Why NASA's Budget "Victory" Is Anything But 267
StartsWithABang (3485481) writes 'Earlier this week, attempts to cut NASA's budget were defeated, and it looks like the largest space agency in the world will actually be getting nearly a 2% budget increase overall. While common news outlets are touting this as a great budget victory, the reality is that this is shaping up to be just another year of pathetic funding levels, putting our greatest dreams of exploring and understanding the Universe on hold. A sobering read for anyone who hasn't realized what we could be doing.'
We can't afford it! (Score:5, Interesting)
Seriously think about it. How can we pay for the NSA to spy on everyone, our Military to bomb anyone, our CIA to fund terrorist groups in the Middle East (and everywhere else for that matter), pay for Welfare instead of actually doing something to fix the economy, continue to let the top .01% live tax free lives of luxury (and allow them to offshore most of their money), provide strike force military equipment to local police and sheriff departments so that they can enforce "Free Speech Zones", pay for expansions in DHS and TSA so that they can frisk little children and search colostomy bags for explosives, have the Federal Reserve give hundreds of billions of dollars to whatever country they feel like propping up today, and give your tax money to countries like the Ukraine so that they can revolt and join NATO if we are spending money on bettering mankind?
I really and truly wish that something in my list was a joke, but sadly it's actually a very short list of how the US is being mismanaged by corrupted people holding offices.
NASA vs SpaceX (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:our greatest hopes (Score:4, Interesting)
I always cringe at comments like this.
Space exploration can be an end to itself, but it has also proven to be a massive driver for improvements in life in general.
The spinoffs alone are huge, let alone the jobs created, the money moving around the economy.
https://www.sac.edu/AcademicProgs/ScienceMathHealth/Planetarium/Pages/Benefits-of-the-NASA-Space-Program.aspx
$18 Billion is what, $70 a year per person in the US? (rough guess there).
If you want money to help you live a better life, have a look at the defense budget. For the Joint Strike Fighter in the development phase, $14 billion was spent on 35-40 prototypes over 3 years.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II#Procurement_costs
How much does a nuclear missile cost? The NSA?
Neil DeGrasse Tyson says a 1% increase for mars? (Score:3, Interesting)
Tyson has lectured, screamed, went before congress and actively lobby's that if we increased NASA's budget by a penny on the dollar just 1% would get man to mars.
And he's against private manned space missions, course he says low earth orbit/satellites/iss could be private but only a government can take on the budget and risk of manned exploration of space
Neil deGrasse Tyson On NASA & Federal Budget (MUâ¦: http://youtu.be/jcdDb-cbadw [youtu.be]
Neil deGrasse Tyson at UB: What NASA Means to Ameâ¦: http://youtu.be/RQhNZENMG1o [youtu.be]
Neil deGrasse Tyson on Apollo missions and NASA funding: http://youtu.be/LWqNYiCAbsY [youtu.be]
Neil DeGrasse Tyson: "Elon Musk's SpaceX Won't Get Us To Mars: http://youtu.be/gW74vsCNQtc [youtu.be]
Re:Government fails again (Score:3, Interesting)
6:30 a.m. You are awakened by your clock radio. You know it is actually 6:30 because the National Institute of Standards and Technology keeps the official time.
Because if it were actually 6:28 AM, the world would end. And also, because the government invented time and timekeeping.
6:35 a.m. Like 17 million other Americans, you have asthma.
Nope. Clean air is good though. Government, like any tool, is best used only when needed, and only when it's a good fit for the task. No need to use it always, for everything.
6:38 a.m. You go into the kitchen for breakfast. You pour some water into your coffeemaker. You simply take for granted that this water is safe to drink.
Partly because I filter it. But mostly because I wouldn't drink it if it weren't safe. I'd make it safe, then drink it.
And a large part of my water bill goes for pensions for people who don't do anything to keep my water clean and safe. But they get paid. Because ... government.
6:39 a.m. You flip the switch on the coffee maker. There is no short in the outlet or in the electrical line and there is no resulting fire in your house. Why?
Because if there were a short, I'd have fixed it.
And because if fire hazards were common, my insurance provider would have required an inspection before selling me fire insurance.
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It's interesting that I pay a water bill for water, I pay permit fees to cover the cost of electrical inspections, polluters pay pollution fees to cover pollution costs and broadcasters pay huge prices for radio spectrum. But the government still wants an additional 30-40% of every dollar I earn. Where's that money going? Not to NASA.
For perspective (Score:5, Interesting)
Qatar is investing enough money to host the football world cup - a tournament that lasts one month - to fund NASA for ten years.
http://keepingscore.blogs.time... [slashdot.org]>/
What a world.