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NASA is a huge waste of money and has been for some time. They do do some aronotical research, and that should continue, but outer space? Forget it. There are many places on this planet that are still unexplored. We have plenty of problems right here. I'd rather see the money spent on helping 3rd world nations develop clean water, waste facilities and increase availability of electrical power.
NASA is a huge waste of money and has been for some time. They do do some aronotical research, and that should continue, but outer space? Forget it. There are many places on this planet that are still unexplored. We have plenty of problems right here. I'd rather see the money spent on helping 3rd world nations develop clean water, waste facilities and increase availability of electrical power.
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Aeronautics (from the ancient Greek words ὰήρ āēr, which means "air", and ναυτική nautikē which means "navigation", i.e. "navigation of the air") is the science or art involved with the study, design, and manufacturing of airflight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere. The British Royal Aeronautical Society identifies the aspects of "aeronautical Art, Science and Engineering" and "the profession of Aeronautics (which expression includes Astronautics)." [1]
I don't really care about 3rd world countries or their drinking water, it seems to be we've been giving them money for decades with little to show for it. Why is our responsibility to give them billions every year? They are independent nations that should take care of their own for once. NASA and space research is very important. NASA has developed plenty of products for their astronauts that have had large cross over appeal to the general population. The lunar landing was the pinnacle of America, it represented our nation's triumph in the space race and our it was a triumph of knowledge and science. We should never stop looking to expand our knowledge and we should never stop innovating. American's crass attitudes towards scientific research shows that we're regressing as a nation. Space travel is representative of national greatness.
Sigh...this whole thread is so full of fail that it hurts. NASA is only 1 half of 1% of the entire federal budget, we waste so much money. The stuff NASA does is of extraordinary importance.
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Had a breast exam lately? Algorithms developed for the Hubble Space Telescope improved image processing in mammography. Been caught in a natural disaster? NASA advances in deployable radio antennae helped secure emergency communications after Hurricane Katrina and the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Fighting the war on terror? Miniaturized sensors that sniff the air for traces of life on other planets led to the development of easy-to-use, hand-held devices to detect explosives and chemical agents on this one. NASA technology often finds a way back to Earth.
But high-tech spinoffs are not the primary reason to explore space. NASA advances human knowledge. Its Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, recently affixed to the space station, will help answer questions about the total of all matter and offer new insights into the origins and nature of the universe. Hubble has already furthered our understanding of the big bang, black holes, neutrinos and dark energy — issues at the heart of physics and mathematics. Since space missions rely heavily on solar power, NASA is always searching for ways to improve solar cells and batteries and may one day help cure America of its oil addiction. These developments would not appear on NASA’s cost-benefit balance sheet, but they are no less valuable to society.
NASA is also at the forefront of weather tracking and climate change. I know some people deny science and don't believe in all of that but for those of us in the real world their research is invaluable. Earth Right Now | NASA
None of the above. It was pure science, and pure science is getting very expensive. Only the government and the big corporations have the funds to pay the high cost. Proctor and Gamble have no profit motive for knowing what is on the other side of the moon, so that left only the government with deep enough pockets to continue the thirst for knowledge.
NASA's '09 budget is 17.6 billion. We can save that by bringing the troops home from Iraq ten weeks early. Or getting somebody else besides Halliburton to feed them.
But it's all borrowed money from Chinese loan sharks, about $3 per week from each household's budget, not counting the compounded interest that their grandchildren will have to pay off.
Absolutely. Cut back on foreign wars. The US has been criticized for losing our edge in science. NASA is one of the governmental organizations we can be proud of. As far as "pushing the climate change agenda"- that's straight out of the far right handbook. NASA is reporting on its findings from space satellites. Do you really think it's making up its data?
Do you think we'll need NASA if an asteroid is on a collision course with us? Nah…. we'll just throw up our hands and call it the rapture.
But it needn't be this way. Government-funded science shouldn't be a partisan issue. There is a very strong conservative case for government-backed science. Conservatives love to laud American exceptionalism — the belief that America is a unique experiment in the history of the world and one that by its very nature is designed to outshine the rest of the globe. America leads because its society and systems are superior. And there is little denying that large-scale federal science has had a great hand in positioning the country as the leading military and economic power over the last several decades.
For all of the success experienced by this country in terms of free markets and industrialization, it was federally funded research that led to the construction of the most powerful weapon in history; that put a man on the moon; laid the foundation for the internet; mapped the human genome; and confirmed the existence of water on Mars.
This excellence is largely born out of America's world-leading universities. America boasts 46 of the top 100 universities in the world. Many of these schools are public. But even the private universities benefit greatly from federal funding for fundamental and applied research. In fact, Uncle Sam has historically been the largest funding source for American university research and development.
The popular and predictable rebuttal among the diehard right invokes the free market as the better option: The federal government is too big and bloated — and therefore incapable of efficiently spending federal dollars on worthwhile research. That knock on our government is certainly true in many contexts — but big science isn't one of them. The goals of SpaceX are profit-driven and its research proprietary. NASA's exploration of deep space, however, follows the more noble aim of science for science's sake, and makes each and every American taxpayer a part of the real-time unraveling of the heavens' secrets. The knowledge is there for all who seek it because we paid for it.
Conservatives have likewise largely maintained their zeal for military spending while detesting all other forms of government-financed scientific endeavor. But make no mistake: The weapons that make America the greatest military power in the history of the world are designed around fundamental scientific principles. And the nuclear fission process that paved the way for America's atomic bomb also drives the civilian nuclear power industry.
I'll never understand the anti-science rhetoric from the right wing in America. Science, the quest for knowledge, and a love of exploration are the hallmarks of a great civilization.
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