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Then why were the Space Station astronauts doing worthless Science Fair experiments?
The defining moment, for me, of the whole Apollo program was seeing an astronaut swinging a golf club on the Moon. Yeah, that's something we need to spend billions of dollars to accomplish.
I'd rather spend billions on that, then trillions on bombs to bring democracy to people halfway around the world, who don't want it.
What happens if we get there to find that china has already established a base? lol
We'd have to kill them, to make sure all the resources are for for private capital exploitation. God didn't make the moon big enough to share any of it. The US flag is already there, which means it is ours, all ours. ,
Quote:
Originally Posted by Cloudy Dayz
4. Because if we don't, the Chinese will, and that is what it's all really about anyway.
I can't help but ask 'why?'. I suppose one could say we're eventually going to have to leave this planet, and we have to start somewhere. But is going to the moon, not to mention Mars, really worth it?
Perhaps someone smarter than I can answer that.
We could start with the oceans, a bit more logistically feasible, I would say, until we grow gills (again).
Asteroid going to splash the oceans dry, you say?
Okay, let's hedge our risks then and do both, oceans and outer space.
The moon is a stepping stone to Mars, which in turn is a stepping stone to further manned space exploration. Manned space flight has fallen out of favor due to it's cost consideration for the short-sighted, but the long term benefits to mankind in solving the technological blockades to manned space flight are innumerable - it payed off in spades. Imagine a trip to mars and the technological developments it will bring in energy storage, waste management, health, transportation, and software. Nothing excites man more than the catalyst of a goal, an objective, and competition doesn't hurt either (then it was the USSR, now it's China).
The surprising thing is that, in the early 70s, the goal for a manned trip to Mars was 1984. I know this because I was presented with a very old grade school report I did on the moon landing recently and that was the expert consensus from the scientific world at the time then that I quoted. And here we are 35 years later. So what are we waiting for? Then we knew that challenges, with mainframe computers that had less computing powers then compared to what we have in our smart phones. Let's start planning.
Let's let Americans put their money were their mouths are. At tax time, every American gets to contribute for manned missions to Mars. That's will define the budget. Otherwise, use robots.
Let's let Americans put their money were their mouths are. At tax time, every American gets to contribute for manned missions to Mars. That's will define the budget. Otherwise, use robots.
And yet you didn't even address the benefits. Short-sighted or short-attention-span. Which one are you?
At tax time - people pay taxes (well, most of us), so I don't understand your argument. NASA already has a budget of $21 billion a year so you can see Americans are already putting their money where their mouths is.
The federal budget is $4.4 trillion dollars over a year. The cost of a mission to Mars is $230 billion (from a 2014 study) over 30 or 40 years (most of it however will indeed be in up-front costs to build the infrastructure), i've heard quotes of $2 trillion as well but that includes an entire space program including future trips, mars base, etc. The entire package. That might be over a span of centuries.
The point is the cost is not a primary obstacle and will not result in any additional taxes. If it makes you feel better, it can be diverted from the $700 billion yearly military budget, of which NASA is a drop in the bucket in comparison. The point also is, once again, the benefits will far exceed the cost.
Take that same 230 billion and apply it to infrastructure and cleaning up our planet and that benefit will exceed the cost. I think we have too many problems on this planet that need to be addressed before we get into another space race for bragging rights. Been there, done that.
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