Which is why I was amazed to find out a few months ago that NASA has discovered a single star that is home to 7 Earth-like planets! I’m not imaginative enough to believe in aliens out to invade the world, but I do believe there could be life on other planets – even if “life” just means amoebas or vegetation.
NASA budget has been the source of conflict over the years, with some saying we’re spending too much and others saying it’s not enough. For fiscal year 2017, NASA’s budget is 18.5 billion. That might seem like a big number, but it’s actually just .4% of our $4.147 trillion budget. To put in in perspective, the Department of Defense’s budget for the same fiscal year is $523.8 billion – or 12.6% of our federal budget. NASA has launched no new flight crews since 2012, and we currently pay Russia to transport our crews to the International Space Station.
So, my question to you this week is, “Do you think we should fund NASA at a higher level and invest in space exploration, or is the money better spent right here at home? What are the benefits of space exploration?” You must answer both questions for full credit. Answers are due no later than Wednesday, May 3rd, 2017. May the force be with you!
P.S. If you haven’t seen Hidden Figures yet, I highly recommend it. This visionary trio crossed all gender and racial lines to inspire future generations of scientists to dream big!
I have to say, I have a pretty big passion for science. I looked into the science march, but only learned of it after it had already happened. I'm not sure how well equipped I am to answer a question of federal budget. On one hand, I think NASA needs more funding, but I also see that there are things that this money should be spent on that it's not already. If you asked me to rearrange the budget though, I would definitely put more towards NASA, because .4% is not quite what I feel we should be putting into space travel. The primary benefit of space exploration is knowledge. New knowledge about the universe we live in is always a noble cause. Before researching, I wasn't quite certain the exact benefits from space exploration other than that. NASA's website has an article on 15 benefits of their research. It is well worth the read. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/news/15_ways_iss_benefits_earth
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely we should be giving more funding to NASA, no doubt about it. To place a focus on space exploration is to give the American people a common goal. It would stimulate jobs manufacturing vessels for space travel and equipment to be used by astronauts, jobs for mathematicians and analysts who have to chart our way across the stars, and jobs for astronomers to figure out what makes the cosmos tick. It opens avenues to finding new resources to aid in our growing need for energy and a higher standard of living. And it opens the future to possibilities beyond our lowly world named after the dirt we stand on. I know that space is an abstract concept, and for most people, feeling safe is a lot more important than risking that safety to explore the unknown, but that doesn't mean the unknown goes away. That unexplored wilderness, that final frontier, remains, and if we don't seek out what it holds, someone else will, and it will be them who claims its riches and bounties. The time of explorers has come again, and its up to us to grab it while it in reach.
ReplyDeleteYes, we should definitely be putting more funds into space exploration. Space is the whole reason for our existence and there is so much we haven't learned yet. I think there is very valuable information we have yet to learn about space that could help us better the Earth. The benefits of space exploration are: learning more about the Earth, finding out what else is out there in space that might be beneficial to us, providing jobs for the American people, sending more astronauts to space, better understanding of the other planets, and many more. I have always been obsessed with space. My dad got me a telescope when I was younger and I would look at the stars every night. Today, I'm always watching science videos or going to the NASA website to look around at their pictures and videos and reading news updates on discoveries. I couldn't believe they found 7 Earth like planets! That just goes to show we only know a small fraction of what all is out there. I think it's unbelievable that we are so so small compared to how large space is and I find it difficult to understand why more people aren't interested in learning more about it.
ReplyDeleteI can't honestly think of a reason to not to invest in science. for starters the discoveries made just through the space program alone have led to many modern day technologies that we rely on every day such as GPS and cell phones, frieze dried technology, memory foam mattress and many more. Here is a full list of contributions to everyday life that NASA has discovered or pioneered in case you were curious.
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On top of all that funding science increases jobs gives us a better understanding of our world and it gives us an edge of other countries. I believe that we need to invest more money into sciences and education in general. when NASA is only getting .4% of the budget and defense spending is at 12.6% we might need to rethink where we spend our money.
I personally think that we should definitely invest in science. The amount of time and effort the researchers put into technology for space exploration was astounding. If the past generations didn't put in the ground work for us, we would not be as far as we are now.
ReplyDeleteThe benefits of space exploration are the various. One of the benefits is for scientific reasoning, mainly due to knowing whether some planets are inhabitable or not. Also, knowing whether or not some planets have life on it, intelligent or not, is an amazing thought in itself.
