NASA Budget Cuts

[iago]

I don't have the original source, but NASA's budget was recently cut severely.  This has meant delays and even cancellations of many of their missions, including retrieving a soil sample from Mars. 

How do you feel about this?

I personally have mixed feelings. 

On one hand, there are better things to spend money on than exploring space right now.  There are plenty of poor people and people who hate the Western World that could be helped. 

On the other hand. if the right discovery is made is space, it could be the dawn of a new era of mankind. 

[AntiVirus]

Well if they discover that the stuff that was in the rain was a living organism or what not, then NASA's budget would be raised again, I bet.

But right now, I don't really care about their budget, because I personally haven't heard much from their research.  So it can't be that fantastic.

[iago]

Well if they discover that the stuff that was in the rain was a living organism or what not, then NASA's budget would be raised again, I bet.

But right now, I don't really care about their budget, because I personally haven't heard much from their research.  So it can't be that fantastic.

Well, there was that whole thing about landing on the moon.  Remember that?

[Sidoh]

Well, there was that whole thing about landing on the moon.  Remember that?

It was fake!  haha, just kidding.

Personally, I don't agree with it.  Having a scientific nature nested in my mind makes my opinion pretty biased, though.  I think we should be doing everything we can to finding a way to get to Mars -- exploring our solar system to the furthest reaches possible.

[iago]

Well, there was that whole thing about landing on the moon.  Remember that?

It was fake!  haha, just kidding.

Personally, I don't agree with it.  Having a scientific nature nested in my mind makes my opinion pretty biased, though.  I think we should be doing everything we can to finding a way to get to Mars -- exploring our solar system to the furthest reaches possible.

I agree -- to a point.  How much money does it cost to send a rocket to Mars?  I don't have an exact number, but I'd say millions, or more.  Just think how much good it would do to put that money into something else. 

[Sidoh]

I agree -- to a point.  How much money does it cost to send a rocket to Mars?  I don't have an exact number, but I'd say millions, or more.  Just think how much good it would do to put that money into something else. 

I don't think we should be sending a rocket to Mars, personally.  I think we need to master other forms of propulsion before we make a cross-planetary voyage.

[iago]

I agree -- to a point.  How much money does it cost to send a rocket to Mars?  I don't have an exact number, but I'd say millions, or more.  Just think how much good it would do to put that money into something else. 

I don't think we should be sending a rocket to Mars, personally.  I think we need to master other forms of propulsion before we make a cross-planetary voyage.

I used the word "rocket" in the wrong way.  I was referring to anything.  Probes or whatever. 

Better question: how much did it cost to land that thing they have on Mars?  Then see the rest of my post for my conclusion

[Sidoh]

I used the word "rocket" in the wrong way.  I was referring to anything.  Probes or whatever. 

Better question: how much did it cost to land that thing they have on Mars?  Then see the rest of my post for my conclusion

Hehe, it's a very expensive program, no doubt.  I agree that there are definitely other areas the money could be spent in, but I strongly believe we need to get our asses moving in space probing/exploration.  The gravity probe that was circling earth for about ten years measuring the effects of General Relativity finished its data collection a few months ago.  The article in Science News I read (which, for the life of me, I'm now unable to locate) said it would take about a year to sift through all of the data.  I'm excited to see the results!  It should be interesting!

[iago]

It's cool, no doubt.  Maybe even useful.  But I'd argue that it's not necessary.  Maybe some day in the future when the US finally solves its internal problems (crime, poverty, national dept, cockroaches) it will be useful.  But for now, it seems like the US should be looking inward, not outward, for places to spend money. 

[zorm]

The cost of sending the two MERs to Mars was $800 million for the total package.

We can't exactly wage a war to remove corrupt governments so that the poor people can actually get the needed asistance for $800 million so I'd say its justified to spend it on space.

People will always say there are better things to spend money on and there probably are but as the saying goes you shouldn't put all your eggs in one basket. Space exploration should get enough funding so that proper exploration can be carried out. However, at the same time it needs to be a realistic amount so that scientists are forced to prove the value of a mission before we dedicate the time and funding to making it happen. Also limited fundings limits wasted $ because every $ becomes more valuable to the agency.

