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Re^2: The most important near-term goal of a space program:

by jcoxen (Deacon)
on May 10, 2007 at 10:54 UTC ( [id://614598]=note: print w/replies, xml ) Need Help??


in reply to Re: The most important near-term goal of a space program:
in thread The most important near-term goal of a space program:

The US Space Program is possibly the only Government program to ever pay for itself. The returns to the economy in the form of jobs, new technology, etc are incalculable. Spin-offs alone are the basis for most of the advancements in computers, medical technology, food storage, metalurgy, weather prediction, communcations...

Do you have a cell phone? Thank the Space Program.
Do you watch Digital TV? Thank the Space Program.
Do you own a computer? Thank the Space Program.
Have you or anyone you know ever had a serious medical problem diagnosed with a CAT Scan or MRI? You quite literally owe a life to the Space Program.

You can't judge the value of something based on simple cause and effect. You HAVE to look at the secondary and tertiary effects to see the true cost or benefit. The early Space Program didn't pay off directly but the spinoff technologies the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs gave birth to are still growing and paying dividends today. And they'll continue to do so for the forseeable future. The Space Program, especially now that it's privatizing, is money well spent.

Just my .02 worth,

Jack

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^3: The most important near-term goal of a space program:
by gloryhack (Deacon) on May 10, 2007 at 15:29 UTC
    For some reason, the acronym EINIAC comes to mind every time someone attributes the invention of the computer to the space program.
      On the face of it you have a point. ENIAC does predate the space program. But ENIAC was based on vacuum tube technology and cost huge amounts of money and filled rooms. The space program gets it's computer kudos because it brought about the use of solid state circuitry in computers which eventually resulted in mass production, lower prices, smaller size, etc. All of which is why today you can buy a computer at WalMart that makes ENIAC look like an abacus and is small enough to fit into a students backpack. So, if you own a computer...

      Jack

        Solid state electronics also predate the space program. The transistor was invented in 1947, specifically to replace the vacuum tube. With or without NASA, the logical progression of the application of solid state technology *had to* result in VLSI. The evolution from my Hallicrafters Super SkyRider to your cell phone did not require that some guy go whack a golf ball on the moon. Humans are going to invent and refine technology because it's what we humans do and have been doing for longer than we've been able to leave written records about it.

        I probably shouldn't be blaspheming the gods of NASA here... eh, what the heck. Click!

Re^3: The most important near-term goal of a space program:
by hangon (Deacon) on May 14, 2007 at 01:27 UTC
    Have you or anyone you know ever had a serious medical problem diagnosed with a CAT Scan or MRI? You quite literally owe a life to the Space Program.

    Since my real career is in medical technology, I feel compelled to dispel this misconception. While while the space program drove advances in electronics & computers, which advanced the capabilities of CT (the term CAT has been depreciated for years) and MRI, the space program is not directly responsible for them.

    CT scanners are based on x-ray technology, which has been around for over a century. As for the scanning technology behind CT imaging, you probably have more reason to thank the Beatles than the space program. The CT scanner was developed in England by EMI, who made a pile of money to spend on such things from recording the Beatles' music.

    MRI technology was demonstrated in the 1950's, before the existence of the space program. It just wasn't applied to medicine until the 1980's.

    On the other hand, the space program has had a more direct and significant impact on vital signs monitoring and medical telemetry. The real legacy of the space program is more often the advancement of technology than the creation of it.

      more often the advancement of technology than the creation of it
      That's basically the same thing (which is one of the reasons I think patents are a ridiculous, misbegotten notion).

      print substr("Just another Perl hacker", 0, -2);
      - apotheon
      CopyWrite Chad Perrin

Re^3: The most important near-term goal of a space program:
by itub (Priest) on May 10, 2007 at 12:08 UTC
    The problem with that argument is that there are many other "secondary and tertiary" causes besides the space program. Why thank the space program, and not war, for example? Should I thank Hitler for the microwave oven, given that World War II encouraged the development of radar technology, which in turn gave rise to the microwave oven? (Oops, Godwin's Law violation! ;-)
      This strikes me as flamebait but I'll try to answer it anyway - apologies if I'm wrong about your intent.

      Intent is a consideration. Undoubtedly war has driven a huge number of advances for mankind that have eventually helped to make life better - medicine, explosives (I'm thinking construction here, not destruction). Even the Space Program got a boost from war - from Congreve's rockets to the German V2 program.

      But whether the good derived from those secondary and tertiary benefits outweighs the evil of war is a question for God, not me. I do believe that the benefits derived from space exploration more than outweigh the costs involved. And the intent of exploration is usually benign at worst where the intent of war is usually malign.

      Jack

        Sorry, my intent was not flamebait but more of a reductio ad absurdum. I think there are many causes that drive technical progress (some good and some bad), so the space program shouldn't be singled out. I just used the most extreme counter-example.
Re^3: The most important near-term goal of a space program:
by blazar (Canon) on Jun 05, 2007 at 15:42 UTC
    Have you or anyone you know ever had a serious medical problem diagnosed with a CAT Scan or MRI? You quite literally owe a life to the Space Program.

    Well mine was not really discovered by means of one of those, although they helped in making sure about it and monitoring the progress of the disease. However what I'd really like is a medical tricorder and even more importantly, the associated therapeutic technology. I imagine that both in the 23rd and in the 24th century the doctor would stop me and say: you have to stay for ten minutes to remove some tumoral cells... and the next day I would wake up just as fine as I've ever been. But it's not like that yet! ;-)

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