I believe that if we spent more investments in science, it will benefit the whole of the world. Due to the effects we as a country have on the rest of the world, any breakthroughs we have in technology or medical sciences will quickly find their way to other countries, and benefit them as much or maybe more than ourselves. Consider water, something that everyone needs and some places are in constant turmoil over it. We know that there's ice and perhaps water in other celestial bodies such as the planet mars, or the moons Europa and Ganymede. It would take years or decades, perhaps centuries to gather water from them with our current technology. But if we were to invest in the right places we could advance our technological ability and cut that time down greatly, and perhaps make use of those waters in our solar system to aid humanity as a whole.
ReplyDeleteWe absolutely should invest more in space exploration. It's important to spend money on defense, welfare, social security, Medicaid, and the other things the government divides its budget amongst, but NASA deserves far more than it gets as of right now. We spent $700 billion on defense in 2011, but many of the advances in military technology that we have today wouldn't exist without the work of NASA engineers. If we took a mere $50 billion of the $700 billion that we give to defense and gave it to NASA, we would be giving them almost 3 times more than what they already get.
ReplyDeleteIf we don't work to prevent things like global warming, deforestation, and the depletion of natural resources, colonizing Mars with the use of terraforming and habitation systems could be our only chance at preserving not only human life, but all life on Earth, and NASA is working to develop these technologies. It's a real shame how little we invest in the agency that could quite save humanity and the planet.
Yes, I do think that we should fund NASA at a higher level because we need to find out what other another planets and life forms are out there. Someday, it may get to the point where the Earth cannot sustain all the life, whether it be from overpopulation or the Earth just dying because we are not doing enough to take care of it, and if that happens we need other options so that we can move.
ReplyDeleteI believe that some benefits of space exploration are finding out what else is out there and finding out if there is other planets out there that humans can live on.
Yes. The Outer Limits of Space and beyond are very important. It can mean our limits to living so, I believe Space is important a great deal and we should do what it takes to do what we have to and need to do. I definitely believe getting the height of education and putting it to good use in places it is needed is virtue. We should put more funding into Science.
ReplyDeleteI have a thing for science. I learned that from a young age it is everywhere; from the food we grow, to how it is cooked, to now; its regrowth (GMO). I've learned since last year that the Military of Defense has been using invisibility material so in battle we (U.S.A) are only seen through night-vision. I find it interesting to know more about but, I also, do not think that Military Defense devises nor anything NASA discovers will be leaked to the public unless someone gets their hands on it.
Okay so I truly love love love science and anything that has to do with space and I honestly would love if we explore more of what's out there because I do believe that there is other creatures and life out there besides us and I'm not saying like scary aliens or anything like that but what if? I think it would be awesome to experience other things and life out there but I also think that it's a bad idea and that we need all the money we can get to protect the planet that we have now with all the pollution and us destroying the Earth anyways, I dont think it's a smart idea to just spend money on NASA and to start exploring again and we have things to do to make our planet a much better home before it gets worse!
ReplyDeleteI feel that we should keep speeding money on NASA. We need to know what is going on up at space. Just in case if there is living life so we can be prepared for anything that's going to happen. It's good to know about new things in space, I think it's interesting to me to know about the planets and stars. Space exploration is wonderful for studying on what we can do to live on the moon and new technology we can make for the future.
ReplyDeleteThis is honestly a rather tough question. I do feel that we should be able to allow more money to be put into NASA's budget, mainly because there are so many scientific explorations that can happen or need to happen but would unfortunately deplete the budget. But, then again, we are struggling with several things here which may seem more important than life exploration among other planets. We could use such money to fund schools, the arts programs, and healthcare.. Although one of these funded explorations may lead us to discover something to help out earth if not the entire universe. The possibilities are endless. But at the end of the day, I would opt into putting more money into NASA's budget because, who doesn't like space?
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ReplyDeleteI believe that we should invest more in NASA. It's a huge plus to learn what is out in space. We have many ideas on what is out there but those are just ideas. We need to be sure of what is there since there is so much talk about possibly inhabiting another planet.
I totally think that we should invest in science. The amount of time and effort that researchers put into technology for space exploration is astonishing. If generations didn't put in the ground work for us, we would not be as far as we are now. I really hope we continue to grow as a nation and support our science!
ReplyDeleteI think that we should keep investing in Space exploration. The reason I feel this way is because theres so much we don't about space and what future it can hold for humanity. Especially with how our environment isn't at its best.
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