You also have to remember that space exploration is risky business, look at the Europeans and what they have spent on sending failed missions to Mars. For that matter you can look at many of our earlier missions to Mars which crashed and burned. If billions is spent on a project and it catastrophicly fails because of a single bad component who is going to take the ultimate blame?

[GameSnake]

It's cool, no doubt.  Maybe even useful.  But I'd argue that it's not necessary.  Maybe some day in the future when the US finally solves its internal problems (crime, poverty, national dept, cockroaches) it will be useful.  But for now, it seems like the US should be looking inward, not outward, for places to spend money. 

Most americans are not poor and are proud of thier country. If you don't work you don't eat. I have been to Canada and everything is really expensive there, the people were rude to us.

[MyndFyre]

Most americans are not poor and are proud of thier country. If you don't work you don't eat. I have been to Canada and everything is really expensive there, the people were rude to us.

Sounds like France!

[iago]

It's cool, no doubt.  Maybe even useful.  But I'd argue that it's not necessary.  Maybe some day in the future when the US finally solves its internal problems (crime, poverty, national dept, cockroaches) it will be useful.  But for now, it seems like the US should be looking inward, not outward, for places to spend money. 

Most americans are not poor and are proud of thier country. If you don't work you don't eat. I have been to Canada and everything is really expensive there, the people were rude to us.

Huh?  Canada is well known as one of the friendliest places to be (unless you're an asshole first, but that's just common sense), and stuff is actually cheaper here because of the value of your dollar.  Perhaps you don't understand what an exchange rate is? 

Also, there are a lot of poor people in your country.  12% of your citizens are considered to be below the poverty line (source).  That's a lot. 

And what can extra money be used for?  How about police to clean up the slums?  I've heard a lot of horror stories about certain parts of north-eastern states. 

But let me make sure we're clear: you're arguing that your country is doing well and that you have billions of dollars to waste?  I just wanted to make sure that's your stance... I figured the opposition in this debate wouldn't say "nobody needs money!", more like "space is important".

[Blaze]

My Engineering teacher took two classes out and let us all discuss this (This might not be the exact one, but there is really something like this coming).  I'd much perfer that over landing on Mars.

[GameSnake]

It's cool, no doubt.  Maybe even useful.  But I'd argue that it's not necessary.  Maybe some day in the future when the US finally solves its internal problems (crime, poverty, national dept, cockroaches) it will be useful.  But for now, it seems like the US should be looking inward, not outward, for places to spend money. 

Most americans are not poor and are proud of thier country. If you don't work you don't eat. I have been to Canada and everything is really expensive there, the people were rude to us.

Huh?  Canada is well known as one of the friendliest places to be (unless you're an asshole first, but that's just common sense), and stuff is actually cheaper here because of the value of your dollar.  Perhaps you don't understand what an exchange rate is? 

Also, there are a lot of poor people in your country.  12% of your citizens are considered to be below the poverty line (source).  That's a lot. 

And what can extra money be used for?  How about police to clean up the slums?  I've heard a lot of horror stories about certain parts of north-eastern states. 

But let me make sure we're clear: you're arguing that your country is doing well and that you have billions of dollars to waste?  I just wanted to make sure that's your stance... I figured the opposition in this debate wouldn't say "nobody needs money!", more like "space is important".

My stance is that your being a hypocrite. If you're saying we have pverty problems, than (source): 15.9% below poverty line means you have worse poverty problems than US. The exchange rate means your prices are higher than us. Ciggerettes for example cost $2.00 more than what we pay in Michigan, milk in Canada was ~$6.00 USA, when it's only $2.70 at my local store. The things we needed were indeed more expensive than what we pay at home.

 Lastly, the first time we tried to get in to go camping/fishing, we we're denied because my dad had a personal possesion charge when he was 19 yrs old!  The second time we went, the people kept talking crap about USA and how it sucks, how americans suck and general rudeness, this is my personal experiance of Canada, I am not just making it up: they were very rude people.