While doing some readings for my most recent blog post, I came upon an article written in 2005 that anticipated results from a new NASA project with an anticipated launch date in 2010. Being that it is 2014, I assumed that there would be some results available from that project. However, with a little more reading, I discovered that project has been postponed until 2034 due to budget constraints. That got me thinking about the future of NASA and its role moving forward.
The first noticeable trend is that manned spaceflight is probably not reasonable at this point and may become obsolete moving forward. Since man landed on the moon, unmanned spacecraft have become exponentially more useful. As Charles Seife at Slate points out, the International Space Station has essentially been fruitless in terms of reaching its research goals. In contrast, unmanned spacecraft have been collecting Nobel Prize-winning data for years. Furthermore, 4% of US astronauts have perished on their missions, which is in many ways an inexcusable number. Until it becomes feasible to place men on Mars, there may not be manned space-travel for these reasons.
Image Source: NASA Budget
Maybe even more troubling, the projected NASA budget for 2015 shows a 24% decrease in the education sector. Arguably one of NASA’s most lasting impressions on the public has been inspiring the next generation of scientists and innovators. Space has always been able to capture the human imagination, and there is no exception when it comes to schoolchildren. As Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it: “If I say, ‘Design me a plane that’s more fuel-efficient, because the country needs that now,’ you’re not going to get any truly transformative, innovative solutions. Instead, if I say, ‘Who wants to build an air foil that’ll navigate the rarified atmosphere of Mars?’ or ‘We’re about to go to Mars. Who wants to study life forms that are yet to be understood that we may discover?’ I’m going to get the best engineers, I’m going to get the best biologists.” Space and its frontiers have been able to bring about the best in human innovation for generations, and if NASA loses the capability to inspire students across the country, irreparable damage may be done to the next crop of engineers and explorers.
Sources and Further Reading:
http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2014/03/05/nasa_budget_2015_more_cuts_more_politics.html
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/2014/0314-official-statement-on-nasas-2015-budget.html
