The return from NASA has been marginal? We dump billion of dollars into NASA and Iraq?
In the 50 year history of NASA, from 1958 to 2007, NASA's total budget amounts to $419.420 billion dollars, an average of $8.559 billion per year. NASA's FY 2008 budget of $17.3 billion represents about 0.6% of the $2.9 trillion federal budget. The Iraq War by comparison costs roughly $474 billion.
The NASA budget is a drop in the bucket. The federal budget for the Department of Agriculture is $65 billion, with Food Stamps alone being more than the NASA budget at $20 billion. The Department of Labor has a $35 billion budget. The Department of Transportation's budget is around $45 billion. Health and Human Services is $365 billion! The state of Michigan has a $40 billion budget. Talk about a marginal return. Ohio and Pennsylvania also have budgets of about $40 billion. California is $120 billion.
To say the returns from NASA has been marginal is, quite frankly, laughable. It's not NASA's job to go out and create one specific technology, like synthetic gas, and then go, "Here, this is what you got for your money," But, rather, to achieve specific goals by developing the technology to get it done. It's the developed technology that NASA returns, and does so tenfold. Likely, NASA's budget isn't nearly enough to make a dent in what it's gonna take to develop synthetic gas. If all that money were diverted from NASA into alternative fuels, countless technological advances that may have come out of NASA would not happen, and we'd still not have synthetic gas.
Forget about the fact that the one thing that separates humans from fern is the, "What's over the next hill?" curiosity that we have, and space exploration is important for the explorer deeply embedded in us which NASA contributes to, but NASA also contributes to the technological advancement of everyday life as much as, probably more than, anything else. NASA also fires the imagination of our youth and drives them to want to do more, to do something new. What's that worth?
Forty years ago, NASA engineers didn't wake up one Monday morning and say, "Gee, I think I'll work on microchip technology that, 30 years downstream, will lead to digital cameras." But that's what happened. The technological gains that come out of research arise from a kind of ripple effect... advance on top of advance, technology growing out of technology.
I can't even begin to list all of the technological paybacks we have gotten from NASA. The list would be too long. Some of the technologies were developed directly by NASA or under direct contract (like the thermal window coverings I have on my Sprinter, made under a contract from NASA by an Italian company for the shuttle, rovers and landers), some were developed under contracts for specific projects, and some where technological advances were made from existing or emerging technologies.
Like cordless power tools. Black and Decker invented cordless power tools, but they were no where near up to the task of drilling on the moon. Astronauts needed a way to drill down beneath the moon's surface, as much as 10 feet, to collect core samples. Like everything else that went to the moon, this drill had to be small, lightweight and battery-powered. To develop the drill technologies necessary, NASA worked with Black and Decker.
Several key technological advances made the battery powered drill possible - a computer program developed by NASA was used to design the drill's motor to use as little power as possible, composite materials developed by NASA were used in construction, and battery technology developed for Mercury and Apollo was advanced and applied to the drill's battery. That computer program, the composites and the battery technology, along with the knowledge and experience gained in developing the drill, provided a strong technology base for developing battery powered tools and appliances that we now use every day.
In the 1950's NASA pioneered the technology that made satellite TV a part of our everyday lives. Now we can watch events from around the globe as they happen, not to mention being able to watch live TV broadcast from the Mars.
The next time you reach for your cell phone, thank NASA. There's very little inside a cell phone that can't be traced directly back to NASA. Need an MRI? Thank NASA. Ever been awaken to the annoying scream of a smoke detector, or a CO2 detector? Ever been warned of a hurricane, or put on polarized sunglasses? NASA. Every windshield in North America has a NASA developed UV coating embedded within the glass (which is why those sunglasses that lighten and darken automatically don't work in a vehicle, BTW).
In the 1980's NASA's Ames Research Center was developing coatings to protect aerospace equipment from harsh environments of flight.What they came up with was a coating that allows your polarized sunglasses to have scratch resistant lenses. NASA didn't set out to develop scratch resistance lenses, or polarization for your sunglasses, but that's what we got.
The LED's on your tail lights were developed by NASA for experiments with plants on the shuttle. Now LED probes are being used to treat patients with brain tumors. Laser surgery, prosthetic limbs, body imaging, even infrared thermometers, it's a NASA thing. High power solid state transmitters, GPS tracking, global communications, ultrasound scanners, automatic insulin pump, portable x-ray device, invisible braces, gasoline vapor recovery, self-locking fasteners, computer simulators and training, Dustbusters, shock-absorbing helmets, home security systems, smoke detectors, flat panel televisions, high-density batteries, trash compactors, food packaging and freeze-dried technology, cool sportswear, sports bras, hair styling appliances, fogless ski goggles, self-adjusting sunglasses, composite golf clubs, hang gliders, art preservation, quartz crystal timing equipment, advanced keyboards, customer service software, database management system, laser surveying, aircraft controls, collision avoidance, lightweight compact disc, design graphics and microcomputers, Doppler radar, Earth imaging, fuel cells and electric cars. And the list goes on...
Even those unmoved by human exploration see everyday advances that permeate our lives. How can one look at all that and not believe them as being well worth NASA's budget. The return from NASA has been marginal? Really?
