(This message is intended to help save the Ares rocket program. It is not meant to take any position either for or against President Barack Obama in general.)
“We will restore science to its rightful place.”
Termination of the Ares, incidentally, is not a predicted effect of the spending freeze but instead, is an explicitly stated part of the administration’s plan. NASA’s program termed “Constellation” is one of many programs the current administration hopes to cut entirely from the 2010 budget and the Ares rocket is just one component of the Constellation program.
It should be noted that NASA typically receives just over one half of one percent of the yearly federal budget. In 2009 the institution spent a total of $22.5 billion and requested only $18.686 billion for the 2010 fiscal year. Such numbers may seem high but they are dwarfed in comparison to the $784.2 billion that was spent on health care, the $395.4 billion that was spent on welfare, and the $736.2 billion that was spent on pensions alone, just to name a few.
The point is that although most Americans agree that the federal government ought to employ some spending cuts, cutting the Constellation program (and by extension the Ares program) is financially insignificant in the face of the hundreds of billions spent elsewhere and the hundreds of billions in stimulus money still to be awarded in the coming few years.
Benefits of the space program are virtually endless. Apart from research into climate change and other relevant scientific topics, federal funding of the space program has been the catalyst for the invention of satellite communications, microwaves, cellular phones, miniaturized computers, pacemakers, kidney dialysis, scratch-resistant lenses, medical and sports technology, adjustable smoke detectors, cordless tools, and water filters among many, many others.
In fact, while President Obama boasts impressive gains in job creation and job saving, the proposed termination of the Ares and other Constellation programs will deal devastating blows to the economies and employment rates of towns along Florida’s Space Coast as well as other areas dependent upon the manufacture of products geared toward space exploration for their livelihoods.
In essence, if there is money for something, there is money for NASA. With the space program taking up so little of overall federal spending, the only real effect of budget cuts for NASA will be a series of disappointing job losses during a time in which our nation is trying to recover from an economic collapse.
Of course, the President’s budget is only a proposal. The actual budget will be written by Congress and handed off to the President before it can take effect. Please take the time to contact your representatives and ask them to continue full funding for NASA and the Constellation program. Our space program is an an icon of and a testament to the greatness, ingenuity, and character of the people of this nation. If there is something we cannot afford, it is to lose any part of this program.
Resources:
http://www.saveares.com/
http://www.nasa.gov/news/budget/index.html
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/01/27/obama-budget-drop-nasa-constellation-program/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/20/us/politics/20text-obama.html
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/year2009_0.html
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Without a legitimate space propulsion system the Ares rocket is just a waste of time. We cannot keep doing the same things over and over again and expect a quantum leap in physics. We must spend the next generation experimenting with new propulsion not going backwards!
You’re absolutely right. However, while the Ares I was designed only with the ability to travel to the moon, the upcoming Ares V was designed with the ability to take a person to Mars. That being the case, although it’s no Starship Enterprise, the Ares series certainly was going to be a step forward in space travel abilities. That being said, it’s not often the world experiences a quantum leap in physics. Usually we we discover things piece by piece. Otherwise, where would we start in the search for a giant leap forward? What useful pieces of knowledge would we miss out on along the way? And how could we possibly hope to understand something so far ahead without an in depth knowledge of the baby steps before that? The Ares was to be one of those baby steps in the grand scheme of things.
But don’t get me wrong, I agree with you 100% that we haven’t spent anywhere close to enough time or effort working on space travel innovation. I’ll tell you one thing though, you’re not going to get space innovation out of a guy who makes his speaking appointments at NASA “by invitation only” so as to appear that NASA employees generally back his plan (which they don’t), who, like other presidents, racks up egregious cost everywhere imaginable EXCEPT at NASA (which usually only takes up half of a percent of the federal budget but for some reason deserves to be cut), and who thinks we’re making strides in space travel by “landing a man on an asteroid” in the future. All facts.
Want to know what we’re gonna find on an asteroid? Iron and nickle. How do I know what? Because asteroids land on Earth.