What was the point of any human exploration in all of our history?
“Would space exploration be better done by public or private enterprise?
And in the grand scheme of things, what is the point of going to the moon? Mars?”
The nations that lead on the frontiers, dictate the course of human history.
The reason are broad and manifold. Easily googled.
But that one is a biggie.
Look up lunar helium 3 and nuclear fusion. Not a future energy industry we want China dominating in.
“And in the grand scheme of things, what is the point of going to the moon? Mars?”
And who knows what might be very soon launch-able from the moon?
Armstrong had now been maneuvered to the point where there was no alternative to offer but a credo, or claim that he was spiritually neuter. That would have violated too much in him. Yes, he blurted now, as if, damn then and damn their skills, they had wanted everything else of him this day, they had had everything else of him, including his full cooperation, now damn them good, they could have his philosophy too if they could comprehend it. "I think we're going," he said, and paused, static burning in the yaws of his pause, "I think we're going to the moon because it's in the nature of the human being to face challenges." He looked a little defiant, as if probably they might not know , some critical number of them might never know what he was talking about, "It's by the very nature of his deep inner soul." The last three words came out as if they had seared his throat by their extortion. How his privacy had been invaded that day. "Yes," he nodded, as if noting what he had had to give up to the writers, "we're required to do these things just as salmon swim upstream."
OF A FIRE ON THE MOON
( Previously quoted on this forum )
We need both. There are overwhelming military reasons to have space superiority; there are also economic reasons to have a native space industry.
The problem is that the government has a vested interest in seeing private space flight operations tank to maintain their monopoly, so any time one of the non-NASA-sourced ventures starts looking like they’re going to succeed, NASA and the Feds start spewing FUD.
All of which means that if NASA doesn’t fly, nobody’s going to fly - at all. At least when NASA was flying they allowed very limited competition.
“And in the grand scheme of things, what is the point of going to the moon? Mars?”
Same point as leaving the African continent and traveling to the New World. We really didn’t have to do that stuff either. I mean, what was the point when it comes down to it? Hell, the entire population of the planet could live comfortably on the African continent.
NASA, when it comes to space exploration and aviation, I believe, is perfectly constitutional and one of the few government programs that makes any sense. Space travel can spur a ton of innovation in the private sector and create new markets not directly related to space itself.
Programs such as Mercury and Apollo paved the way for pinpoint accurate dropping of satellites into near and far earth orbit. It revolutionized our defense capabilities. It also paved the way for human beings operating in space to repair said objects should they become damaged. There isn’t a private company out there that would have done this for the good of the nation. Please name one if you can prove otherwise.
The Russians were doing the exact same thing at the time ... if they were to have controlled space by the 1980s, the USA would have had serious problems. Once we reached the moon, we found no real strategic purpose to use it for defense purposes. That still shouldn’t deter any travel to the moon. There’s a damn good chance that forms of energy my lie right beneath the moon’s surface that would benefit the entire planet.
We still haven’t a clue as to what lies in outer space. Sure private companies might stand to profit by taking cattle cars of people into low Earth orbit, but we need something more to get us farther out there. Many answers lie outside this planet that could make human life much better (energy sources being my primary interest).
It is a valid point to question how much government should be involved in those endeavors...please don’t get me wrong. I think it is needed as I doubt any private company will launch missions to the moon or Mars without some kind of indication that it is worthwhile. Still, I’m willing to risk my money I pay into the tax system on something like the way NASA used to be to explore. I think we get a “promising rate of return” second only to the military as a society from the manned exploration of space.
“Would space exploration be better done by public or private enterprise?
NO. Explicitly forbidden beyond LEO to make profit by Treaty.
And in the grand scheme of things, what is the point of going to the moon? Mars?”
Yes, It was a terrible blow to the Spanish people when the Queen forked over all that treasure to Columbus. What a waste! Just imagine how much better the world would be today.
Then again it may be a waste to have so many people around who do not have any dreams beyond how much money is in their pockets...