i just watched a video of neil de grasse tyson talking about nasa and
its budget. the whole time i sat here trying not to be sad because we
have basically pulled out of the space race.
yes,
i am of the opinion that the race is not over, merely stagnating. we
made it to the moon and have not gone back in years. other countries
have made it into space besides the usa and russia (cccp - ie ussr).
we're sending intrepid little rovers to mars - we're sending a bigger
one - and yet we will not be sending anyone to mars soon since we are no
longer going into space via our own program.
the race is going
private. it may drive some competition, but it will also drive high
prices. twenty years from now we may have a permanent physical presence
in space beyond the international space station, however private
citizens going there will have to pay out the nose for the privilege.
and that's only IF we are lucky and
the private sector continues efforts to make space-worthy ships. if they
continue to work towards it, it will be sooner rather than later that
our presence is established. however, if the competition dies down, it
may take that twenty years or more. only time will tell.
then
there's the factor that any private endeavors will be subject to
government regulations, debates, and, again, how much money private
parties are willing to pay. hell, after getting past all of the governing regulations put in place
it could end up that some company manages to establish their own
private sector presence in space and then pushes regulations that are in
favor of them - and only them. then any presence in space is regulated
by that company.
imagine a company that is powerful enough to do
such a thing. imagine what they could do, what they could threaten. with
no one else in space to see, they could force governments to bow to
their will by threatening their own militarized action towards anyone
who does not comply. whether this comes to pass or not, there will eventually be a 'great space war'.
coming
back to the present, it makes me wonder what it would take for there to
be a public movement to help fund nasa. not tax dollars, but the
general public donating funds to provide extra funding on top of what
the government provides so that the space program could continue to be
competitive. how many people would donate? how much would they donate?
what if the people interested each gave a dollar? ten dollars? twenty?
yes, the issue would then be having to keep everyone interested in
donating year after year.
but what about going back to the same
nationalism inspired in the early years of the space race? astronauts
were national heroes just for going into space. everything was about
'the world of tomorrow'. science fiction was becoming science fact.
there are still remnants of all of that floating about. ad campaigns
tout the 'futuristic' bent of whatever device or service they are
selling to the point that people want the next new thing even before it
is out. science fiction books, video games, and movies push the
boundaries of the imagination again and again. science fiction still
plants the seeds to help inspire future generations of scientists dreams
of technology and space.
anyway, i think that my whole point is
that we need to have a space presence. we need to keep moving forward,
not backward. i know that this is a subject that is discussed more than
enough, but it shouldn't die. humanity has always looked to the stars in
wonder - we have made them gods, the heavens, and representative of
more. they inspire our dreams and represent the unknown. since long
before humanity sent anything into space people have dreamed and written
of going there. there are more and more books, movies, and video games
about such things. mentally we are becoming more obsessed with the
concept of exploring space and encountering aliens, but physically we
are grounded. some would argue the alien factor, but, let's face it, the
universe is much more vast than we know, so it is likely that there has
either been, are, or will be other populated planets.
i'm going
to stop this stream of conscious typing and go continue to dream. i
challenge others to do so as well. if we cannot do something to help
nasa monetarily or physically, let's keep the debate alive and show our
support for the space program. let's all keep the dream alive!
March 13, 2012
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