Welcome to this new blog, which will include political commentary on school district, local, state, national, and worldwide political events. Now down to business.
Is space defense worth the cost? CNN confirmed today that the United States Defense Department has successfully shot down a failed satellite at a $60 million dollar cost to taxpayers. That was merely the cost of shooting the satellite: the large expense is related to labor costs in modifying a missile that can destroy the satellite; the cost does not include research, development, and implementation costs of the satellite.
Is the government being responsible by expanding the space program? Are space shuttle trips to space, which cost about $450 million each launch, worth it? Besides national pride, what has the US received from the decades old space program? Little to none.
The space program expanded through the US-Soviet race to space. Both looked to boast their supremacy in space technology at the time. In its early stages, space travel brought nothing but a feeling of victory over the Soviets. Now, the US is the clear leader in space technology, but is our government looking to use successful space travel to show superiority in a time where the US is weak in relation to other countries? China and other Asian countries are beginning to demonstrate they are developing superpowers, and the US economy is hinting recession. The war in Iraq has protrayed the US as stubbornly helpless to the rest of the world. Maybe, at least for the time being, space travel is really all we have going for us. But at such a high cost, it is definitely not worth it; the US is way too far from desperation mode.
Maybe the shooting of this satellite, which has not received the national intention it deserved, was purposely overshadowed by the recent landing of the space shuttle Atlantis and the lunar eclipse. It was surely a perfect time for the US to inconspicuously send up a $60 million military missle into space.
The US had to do something about that satallite. It was a spy satallite for one, and the fact that they could not accurately define its trajectory was a major problem. That national deficiet is made up of trillions of dollars of other countries money. I'm not sure the people we owe money to would take kindly to having some kind of info leaked where they have proof of the US calling them backward and what not. Loose satallites sink..... international relations?
And, while the space program has been in existance since the 1950's, how many times have people actually been to the moon? It doesn't take a relative lot of money (when you compare how much a war costs) and has provided technical innovations people take for granted everyday (besides the dehydrated space ice cream : )
And the fact that China and India are becoming super powers could not have been prevented through the space program. That is the affect of very, quite insanely stupid US-foreign policy (hmm.. lets have the Chinese manufacture any new technology we come up with for cheap! Never mind the fact that they will now have it too....) We cannot get ahead of them. Plain and simple. People don't take pride in the US anymore. Its about money. What do you think the Iraq/Iran was is about? (And that doesn't say that were stubborn, it says that the electoral college can't pick a president worth a crap)
And were not hinting at a recession, we're staring one in the face.
For the money spent NASA is a waste.
Spaceship One and other private efforts to reach space seem to manage on a fraction of the budget.
Why does NASA stick to a 22 year old space shuttle design? It sure isn't to save money. Far from being on the cutting edge NASA is bloated and wastefull. Pure research always pays off, but a 40 year old timid branch of government is not the right way to allocate those resources.
We need to spend more not less, but also need a return on investment.
A Fact is Always Better Than an Ideal.