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February 25, 2004
Space: what does it do for you?
The following letter from NSS member Arthur Smith was published in "Suffolk Life" February 25, 2004. Reprinted with permission of the author.
Space: what does it do for you?
To the Editor, Suffolk Life
Brent Marcovecchio and Christine Suarez (Point of View "Let's Deal With Problems on Earth" and letter, Feb 18, 2004) have a point: a lot of the money that goes to NASA is not spent wisely. NASA has for years been treated primarily as a jobs program for engineers and aerospace contractors in selected congressional districts. Yes, there are spectacular images to show for it all, but what does it do for you?
Space has enormous untapped potential to benefit average people, much as the Americas did 500 years ago. Do we need new renewable energy sources? Solar energy trillions of times what we use now streams past us through empty space every day. Learning to live in small enclosed environments, such as the proposed base on the Moon, could have enormous impact on recycling and resource conservation here on Earth. New innovative companies developing reliable reusable spacecraft promise a new era of space tourism as accessible as travel on any cruise ship.
It's the 21st century in a big universe; we need to spend just a little of our effort on better figuring out our place in it.
Arthur Smith
President, Long Island Space Society
Posted by apsmith at February 25, 2004 04:34 PM
