that a space elevator would have much mileage as an amusement park ride, since the trip to orbit would take hours or days. There would be some initial novelty value, but it would quickly become as tedious as long-haul air travel.
And the one-way option to Mars is broadly analogous to the voyages of the Mayflower pilgrims and other early American settlers, who departed England with full knowledge that they probably would never return and no intention of doing so. They certainly didn't regard their future as bleak, nor did it turn out to be. The Martian pioneers will be of this mindset.
There were of course some New World colonists who later regretted their choice, but changing their minds was not an option. They either handled it themselves or were dealt with by the social mechanisms of the new colonies. The first humans on Mars will expect and experience these same challenges.