NASA

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.

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.