A Space & astronomy forum. SpaceBanter.com

Go Back   Home » SpaceBanter.com forum » Space Science » Policy
Site Map Home Authors List Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read Web Partners

Technology is the easy part



 
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old January 30th 12, 09:59 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Anonymous
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 103
Default Technology is the easy part

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/28/sc...a-moon-colony-
technology-is-the-easy-part.html?ref=science

Putting a manned base on the Moon would be the easy part from a
technology perspective. With millions of Americans living in abject
poverty with no access to healthcare (akin to third world countries),
little retirement savings and no jobs, it will become difficult for
politicians to pursuade the public to support another Moon race, this
time around against the Chinese. With hundreds of thousands of bridges,
tunnels, roads and overpasses in disrepair, it seems the U.S. needs a
lot more taxation to get its house in order, something which the
Republicans will fight tooth and nail over. Where then, is the money
going to come from? More cuts in welfare and social security?

I personally believe that it would be much cheaper to spend all-out on
another Moon program (if it were to be approved) rather than smearing
out the costs over decades. The Apollo program gobbled up 4% of the
federal budget between 1962 and 1970 yet it was done for a comparably
low price, about $150 billion in current dollar value. The ISS program
has cost hundreds of billions with little to show for it, except for a
permanent manned presence in space and dubious experiments on all sorts
of creatures in low-G. The promised returns in new medicines and
semiconductors haven't been realized.

In addition, the Apollo program may actually have netted a profit from
all the technologies developed for it. I'm not aware of any studies
which put a hardball figure on this, but the total costs would have
been offset for a large part by these economic effects.


 




Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

vB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump

Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
Technology is the easy part Kulin Remailer Policy 7 February 2nd 12 07:21 PM
Technology is the easy part Fritz Wuehler[_16_] Policy 1 January 29th 12 08:06 PM
Technology is the easy part Anonymous[_3_] Policy 0 January 29th 12 04:30 PM
Easy Cash.. Start NOW.. WORK FROM HOME PART-TIME justinwork Astronomy Misc 0 August 11th 09 06:09 AM
The Uncensored Part of New Energy Technology American Policy 0 October 30th 08 06:14 PM


All times are GMT +1. The time now is 10:58 PM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.6.4
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.
Copyright ©2004-2024 SpaceBanter.com.
The comments are property of their posters.