one giant step backwards

[Fast_Eddie]

Originally Posted by noonereal

I need to find more info as to what the objectives of these new moon shot were...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helium-3

[finnbow]

Hell, I'm an engineer and scientist and I think I agree that in the current budget climate we really don't need to go the moon. Been there, done that. I think the budgetary problems in this country are existential, whereas going to the moon (again) isn't. That said, equal cuts should be made elsewhere as well in nonessential programs.

With regard to fusion, I'm kind of skeptical (and my brother has a PhD in plasma physics and has been working on fusion for over 30 years). We're so far away from a controlled fusion reaction (with a net energy gain) and we likely won't ever get there (at least in our lifetimes). Furthermore, the notion of mining Helium-3 off the moon to facilitate fusion research is ridiculous on its face.

[BlueStreak]

Originally Posted by stereocuuple

not as many jobs as would have been created by new discoveries and advanced tech. also this sends a message to the school kids that we are turning our backs on the future

How so? Technology can't be advanced in other ways, we have to send another crew to play golf on the moon to advance science? There are no ways we can build a better future by spending the resources here on earth?

Just a couple thoughts your post brought to mind....

Dave

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by stereocuuple

not as many jobs as would have been created by new discoveries and advanced tech.

Honestly, I don't buy the spinoff argument. Plus, I find it ironic for one to criticize government waste, incompetence, etc., but then argue in favor of outrageously expensive government programs based upon the possibility of "pennies on a dollar " returns on spinoff technologies.

P.S. I don't like Tang and I think our republic would do just fine without it.

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

How so? Technology can't be advanced in other ways, we have to send another crew to play golf on the moon to advance science? There are no ways we can build a better future by spending the resources here on earth?

But Dave, all those calendars, lunch boxes and coffee mugs that'll never get made now.

What a wasted opportunity! (For the Chinese)

John

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by finnbow

Honestly, I don't buy the spinoff argument. Plus, I find it ironic for one to criticize government waste, incompetence, etc., but then argue in favor of outrageously expensive government programs based upon the possibility of "pennies on a dollar " returns on spinoff technologies.

P.S. I don't like Tang and I think our republic would do just fine without it.

Ah, but Velcro!

John

[finnbow]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Ah, but Velcro!

John

The conventional wisdom is that Velcro was a DoD spinoff technology. It was actually invented by a Swiss fellow on his own in 1941.

FWIW, I personally think the whole spinoff argument was likely developed by the "military-industrial complex" in an effort to garner support for expensive endeavors for which conventional benefit/cost analyses didn't fully pan out for them.

[Sandy G]

From what I've seen, read & heard, the dream of "Star Trek" interplanetary travel will remain just that-a dream. We CAN'T go fast enuff to decently make a stab at the tremendous distances involved. Mars is what, an 18 month round trip ? And that's about the same sort of thing as toodlin' over to yr next door neighbors' house, relatively speaking. The next stars are several light-years away...And that's assuming we could travel at the speed of light-Which we can't. Aren't even gonna come close. Even if we COULD somehow build the awfulest hot-rod spaceship that would make Cap'n Kirk green w/envy, there's the small matter of physial laws that state that as a body approaches the speed of light, it gets INFINITELY heavier & shorter... Even the Gambinos can't break THOSE laws. We may, some day, get to communicate w/another species from another planet, but that will prolly be about the best we can do. Personally, I wish it WASN'T like that....

[Writewing]

I think we have far too many things to do on this planet, lets fix this one before we ruxh to leave it. There is plenty of things to work on based on what we have already discovered.

[Fast_Eddie]

Math isn't my thing, but I'll give this a shot.

Federal budget 2009: $3,550,000,000,000
Nasa budget 2008: $17,300,000,000

Okay, if I recall correctly, to find a percentage you divide the little number by the big number.

17,300,000,000/3,550,000,000,000=0.00487323944%

Maybe I'm doing it wrong. Maybe my numbers are off. But I can't find any info that says anything else. NASA is less than 1% of the federal budget. I don't give a crap if they don't create jobs, or lead to new cookware. It's worth it just to discover. 1 flippin' percent. Too much to ask to feed human curiosity.

That's just sad. We could cut that much out of the military budget and not even notice it. Hell, even the trivial savings in Medicade that we would have seen from the health care deal would be more than that. Of course, we won't see that at all now. So we're left to cut NASA because that is the 1% that will put us in the black. Please. You have to be kidding me.