Privatization Of Space Travel
In the 1960's, one of the biggest achievements was sending man to the moon. Now, 40 years later, the United States executive branch no longer cares about moon travel. I guess it is just old and cliché and has been done before. So now President Obama wants to hand over space travel to private companies who are just going to compete with NASA for contracts to send astronauts to the moon in their "space taxis". The rationale behind Obama cutting funding for the Constellation program, possibly the only good thing George Bush did in his reprehensible and embarrassing eight years as president? Apparently going back to the moon is no longer important. Well, allow me to retort. Going back to the moon is extremely important. As it stands right now, going to other celestial bodies from Earth is really difficult. We can use the moon to build a base which can be used as
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But, for a man who touts himself as a science president, the cutting of funding for moon travel based on the assumption that we no longer need to go to the moon is extremely short-sighted, for the reasons I gave above. Maybe Obama is just under too much stress to see the benefits of continued space travel, so I'll give him that. (At least Congress still supports the Constellation program.) Another problem I have with the privatization of space travel is that it will, as I said above, just turn into competition for contracts from NASA. Private companies are extremely short sighted and for the most part, only care about immediate gains. Studying Titan and Europa is not going to turn any immediate profit at all, so they most likely will not care about the benefits of exploring those moons as much as an astronomer would. To put space travel and space exploration in the hands of private companies is to put our entire future in doubt, as it most likely will take away from advancements in space colonization, which may turn into a likely contingency plan, given our continued exploitation of our finite natural
But, for a man who touts himself as a science president, the cutting of funding for moon travel based on the assumption that we no longer need to go to the moon is extremely short-sighted, for the reasons I gave above. Maybe Obama is just under too much stress to see the benefits of continued space travel, so I'll give him that. (At least Congress still supports the Constellation program.) Another problem I have with the privatization of space travel is that it will, as I said above, just turn into competition for contracts from NASA. Private companies are extremely short sighted and for the most part, only care about immediate gains. Studying Titan and Europa is not going to turn any immediate profit at all, so they most likely will not care about the benefits of exploring those moons as much as an astronomer would. To put space travel and space exploration in the hands of private companies is to put our entire future in doubt, as it most likely will take away from advancements in space colonization, which may turn into a likely contingency plan, given our continued exploitation of our finite natural