Should the government finance space science?
By Gary Sibio
@garysibi (702)
Chicago, Illinois
February 13, 2019 11:32pm CST
Today NASA announced that, after 8 months of not being able to contact it, they have officially declared the Mars rover Odyssey dead. It functioned fantastically for 15 years covering 28 miles of the red planet's surface.
My question is: So what?
I have nothing against space exploration but is it the government's job? Let the private sector do it. I'm not saying that the government has no interest in outer space. For example, it is legitimate to but up satellites whose purpose it defense from human or natural enemies but all the information we've learned from the Mars rovers is irrelevant to our day to day lives.
It is often said that we know more about the surface of the moon than we do about our planet's oceans. The oceans which are second only to the sun in importance when it comes to our weather, would be a much better place to spend our research money.
1 person likes this
3 responses
@LLavish (82)
• Lagos, Nigeria
14 Feb 19
The government should make policies and grant financial assistance to private sectors to explore the space world. After all, they make a profit from it.
@topffer (42155)
• France
14 Feb 19
As there is an international convention forbidding the exploitation of natural resources in space, I do not see what a commercial company would do there. In fact most of science research has to be paid by states because it has no commercial interest at first, but it may have important economic benefits later. Without college researches done 80 years ago you would have no computer and no smartphone today.
