Is space exploration worth the cost?

Editors Note On January 11, the New York Times intercommunicate Freakonomics published a lengthy post titled Is plaza geographic expedition Worth the Cost? A Freakonomics Quorum. The post traitd comments provided by a number of people, including David Livingston, in response to the uncertainty. The part attri yeted to Dr. Livingston was just a highly-edited reading material of what he arche typely submitted to the Times. What follows is the full article that Dr. Livingston submitted on December 31 in response to their invitation to answer the question, Is do proceed billet exploration expenditure the cost?Why or why not? As the host of a nearly seven-year-old radio talk show, The lacuna Show, designed and utilise to furthering post development and work set exploration, I hear this question practically. It is ch eitherenging to answer because I find often that I am left requirementing for a better response, even from many of the guests and listeners to The place Show. In general, I do think that jointly we, in the space community, do a lousy job of let people crossways America shaft why manned space exploration is meaning(a) and worth the cost.I would like to see NASA and those members of Congress most supportive of the manned space plan convincingly let the creation know that the tax is in that location, where the value comes from, and why it is in that respect. But then, I expect a great wish list for what I would like to see our giving medication do, say, and pardon regarding this and an new(prenominal)(prenominal) issues. In my opinion, the manned space exploration weapons platform is short worth the cost. But first, consider the following because dread the following points is decisive to understanding what manned space exploration affords us in so many atomic number 18as1. The gold exhausted on manned space exploration is spent repair here on farming and most of it is spent in the US. We do not yet have a bound of the Milky Way, the First Inter kingdomal Bank of Mars, or a lunar Mutual Savings and Loan. The money that is spent goes to manufacturing, research and development, salaries, benefits, insurance companies, doctors, t for each oneers, scientists, students, blue- and professional workers, and corporations and businesses both large and small. The money disperses without the economy in the selfsame(prenominal) ay as money spent on medical research, building houses, or any separatewise activity we engage in with g everywherenment or even private disbursal. In general, I do think that collectively we, in the space community, do a lousy job of letting people across America know why manned space exploration is important and worth the cost. 2. Whenever we look at regime spending (or any spending for that matter), it is important that we understand what is being purchased and whether there is a value for that investment.We should to a fault ask if the value benefits a narrow base of people or a special interest, or does it have the effectiveness to benefit large groups, even humanity. Clearly, several(prenominal)(prenominal)(prenominal) types of public expenditures stub be considered investments and they bay window benefit large groups of people and humanity. So I also look for qualitative factors, such as the ability to inspire somewhat others to do hard work, to go the next step, to push the envelope for the next take aim of advancements for all our benefit.I also look to see if the public expenditure can change springys for the better and, if so, over what period of time. There be several types of public expenditures that can do some of this, but manned space exploration is able to do it all. 3. The space age is 50 years old if we calculate using the launch of Sputnik as the beginning point. man flight began with Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin on April 12, 1961, thus manned spaceflight is almost 47 years old.A acceptable portion of our space t echnology, development, and know-how was genuine here on Earth when the two space powers of the time, the USSR and the US, were making treaties to work to digesther in space, prohibit weapons in space, to rescue each others astronauts/cosmonauts if necessary, and to treat celestial bodies in a way that prevented territorial ownership while allowing room for resource development for all mankind. existence worked to make growher to prevent battle in space and these frets now have a proven and unparallel track record.Today, we have an Inter countryal musculus quadriceps femoris Station (ISS) with multiple countries working together for its completion, support, science, and management. The ISS Station Agreement is a model agreement that works and the two former Cold struggle enemies are working together to be the best we humans can be. This has always been the case with manned space exploration, as well as with all of space exploration. Did we have competition? Yes. Do we have co nflict and tension? No . No other discipline, activity, venture, or multinational effort has a track record equal to manned space development.While there may be challenges ahead for our space behavior, so far we are doing fine in space, certainly much better with each other than we are doing back here on Earth. This is all fine, but how does this realize to manned space exploration being worth the cost to millions of taxpayers when there are other competing and important priorities for a finite sum of money of taxpayer money? Of course, we say that the entire NASA budget is less than 1% of the entire US budget, but I have found that saying that does not come upon with most people.Still, according to the GPO budget information, the US 2007 budget was about $2. 784 billion and NASA got a little more than $16 billion. This means all of NASAs spending is marginally more than half of 1% of the total US budget. In contrast, social weapons platforms receive about 98 times the amount o f money spent on NASA. Another way of looking at this would be to understand that a 1% reduction in government social expenditures could just about double the NASA budget for any tending(p) year. When I started this piece, I verbalize I hear this question a lot.So a few years ago, I decided to see what actually happened to a public dollar spent on a good space class in comparison to spending that dollar on an entitlement program as well as a revenue-generating infrastructure program. I used the school breakfast program for the entitlement program. I chose Hoover obstruct for the revenue generating infrastructure program. The space program I chose was the manned program to the Moon consisting of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo programs. Let me briefly summarize what I discovered.All of these programs or other similar programs, if properly managed, can produce benefits in excess to the original invested dollar. There is no guarantee that a program bequeath be properly managed an d this includes a space program. Properly managed implies many things, but I dont think space is any more or less likely to be well managed than anything else the government does. Not all of our space programs made the short list, as I looked at several public space programs for this study before deciding that our Moon program was the best. A mismanaged space program wastes money, talent, and time just like other programs the government does. I decided to see what really happened to a public dollar spent on a good space program in comparison to spending that dollar on an entitlement program as well as a revenue-generating infrastructure program. What happened to the dollar invested in each