Many criticize NASA exploration as "child's play" when so many current world problems such as hunger and warfare are plaguing our lives. But, it's important to view things in perspective - space travel and research amounts to only .1% - .15% of the US budget each year, the cutting of which will not make many drastic changes on the US fiscal distribution. What do you guys think about the legitimacy and importance of NASA's new project?
Monday, January 2, 2012
NASA's new mission to the moon
Over the New Year's weekend, NASA's twin Grail spacecraft - sent to the moon to map the lunar gravity field - arrived safely at their destination and began their healthy orbit of the moon. The goal of this particular space project is to use Grail's gravity measurements to investigate the matter below the moon's surface in order to determine the history of the celestial object and its possible interaction with the Earth. Because of budget cuts, the washing machine-sized Grail probes were squeezed onto a small rocket and took 30 times longer to reach the moon - a trip of 3 1/2 months - than the Apollo astronauts. Scientists expect to retrieve a lot of new data from the Grail probes, including detailed maps of the moon's gravitational field and insight into its core interior, and some are already thinking of extending the $496 million mission. However, manned trips to the moon are still a long ways off, as the Obama administration recently dumped a plan to return astronauts to the moon in favor of landing on an asteroid as a stepping stone to Mars, about which scientists surprisingly know more than the moon.
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6 comments:
I personally believe that it is important to us to know more about the universe and space; however, the critics also points out an important fact that there are more pressing global issues at hand such as global warming and hunger. That said I still believe that this new NASA project is valid and fair as it does not take a lot of money to fund it.
Currently, the focus should be on national and international issues. With the amount of money that is being spent on this type of technology, I'm not saying that problems would magically disperse, but the U.S. could get onto the track of recovery for many problems that many feel have not been addressed.
Yes, knowledge about the universe that we live in is highly useful, but right now much of that money could be spent elsewhere. We can always explore space, but if we don't begin to get our priorities straight it seems as though it could really hurt America.
I think that NASA missions are extremely important to our government and the people because it is part of America's image as a whole. Also the way they are budgeting and the possible new ideas and wonder and drive that brings many people together are a part of America's exploration of Space. Thus I disagree with the last comment and I am in favor of any Nasa mission. In addition, instead of cutting projects that are not properly managed, NASA works as it should. Our nation is a pioneer in space and should remain that way for if we are to remain the iconic global leader and the place to live, we need these types of programs, for without that image, it would mean that there would be less want to go to the USA and thus more issues than we already have. Leave NASA alone with the budgeting issues. Focus on the real problems.
I agree with Reiko in that the United States has to keep its financial priorities straight. The Obama admin has promised change for quite some time now, so if there are any NASA missions like the one mentioned in this article, at least make it a major one that will attract massive attention. If not, then it would be a good idea to redistribute the hundreds of millions being spent on NASA to other, more immediately gratifying areas.
I'd like to remind the people apposed to NASA missions like this that while space programs make up .1-.15% of our budget, about 3/5 of the same budget is made up by federal mandate programs and another large portion by "defense" spending. If we were to give everyone 99% of what they currently receive from welfare, it would save more money than cutting the space programs. Furthermore, I believe that space programs are important to the future of the human race as a whole, since the human population is quickly growing, and the Earth has a limited capacity it can support. And read the text box that shows up when you scroll over the picture in this: http://xkcd.com/893/ for another perspective.
And really, the fact that the probe is scanning for difference in gravity means that it's checking out the moon's density in parts, implying that we're considering mining there for rare materials, materials that could be very helpful and hard to find on Earth.
The answer should be simple: If you are worried about world hunger, don't take it out of NASA, take it out of the military budget.
I personally would like to see NASA more funded more, so we could explore space.
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