My blog is on a New York Times published January 4th called, "For NASA, Longest Countdown Awaits". The author argues that because of a lack of funding, NASA is scaling back their organization. They have cancelled the 2020 plans for a moon base and are retiring their shuttles this year. That means they will rely on Russia and "space taxis" (private industry) to get American astronauts to the international space station. For me, the author's ethos comes from the fact that he works for a reputable news organization. In his article, he intends to inform the reader of NASA's circumstances. He does not try to directly persuade the reader to any particular course of action, but his slant on the issue is that this is a disaster. He relies mostly on logos and fact to inform the reader about NASA's budget problems and murky future. The author’s evidence convinced me that this was an important issue. But, it seems to me that NASA’s problems come from a lack of purpose as well as budget. Did the European explorers seek out the new world just for the purpose of exploring? No. They were primarily focused on becoming wealthy. In order for space exploration to work, it has to be a money maker and not a money drainer. There is debate in our country about whether we should drill in Alaska and exhaust our own resources. If you widen the scope to the Earth as a whole, we are really doing the same thing by not using the available resources of the solar system. It is an honest fact of life that money runs the world. If NASA could become profitable then there would be a boom in space exploration.
A 'moon base' in 2020? That would've been sweeeeeeeeeeet. But alas, I think the U.S. should push for higher standards when it comes to space exploration. Like President Obama mentioned in his State of the Union adress, we should focus on education and innovation and set aside funding for important science organizations like NASA.
ReplyDeleteI doubt that NASA would ever become profitable; its purpose is to direct the nation's exploration and research of space, not necessarily to mine the moon. But I do think that these emerging private businesses, the ones that will ferry astronauts and "space tourists" in the very near future are the beginning of a corporate presence "IN SPACE". As such, they will be the ones to find profit out in space.
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