Economy is crashing, NASA spends $600M looking for earths!

I think before we go try finding other earths to destroy and control, we should try to solve our own financial and culture difference problems. We humans will never learn, it will be to late soon... it might be to late already...


news.yahoo.com...

Economic theory would suggest that "spending money" is exactly what is required at the moment... By spending money, the whole cycle of monetary flow is given a boost. The worst thing to do is "not" spend money.

Surely, it may be better to spend such large amounts on "Earth-bound" projects but the process of injecting money into the economy can only be good.

Better for the Government to pay people to dig holes and for others to fill them in again rather than just giving them a welfare cheque because of the peripheral activities that are stimulated by the work - shovel manufacture, plant equipment etc. This is slight exaggeration but fundamentally correct.

Be glad they are spending, this is the only way out and has been proven to work since money came into existence.

[edit on 8-3-2009 by SugarCube]

I think its a good thing, as long as when we do find intelligent life, we don't force Christianity on them, rape all their women, and kill all who oppose like your "army" has done in the past.

600million is really just a drop in the ocean compared to what else the government is spending anyway.

[edit on 8-3-2009 by bfitz92]

Greater international cooperation in space exploration might be the way ahead, with scientists coming together to better focus their studies & expenditure.

As to this particular programme, to put the costs into perspective, $600M would buy one fifth of a Zumwalt class destroyer and one third of a B2 bomber. Start cancelling projects & NASA will lose its vital skillsbase & the influence it has in all things scientific, which can't be a good thing.

A lot of this money was spent well before the economy took a dump.
The alternative would have been to scrub the mission. That would have been a real waste.

You can bet though, that future missions will be scaled back. Science will take a hit, just like the rest of us.

I also agree that if the government wants to create jobs, the space program is a good way to do it. They contract out all kinds of stuff. They buy materials from private vendors. They stimulate the economy.

They also stimulate our brains.
For less than 1 percent of the country's annual budget (we went to the Moon on about 5 percent, in the 60's), we go to Mars, Venus, Saturn. To me, it's worth every penny.

Its about the same as AIG is losing each day at the moment ($60bn last quarter) so it hardly matters. In the grand scheme of things it insignificant and as has been mentioned, the government spending money, creating jobs etc is not a bad thing.

reply to post by NickT916



Yeah I thought the same thing............ but you see............. the PTB - are desperate to find another planet they can live on.. they know our Earth is going to have something occur in 2012 (possibly Nibiru coming?) - they plan on living underground for who knows how long.............. but............ are they actually worried that might not work? So...... it is called desperation - not for the good of mankind - to find our planets to live on......but their own good.

Ya desperation may be a cause but zeal for popularity may be there !

It is $600 million for the projects "life-cycle". I know the project will observe for 3.5 years. I don't know how many how many years it has been in development. It is not as significant as you think, not to mention this project provided jobs for NASA.

reply to post by MasterRegal


Exactly!
That money is probably equal to one hour's interest of the current national debt. It would be a real shame to lose our ability to perform this science.

NASA & the astronauts were always my hero's!

Watched the landing on the moon from my dad boosting me on his shoulders to see the tiny B&W TV we had on top of the fridge. What a day for the US! It (NASA projects & Moon landings) definitely helped inspire me into a life of science and technology.

In these tough times I believe we all need to disregard non-essential spending even if it is NASA ... If they want to put that $600B to good use load up congress (don't forget the supreme court they don't get enough credit for their decisions) and bilderburgs! into the cargo bay of the shuttle and shoot them off into deep space! Where they can battle Skeletor over who's best suited to become Master Of The Universe!

We can stay behind and live in small drama's and comedies and happily ever after.

Seems the OP didn't do his research as it takes many years to build spacecraft. (another words there was no economic crash when these decisions were made & money was allocated)

KEPLER a Search for Habitable Planets

Kepler Mission Fact Sheet PDF

The Kepler Mission was competitively selected in December 2001 as NASA’s tenth Discovery mission.

As of fall 2007, all of the flight hardware has been built. The
Assembly Test and Launch Operations Readiness Review was
held in September 2007. The Photometer environmental and
performance testing was completed in April 2008. Integration
and testing with the spacecraft was begun in May 2008.

In order that man survives we must leave the Earth someday, we must always be looking for opportunities to find a potential new home in case the Earth becomes uninhabitable someday.


[edit on 9-3-2009 by verylowfrequency]

Space exploration is one of the efforts that have great payback in the spinoff technologies that they create for all of us.

Well worth it, imo.