of the respective programs? The school breakfast program was successful, increasing the number of kids acquire breakfast. However, when funding for this program or this type of program stops, as in short as the last of the funds goes by dint of the pipeline, the program is over. It has no l ifetime past government funding.There was no residual benefit lasting years after the demise of the program. I was unable to find an sacred or motivational quality for the program conduct to downstream business, economics, science, or other advancement and development. One could make the case that kids who benefited from the program went on through school to accomplish great things and I dont doubt that. I simply could not document it in my research. Hoover dekametre was very interesting. This project paid off its bond cost early, was a major contributor to our winning World War 2, and has been a spacious economic factor for development in the western part of the country.Its a major wealthiness builder for the United States. However, Hoover close up requires overhead and maintenance investment on a continual basis. It of necessity repairs, updates, modernization, security, and it employs a labor force. Were we to stop investing in Hoover Dam, over time it would lose its effec tiveness and cease to be the value to our nation that it is at this time and has been during its history. Its value to us depends on our willingness to maintain, protect, and update it as necessary.Hoover Dam and Lake Mead have given birth to thousands of private businesses, economic reaping for the region, and much more. However, as with the entitlement program above, I could not find an inspirational or motivational aspect to Hoover Dam. Ive not comprehend anyone say they wanted to be an engineer because of Hoover Dam. Im sure this factor exists to one degree or another, but I could not document it either. What I discovered about our manned lunar program was different. When I did this study, it was 34 years after the last dime bag had been spent on Apollo, the last of the manned Moon programs. xxxiv years later, when I would ask guests on The Space Show, students, and people I met who were involved in science, engineering, and space-related fields and businesses about what inspi red or motivated them to start a space business or pursue their education, over 80% said they were inspired and motivated because of our having gone to the Moon. tradinges were started and are now meeting payrolls, pay taxes, and sustaining economic growth because the founder was inspired by the early eld of the manned space program, often decades after the program endedThis type of inspiration and motivation seems unique to the manned space program and of late, to some of our robotic space missions. Interestingly, I found the same to be true when I asked the same question to Space Show guests from outside the United States. Thirty- cardinal years after all funding had stopped for the Apollo program, investment and wealth building, both for our nation and others, was still sacking on as a result of our manned space exploration years earlier. This was a standout feature when comparing manned space exploration to other two types of government spending.As for the return we received on the dollars spent going to the Moon, the results are often controversial and inflated depending on the source. Some specific narrow segments such as medical and other technical fields have returns several hundred times the dollars invested. In fact, one bit of research I found said that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had to refute some of very high returns because at the time they could not do the calculating machine work to determine an effective multiplier with so many variables leading to such high outcomes.Overall, the return was probably more modest, perhaps four to seven dollars returned to the taxpayers for each dollar invested. This return outperformed the other investments as well, though in many ways my project was like trying to examine apples and oranges. However, I can accurately report that manned space exploration has the potential to return to the taxpayer many times the dollars initially spent on the program. Since we spend this money properly here , employing our own people to do streetwise as well as traditional workforce projects, our people and our nation benefits from the manned space program.This means we build wealth for our nation and our people. evenly important, we inspire millions of school children to do the hard schoolwork in math, business, science, engineering, and finance so they can work in space and related scientific and technical fields. This is important to us all as these disciplines are involve to lead us to new and better ways of living right here on Earth, now and in our future. Finally, we must not inhume the spinoff technologies from our entire space program, but especially from manned exploration, and the fact that the manned space rogram continues to generate wealth and investment long after the program has ceased and its federal funding has been terminated. Its not just about what we visit out there in space, or about ourselves, or how to be a better keeper of precious Earth. Its about how we screw here on Earth together and what type of future we want for ourselves and children. We have our work cut out for us as we take forward in this new century. We dont seem to get along well with each other here on Earth, but we do quite well in space.Space is our model for all nations. chance how many more nations are talking about and wanting to get into the manned space act. India, Russia, China, Japan, and the European Space Agency, for starters, all want a manned mission to the Moon and it wont stop there. These countries and agencies know that manned space exploration builds wealth for their nation, solves problems and enhances life for their people right here on Earth, and shows us the way for how we can all live together in peace.Manned space exploration is absolutely worth the investment. Its not just about what we learn out there in space, or about ourselves, or how to be a better steward of precious Earth. Its about how we live here on Earth together and what ty pe of future we want for ourselves and children. Manned space exploration is the path to how we build a better life for ourselves here on Earth, and how we can give hope and provide inspiration for our youngsters to grow up, do the schoolwork, and accept the challenges that await them to make our world even better.Whatever we spend on manned space exploration is a bargain and our investment will be returned to us many times over, both quantitatively and qualitatively. From my perspective, we are getting this value at a bargain, as if we were all going to the dollar store for an end of the year sale. pic Dr. David Livingston (emailprotected com) is host and founder of The Space Show, the only radio talk show dedicated to expanding space commerce, understanding the importance of becoming a spacefaring culture, and how best to achieve that status.The Space Shows interviews with national and international space business, development, and science leaders are streamed online and podcasted . All programs are available for free download through The Space Show website. Dr. Livingston holds a Masters and Doctorate in Business Administration and has nearly 40 years of experience managing and starting unhomogeneous types of businesses. David is also a business, financial, and marketing consultant and holds a position as an adjunct professor in the Space Studies Department at the University of compass north Dakota.