To the moon....

[heina21]

What do yall think of the whole space exploration? Good investment or waste of money?

[YogsVR4]

Short question. Short answer. Its a great investment.

[Ricer_X]

Eh, it's a mix really. It's somewhat a waste of money, expecially the wanting to send a human to Mars. I guess the Moon exploration, and possible permenant station there is somewhat feasable and reasonable, considering the rising population on this planet.

[Layla's Keeper]

I believe that space exploration can do good for this country, and perhaps the world so long as it is kept as a priority.

There have to be goals for being on Mars, and for being on the moon. Mining resources, manufacturing, tourism, something that will provide monetary turnaround. It may not be the most romantic notion, exploring for the sake of profit, but in truth it's the only way that exploration will continually be justified.

After all, Cortez sailed looking for gold.

[Cbass]

There is probably no way the money spent will ever be recovered. This at a time when millions of Americans are out of jobs, and out of UI.

[YogsVR4]

The budget increase to make it to Mars is 5%. Other hand outs grow at 10% a year.

I'd much rather fund the Mars mission then fund the lazy.

[Jimster]

funding a space program in a Recession???

[2strokebloke]

I'd rather spend the money perhaps renovating America's railroads so that we can have high speed service, not as fast as airplanes, but you get a better view of our country. In the short term, we'd have jobs, in the long run we'd almost certainly earn all the money spent back.

What happens when we go to space? We waste money to bring a couple rocks back, in the future it may be a good idea, but right now it'd be nothing more than a totally worthless waste of money. Why not spend that money on something worthwhile?

[Cbass]

Originally Posted by YogsVR4

The budget increase to make it to Mars is 5%. Other hand outs grow at 10% a year.

I'd much rather fund the Mars mission then fund the lazy.

Like UI and welfare for the millions of Americans who are out of work because there aren't enough jobs to go around?

Or you mean like Medicare, for those who can't afford health care?

[MagicRat]

It would be nice to have the space program provide tangible economic benefits such as low gee manufacturing, etc, but that is unlikely to happen anytime soon.

The most realistic economic benefit is as:
1. A way for the government to spend tax dollars to create jobs and boost the economy. This works in defence spending, as large segments of the worldwide economy is spent on defence, which does not have much direct benefit, except for deterrence against others, (current peace keeping and invasions aside. )

2. As a source of technological advancement. The Apollo program created enormous and sometimes unlikely technological developments, in computers and telecommunications, among others.

Finally, its very interesting to explore the solar system. Just building the sum total of scientific knowledge is a fascinating and worthy cause.

IMO its worthwhile, so long as it is economically realistic and sustainable.
A moon base is,
People on Mars is not, at least not for a long time.

[YogsVR4]

Originally Posted by Cbass

Like UI and welfare for the millions of Americans who are out of work because there aren't enough jobs to go around?

Or you mean like Medicare, for those who can't afford health care?

Its not the goverments responsibility to give people jobs nor is it the goverments responsibility to provide healthcare.

[YogsVR4]

Originally Posted by Jimster

funding a space program in a Recession???

The US was in a recession back in the 60s when the moon was the destination.