In my blog series I have talked about how space travel is needed. As you now know, NASA’s shuttle program was shut down in the past few years. This has been a deepening blow to the space community. It has forced private companies push their potential. Private companies like SpaceX, and Virgin Galactic are now restocking the International Space Station. Much work has been accomplished by these companies, and we might actually be better off than we were before. We are closer to going to Mars; where it would have been impossible to go under government control.
We have come so far since the 1960’s, when the president John F. Kennedy famously said “We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard” (Quote). The United States used to be in a space race with Russia, but since the Cold War has ended, the space initiative has slowed. Money going to NASA has been sent elsewhere, in response to accruing national debt. The Republicans have used the argument, why send money to space, when we can’t even feed our homeless. There are many concerns coming from a wide range of people, but they are mostly uneducated misrepresentations of what is actually going on with the space agency.
Most people would not know the economics behind the space administration NASA. NASA has made tons of new inventions, through its research. It has made everything from new freeze dried foods, to firefighting technologies. Some of the technologies that have been made by NASA may never have been made without it. It has driven our country through some of the toughest times, but not only through the Cold War. NASA has been there for us, driving our economy ever since it was founded. Many people think that we send money to it, and it is all wasted in fuel. Instead the money creates thousands of American jobs. It allows Americans to be motivated to go to school, and become pioneers in the field, and then work in their own country.
With the Shutdown of NASA we have outsourced our own professionals to Russia. There is less motivation to pioneer in the field of space because of money constraints. But with all of this, there are people who want to move onward. People who want to push the boundary, and who are willing to spend millions of their own money to do so. They create private companies, and make contracts with NASA. This transforms the duties of NASA from a primary to a secondary supporter of space industries. NASA has taken the role of supporting private companies, like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic, by giving them money to get started.
A new policy would be to give tax relief to Private space industries, in an effort to kick start the production of these new companies. It is very expensive to produce a spacecraft, therefore anything would help. Recently SpaceX has attempted to land the rocket boosters, instead of dropping them into the ocean. This is an example of how much the companies would like to try and get some money back. The money that they don’t have to spend could be put to a better use. For example these companies could spend more money on employing more people, therefore boosting the economy. The economy is closely related to space travel. When the economy is down, space industries are crippled. We now have a choice of what to do. As our economy is getting better, we need to focus our resources on exploration.
There is already a website called kick starter, in which people can donate any amount of money towards anything they want to do. If a private company like SpaceX wanted to go to the Mars, they could apply through NASA. NASA would add a certain amount of money for each person that would kick start the incentive. This way the people could actually represent themselves through numbers whether or not to go to Mars. There are a lot of Americans who think that space is a waste of time, but they don’t realize that we actually need to explore. Exploration is what will allow humans to live in the long run. In my blog I go into detail of why exactly we need it, and who are the people who need it.
We have a big decision to make as a country. We need to test how far we are willing to go as a nation. We need to beat every other country to show how serious we are. Testing our boundaries is the most beneficial way to go about exploring our human need to test boundaries. We will survive, and we will learn to adapt to the needs for our future generations to come. Space has always been shrouded in mystery, but we are now starting to overcome the mysteries. Our country has always had problems, and reasons for why we shouldn’t go out and explore space. We need to understand that there will never be a perfect time to go explore. Now is the time to get out there, now is the time to explore space.
Zubrin, R. (2003, July 1). Manifest Destiny in outer space. Retrieved April 2, 2015, from http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2003/jul/1/20030701-092327-8295r/?page=all
Phillips, T. (2004, February 24). Can People Go to Mars? Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/livinginspace/17feb_radiation.html
Spaceflight – News About Space Travel and Exploration | Space.com. (n.d.). Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.space.com/spaceflight/
Wall, M. (n.d.). Mars One Colony Project Delays Manned Red Planet Mission to 2026 | Space.com. Retrieved March 20, 2015, from http://www.space.com/28877-mars-one-colony-launch-delay.html
Plait, P. (n.d.). NASA Is Grounded. Retrieved March 1, 2015, from http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2013/10/01/government_shutdown_nasa_is_grounded.html
Lansdorp. (2015, March 19). Mars One’s CEO Bas Lansdorp answers questions about mission feasibility – Press Releases – News – Mars One. Retrieved March 31, 2015, from http://www.mars-one.com/news/press-releases/mars-ones-ceo-bas-lansdorp-answers-questions-about-mission-feasibility
Quote of the moment: John F. Kennedy, “We choose to go to the Moon” (2009, July 24). Retrieved May 12, 2015, from https://timpanogos.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/quote-of-the-moment-john-f-kennedy-we-choose-to-go-to-the-moon/
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