Case for Investment: Space in USA

Case for Investment blank in USASun Yudong ever so since the dawn of man, mankind has been gazing at the sky in wonder. shoes, has always been a mysterious place, a place where the frontier of perception and innovation be put to the test, a place where 99% of what we bewilder yet to let loose exists.In the present era, the National aeronautics and Space Administration (better cognise as NASA) and the NSF1 atomic number 18 the forefronts of lacuna exploration and scientific look for in the USA and they eat no doubt played a break role in many of Mans greatest achievements. NASA could til now sop up credit for mundane items such as quartz measure crystals and bar-code scanners.The Sad SituationSpace is a difficult, dangerous scarce evoke $300 billion industry worldwide. However, despite aloofness being the utmost frontier, with many against space exploration, NASA has completely received 0.48% of the US Federal bud unsex, that half a cent for every tax dollar. NAS A is getting a pathetic amount of championship.In 2008, $700 billion2 was spent by the US presidential term to revive the economy, which was way more(prenominal) than than the 50-year running budget of NASA. In 2013, US spent more than $3.45 trillion, with more than $600 billion going to defence, but with only $17.7 billion going to NASA, a tiny portion of worldwide spending on space.The allocation of funds is warped and there is just evidently not enough funding going towards space exploration and scientific innovation, the seedling of hope, the future of the US economy.Over the past four decades, instead of NASA, we could have had at least six additional MITs. Consider all of the research that our single MIT has produced during that period, all of the students taught and leadership provided. For all the gains that NASA has made, its opportunity costs are far greater.Keith Yost, The Tech (MIT) Staff Columnist argument against NASA fundingWhat is counterbalance more infuriat ing is that, even though the budget for NASA has been decreasing, the money salve were not put to good use. For example, US plans on spending more than $200 billion in the next decade to maintain atomic weapons when they are almost useless.The one thing I convinced myself of aft(prenominal) all these years of exposure to the use of nuclear weapons is that they were useless. They could not be used.Colin Powell, Former Secretary of StateFigure 2 NASA Budget oer the years. Retrieved August 31, 2014, from http//www.penny4nasa.org/However, NASA did get a substantial amount of funding and this increase steadily in its infancy and peaked in 1966 at slightly more than 4.4% of the Federal Budget, before plummeting to the current meagre 0.48%.Because of this, the campaign penny4nasa was launched in 2012 to fight for an increase in the budget for NASA, through advocating the economic, scientific and cultural value of NASA. With this as a trigger, the paper pull up stakes look at the diff erent factors that led to the establishment of NASA, the decline in the budget, and eventually look for why we should invest in space, and space exploration.Why NASA was set upThe roots of NASA could be traced back to October 4, 1957. On that day, the worlds offset printing artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, was launched. This surprise success of the Soviets in the midst of the Cold fight horrified the US and triggered the Sputnik Crisis that became part of the bigger Space Race. US was afraid(p), afraid that the Soviets would become more technologically advanced, that the Soviets would fire a missile at US, that US will lose its place on the global arena. away of the fear factor of Sputnik, many policies were put in place. The National defense reaction Education Act (NDEA) was passed by congress to increase rearingal standards to forfeit more batch to become scientists and engineers. And on July 29 1958, the National aeronautics and Space Act was signed, establishing NASA. I t took over the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) and currently is the United States government agency that is responsible for civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research. With motivation from Sputnik 1, and magnanimous funding, many space programs were apace developed and put into action.The Decline in BudgetThroughout the Apollo Missions that ultimately aim to go to the Moon, NASA was very well funded, and all developments were extremely rapid. US was still in fierce competition with the Soviets.In 1969, the historic Apollo 11 mission put the first man on the Moon, and puts US in the lead ahead of the Soviets pregnantly. However, when US realised that the Soviets were not ready to go to the moon, the rate of progress in Space Exploration slowed.This was because, with the Soviets unable to ravish up with US technological abilities and the Cold War becoming progressively less intense, people were no longer as fearful of the Soviets as befo re, nobody was really interested in the STEM3 fields anymore and those congressmen without NASA facilities in their state felt absolutely no reason why NASA should get so much funding as an increasing proportion of people want more welfare instead. As discussions went on the Congress, NASA naturally got progressively less budget, resulting in the current situation. After all, congressmen work for the people, or they will lose their position in the next elections. However, I believe that they have failed to realise and consider the significance of NASA and space exploration on the agriculture and economics of the society.Significance of NASA and Space ExplorationSocial and CulturalSpace is not a redundant interest, unlike what many people may think.Space exploration inspired a unscathed generation to fancy about tomorrow, a tomorrow made possible by scientific innovations, in a time of turmoil. It provided a different kind of hope, a hope that our lives will change for the bett er. The homes of tomorrow, the transportation of tomorrow, all these ingrained in the many issues of magazines. Space frontiers, applied skill frontiers were being b sphereed almost weekly. Space influenced our culture, our zeitgeist. It galvanized the whole nation to want to work towards Tomorrow, influencing our creative minds, our culture. For example, almost every cognizance fiction cartoon made in and after the sixties had rockets with fins, fins of the V2 rocket salad used in NASA missions. (Figure 34) We saw space influences everywhere, even in Hollywood.Space exploration also inspired a whole generation of Scientists and Engineers as Innovation made the headlines. No special programmes were needed to attract them. in that respect is a cultural presence of these activities. From 1968 to 1972, there has been a sharp significant increase in the number of students pursuing education and career in these fields. (Figure 45) With the Space program, heroes were made. Space ex ploration is a force acting on the education pipeline and inspired a whole generation to conjunction the scientific community.Space exploration also had a direct shock absorber on the cultural asset of the human race. When we looked back from the moon, we rediscovered solid ground with a whole new perspective, without borders, without conflicts. We saw earth as nature think it, we saw earth as a whole.It is possible to see that orbrise (Figure 56) attach the tipping point, the moment when the sense of the space age flipped from what it meant for space to what it means for EarthRobert Poole, Earthrise How Man First Saw the EarthIt inspired us to take time off amidst the war to start thinking about Earth and nature. This is what sparked off a series of eventsFigure 6 Timeline of Space Missions with misadventure eventsAll these would not have happened so quickly without space exploration, without us looking back at earth to realise that earth is a home that is worth protecting.E conomicBeyond culture, space exploration has also brought about economic benefits. Satellites, GPS, intercontinental communication, the Internet. All of these has been directly or indirectly influenced by space exploration, and has had a huge impact on our lives as man. By breaching space and engineering frontiers, there were innovations, spin-offs. Space exploration and engineering drives innovation, the fuel for our capitalist economies.In fact, the satellites that we use to get off TV signals, to transmit Internet packets, to communicate globally, could only have been brought about by government-initiated space exploration. This is because space is expensive and has incalculable risks, and it is a venture only a government could have successfully led.In fact, innovation drives the economy so much so that one of the main messages of Robert Solows7 work has been that a large proportion of the economy is driven by technological advancement.ConclusionAs goes the health of space fari ng ambition, so too goes the emotional, spiritual intellectual, creative, economic ambitions of a nationNeil deGrasse Tyson, 2012In conclusion, space exploration is not a special interest group, and its significance is far and outreaching. 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