Hai guys, what do you think about NASA and government based space programs? Do you think the government should spend tax money on exploring space? Do you think the side effect of inventing cool tech justifies spending money so people can see pretty pictures of stars? Anyway, give your opinion of NASA okay.
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Anonymous2007-03-18 20:53 ID:8HVg2twk
If the government were to re-pursue the Orion Project (the old one from 50's and 60's) and pull it off I'd give NASA the other half of my paycheck (the non-taxed part). Right now NASA is just pork.
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Anonymous2007-03-19 8:45 ID:kFDQuUCu
>>1 Do you think the side effect of inventing cool tech justifies spending money so people can see pretty pictures of stars?
Inventing cool tech creates industries, which makes the economy grow. The benefit to the economy far outweighs the money the government spends on space research. People often criticize the moon landing as being pointless; that's an absurd position, because the technological advancements we made and the number of jobs and industries we created returned orders of magnitude more tax dollars to the government than were spent on the project in the first place.
The point is, we don't need direct returns on government investments in space research to make it worthwhile. The overall economic benefit far outweighs the costs. The government should absolutely spend tax money on exploring space.
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Anonymous2007-03-19 10:07 ID:JPksOlRN
I'd love for them to send a rocket up to Uranus.
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Anonymous2007-03-20 8:14 ID:vQoBTzjE
researching space also gives us information about our own planet
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Anonymous2007-03-21 12:55 ID:+pJU1AZI
>>3
From wikipedia: "Calculations showed that the fallout from each takeoff would kill between 1 and 10 people."
Hmm, I still think its worth it.
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Nasa Official2007-03-21 14:35 ID:YQfGdRXB
Hey I work at NASA and the truth is we've done nothing its all fak e man. We just take all the money and buy drugs!
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Anonymous2007-04-11 18:37 ID:AeiELVfO
Government programs are inefficient in several ways and they don't have market forces breathing down their necks threatening their existence.
I bet the reason we're using expensive "shuttle derived" launch vehicles is to keep voters in the relevent states happy with their continued employment.
The private sector is catching up, it's only a matter of time.
I think that the government should set up an "official" Moon base, as well as launch a satellite for every planet and some moons in the solar system. These Satellites could do more then take pictures, they could re-direct radio signals from crafts further out. And they could serve as "samplers" for the soil and atmosphere. By studying the weather patterns on other planets we can learn much about our own planet and the origin of life. We can also find out how to "terraform" another planet or moon so that we can move to it when our planet is eaten by the sun expanding. If anyone has questions or comments e-mail me.
Geoffrey A. Landis proposes colonizing the cloud-tops of Venus.[4] Initially, the image of floating cities may seem fanciful, but Landis' proposal points out that a Terran breathable air mixture (21:79 oxygen-nitrogen) is a lifting gas in the Venusian atmosphere, with half the lifting power helium has on Earth. In effect, a gasbag full of human-breathable air would sustain itself and extra weight (such as a colony) in midair. At an altitude of 50 km above Venusian surface, the environment is the most Earthlike in the solar system - a pressure of approximately 1 bar and temperatures in the 0°C-50°C range. Because there is not a significant pressure difference between the inside and the outside of the breathable-air balloon, any rips or tears would cause gases to diffuse at normal atmospheric mixing rates, giving time to repair any such damages. In addition, humans would not require pressurized suits when outside, merely air to breathe and a protection from the acidic rain. Such colonies could be constructed at any rate desired, allowing a dynamic approach instead of needing any 'fell swoop' solutions. They could be used to gradually transform the Venusian atmosphere, for example their reflectivity could alter the overall albedo of Venus or they could be used to grow plant matter that would reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air. In the beginning, any impact on Venus would be insignificant, but as the number of colonies grew, they could transform Venus more and more rapidly.
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Anonymous2007-04-25 20:30 ID:ObgAmGjX
wow... found this thread looking for Gliese 581c topics that didn't start with "Mars Hospital".
As an Astronomy Major, I could give you a whole list of reasons why space exploration is worth the investment. However we both know this would immediately illicit the response "You're just trying to protect your future job." as soon as i finish... which is true, I am. This doesn't have any effect of the validity of the space-exploration argument though.
So lets go ahead an play the numbers game, since the average American probably couldn't begin to comprehend the importance of a Space Agency.
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NASA's total budget for 2007: 16.8 Billion dollars
Sounds like a lot right?
US Agricultural Subsidies for 2004: 8.0 Billion dollars
Iraq War costs: 9 billion... PER MONTH
National debt: $8 TRILLION dollars.
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So considering all that NASA has given us purely from an innovation standpoint, and all the promise it shows, especially compared to the costs of paying farmers not to farm, or paying Halliburton for more body bags, this really throws the "wasteful expenditure" argument right out the window.
Hell, I've had people walk up to me and say that NASA is the cause for our staggering national debt... if you took NASA's combined spending since its creation nearly 50 years ago, you wouldn't even have half the debt our country has managed to accrue over the past 6 years...
tl;dr This thread is now about Gliese 581c and Radial Velocity Exoplanet Detection.
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Anonymous2007-04-26 19:07 ID:Jq8zrMsR
NASA: Niggers' Anal Sex Association
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Anonymous2007-04-27 0:22 ID:3LqymRzJ
LOL @ 14 ... but come on this isnt the right place to put that...