While cutting NASA's budget has multiple consequences, this article focuses on the future lack of satellites, and more specifically, the lack of weather satellites. Of the 18 satellites that were supposed to be launched between 2007 and 2020, only two of them are close to being launched. This is mainly an issue because we will no longer be able to effectively track the weather, which means less accurate weather forecasts and the inability to properly respond to natural disasters. The overall loss of satellites, not only ones devoted to weather, will have a very large, negative impact on NASA and their ability to continue to record much-needed data about Earth. At this point, even if NASA did receive more funding, the damage would have already been done, because the process of building and launching a satellite takes too long for immediate results to be seen.
From what I've seen, cutting funding to NASA is never a good idea. Even in this economic crisis, where the government is attempting to cut funding to programs that don't necessarily need the funding, they seem to be forgetting the importance of NASA to society. This example of the weather satellites is only one of them. In the past, NASA has shown that pushing ourselves to our technological and scientific limits yields positive results. Indirectly, NASA is responsible for inventing pacemakers, our current pavement, ceramic (invisible) braces, the hand-held vacuum cleaner, the technology behind solar energy, car crash technology, life support, safer heart surgery, artificial limbs, satellite TV, and GPS. While this list isn't directly related to weather, it shows the potential that NASA has in not only increasing our knowledge about the universe, but in making life easier for us.
Also, as a side note, NASA currently receives only 6/10th of one penny of the U.S. tax dollar. The U.S. government spent more money on its bailouts in the last few years than NASA has received in its entire existence since the 1950s. Cutting NASA's budget won't help the economy, it will only hurt it.
very thorough summary and well made point. Thanks for educating me!
ReplyDeleteI don't think cutting NASA's money for satellites is a smart thing. Like you said they will help find natural disasters faster and therefore saving lives. 6/10th of one penny of the U.S. tax dollars is, in my opinion, way too low because these satellites can save lives and a life is more than 6/10th of one penny.
ReplyDeleteI think we should stop cutting NASA's money because without NASA we will stop scientifically advancing as fast as we have been. Also we are constantly trying to find new natural resources and space is so undiscovered we never know what we could find out there to help us. Finally each year millions of people loose their homes to natural disasters and we usually know about them. If we are no longer able to predict them in advance just think how much worse the damage will be.
ReplyDeleteI think that we need to keep NASA's budget high. Cutting it may seem like a good idea, but really, it's not. NASA is arguable the most important organization the U.S.A. has ever put together, and cutting it could have dramatic effects on the overall quality of life Americans have. There's always going to be changes in our world and space, and NASA needs to have all the money they can to help make these changes for our benefit. I think NASA is one of the last organizations they should cut.
ReplyDeleteI'm right there with you here. There is SOOOO much talk about wanting to do this and do that with space, planets, learning about the earth, the weather, bases out of this world, space stations, and so on! I think everyone has some curiousness about whats out there and what we will be able to do with it all!
ReplyDeleteNASA is an important part of the U.S. government even though some people may believe it is not. Cutting NASA's budget is not a good idea due to the fact that we do need better weather predictions. If you look at some recent natural disasters and the response times, you wonder that if we would of had better satellites, would there have been a quicker response time?
ReplyDeleteI agree with you, we need to stop cutting NASAs budget. They provide things that we need now and will need in the future, including satellites which are very important for determining the weather. With these we can predict when natural disasters will come, and with this possibly save money in the end by avoiding it.
ReplyDeleteI don't understand why Obama is cutting a program that advances technology and education for our students. We have discovered many technological advances through NASA and I honestly cannot support the cutting fund of an organization that discovers many things and interests millions of people in the year of 2012. This is the 21st century.
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