Space Chronicles II: The Wrath of Khan

This is a scene from the Star Trek movie where Shatner and
crew must go back in time to save NASA from budget cuts
by using a whale to help a Klingon recite Shakespeare.

There is a myth that pervades American thought, and it generally goes something like this, "NASA gets too much damn money to study rocks on Mars when we can use that money to [insert cause here,] (i.e. feed the homeless, cloth the starving, give houses to puppies, stop the bleeding of hearts, etc.)." The basic tenement of this myth comes down to the belief that America is spending billions of dollars in space exploration when we could be using that money to solve problems at home. It is a myth that is not only stupid but dangerous, and it is a myth that people like Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson are trying very hard to put to rest.

First off, America does give NASA billions of dollars. For the fiscal year of 2012 NASA requested around 18.7 billions dollars in funding, in actuality it will probably only get around 17 billion. Now I know what your thinking, "Oh my Science! 17 BILLION, that's a lot of money!" and as usual (when I ask these hypothetical questions) you are wrong. It is not a lot of money, only about 0.48% of America's budget for 2012. That means, this year America will be spending the lowest amount of money (comparatively) on NASA spending since 1959 (one year after NASA was founded.) Back then the space program only received 0.2% of the federal budget (that year they got a whopping 145 million dollars in federal money). At most NASA has ever received 4.41% of the federal budget in 1966 at the height of the Apollo Program.

In other words, NASA is broke, and it is the aforementioned myth that is helping to kill it. Think about it as a politician would. When it comes down to cutting money from Medicare, Social Security, or NASA, which do you think the public would object to more? (As a side note: in 2011 20% of the US budget was dedicated to Medicare and 23% was dedicated to Social Security spending.) Thus, in financial terms, NASA has become the red-headed step-child of the US Government. This a precarious position for NASA to be in, and more to the point it is a dangerous position for America to be... more than I think you might realize.

That bring us to our second reason of why this myth of NASA spending is disastrous, and it is a reason explained in Neil DeGrasse Tyson's new book: Space Chronicles, (which is an awesome name.) In it Dr. Tyson (who is the head of the Natural History Museum's Hayden Planetarium in New York City, and charismatic contributor to almost any science show you will ever see on TV) explains the case for space. He makes the argument that by slowly starving NASA the US is slowly starving our own imaginations, not to mention our ability to protect the human race as a whole.

In the 1960's the Space Race started in response to America's fear that Russia would conquer space, spread Communism to the Moon (which is way above the 38th parallel), and invade America with flying saucers (or something like that.) This fear prompted us to go to the moon, which in turn prompted a generation of baby boomers to sit transfixed in front of their TV's as America clawed its way to the surface of our nearest natural satellite. This pivotal moment changed the lives of millions of children who suddenly became fascinated with the idea that human beings could walk on the moon. It sparked the hope and the idea that we as humans could become something more than we are. This fueled the ambition and imagination of a generation and helped to create some of the best scientists America has ever known. Many people may not see the value in the sense of wonder and imagination sparked in the children of the 60's as an asset to America, but it very much is. Of all the exports and trade commodities that the United States has ever had to offer the world, innovation and scientific discovery have always been among the most important and the most profitable.

Setting aside even the obvious benefits of the products which are mere by-products of space exploration, (Velcro, tang, MRI machines), space exploration, and specifically manned space exploration, has fueled the American drive of science for decades. From those children who sat enraptured by the grainy images of Neil Armstrong on the moon came the people who helped invent the computer, the Internet, the cell phone, and hundreds of other products which America pioneered and which helped make America one of the richest countries in the world. We cannot tangibly measure the fiscal income of imagination, but rest assured it is as real as the first quarter gross income figures of American pig farmers. Dr. Tyson argues (reasonably) that a new manned push to space (most notably a call for a return to the moon and even the gold-ring of all space exploration, Mars) would not only help spark the imagination of the next generation of scientists and explorers, but also create a deluge of "spin-off" products that would benefit us in our everyday life in the same way that the "spin-off" products of space exploration in the 1960's helped benefit that generation of people (tang and spam aside). In the next decade, America will find itself trailing the rest of the world in fields of science and technology. Among the last generation of students, admission and interest in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) has fallen across the boards, and with it the technological prowess of the USA. We have a chance to fix that for the next generation, and  in the present create jobs and new opportunities not only for the best and brightest Americans, but others from around the world. Anyway you slice it, excitement over space exploration is an investment in our future.

I do apologize as I know I am getting a little forceful and preachy in this topic, but it is one I tend to be more passionate about because I see space exploration as being closely tied with the fate of humanity, and for one simple fact. The planet Earth is on a timer. No matter what you believe or how you think it will happen, it is generally accepted that Earth will one day die. It does not matter if it dies because we drain it of resources, or because it gets taken out by an errant solar flare, or even some sort of cataclysmic climate event, or even of old age, Earth will one day cease to exist and when that day comes if all of humanity still remains on its surface we will die with it. I am not just talking about the physical deaths of all the living people, but the death of everything that we are. We will not just die but so will Abraham Lincoln, Marylin Monroe, the 1986 Mets, Darth Vader, Beethoven, Da Vinci, and everything that we are or ever could be. It will be like the human race never existed and on some distant planet they will watch our star wink out and never know that the light they were seeing was home to the human race, home to our culture, our thoughts, our dreams, and everything. We will just be gone, and that is what scares me the most.

However, if we reach out into the stars and spread humanity across different planets and even different solar systems our culture, our memories, and everything we are can never truly be extinguished. This is, admittedly, an extreme example, but ultimately a true one. In the more immediate future space exploration can help to teach us how to defend ourselves against asteroids and other NEO objects (Near Earth Orbit, though I also would not mind learning how to protect ourselves from more bad Keanu Reeve movies.) We could begin to develop plans for diverting asteroids and comets that do not include Bruce Willis and Aerosmith. This is no joke, because in 2029 the (appropriately named) asteroid Apophis is due to pass so close to Earth that it will dip below our satellites in geosynchronous orbit. The worst part is that means that the asteroid could then be set up for a collision course with Earth when it returns in April of 2036. The impact would be the equivalent of anywhere between a 500 and 900 megaton explosion. Comparatively, the biggest bomb ever created by humans was the Russian Tsar Bomba which only clocked in at 50 megatons. 

Yes we KHAAAAN!!!

Here is the real kicker. We could accomplish all of this with just two critical changes to American policy. 1) We need to start making Space exploration a cultural and politcal priority in the same way that it was in the 60's. The Senate and the government need to speak of missions to Mars in the same way Kennedy spoke of going to the moon, 2) the (easier of the two): double NASA's budget. That means instead of only spending 0.48% of the USA's yearly budget on NASA we need to commit giving them an incredible 0.96% of the budget or even 1% if we are feeling generous. But with the money and (more importantly) the cultural  and political endorsement, Dr. Tyson argues that we would go a long way to restoring America's place in the world of technology and science. We would also be inspiring the imagination of all of humanity for years to come. 

The frustrating part is that it would take so little on our part as Americans to really help get these dreams accomplished. We have become such a nation of cynics that most people usually just balk at the idea of manned space exploration. Newt Gingrich was made the butt of jokes because he dared suggest that American space wxploration should be a priority (granted Newt may not be the best spokesperson for that particular campaign,) but he is not wrong. Maybe that is why we need a candidate for this election that can make the argument more convincingly and with less wives. We need someone charismatic, yet knowledgeable. We need someone who can make the case and yet still be likable on a camera. That is why the 2N2P would like to announce that is it officially endorsing Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson as our candidate for President.