Cost of the Perseverance Mars trip.

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Dave7

Legendary Member
Location
Cheshire
Looking at the other thread running on this.
Let me say.......I am not knocking it, its an interesting thread so will not hijack it.......BUT
$2.7 BILLION is a staggering cost.
My opinion this......not suggesting I am automatically right but I feel the money could be better spent down here on planet earth.
I have always questioned WHY they spend vast fortunes on space exploration. How has mankind benefitted from any of it?
Quite happy to be proven wrong with facts though (aside from inventing Teflon etc).
 
You'll be thanking them when a huge asteroid is headed for Earth and Bruce Willis has to rely on that same technology to save us.
 

Beebo

Firm and Fruity
Location
Hexleybeef
The money was spent on planet earth. It has employed thousands of skilled experts.

If everything had to be viewed through a cost benefit the world would be a very dull place. No Olympic Games, no public art works or statement architecture.

If it’s a moral issue about redistribution then should society allow personal wealth in excess of £1billion?
 
Good morning

I never realised it cost that much for a cycle chat thread no wonder we have advertising ^_^

Do you get the advert for the ad blocker? :laugh:

Ads1.jpg


Bye

Ian
 
You'll be thanking them when a huge asteroid is headed for Earth and Bruce Willis has to rely on that same technology to save us.

So we land a little buggy/helicopter on the asteroid then Bruce spends a couple of years in front of a computer monitor. I feel reassured already.
 

Drago

Legendary Member
For every dollar spent on such a mission the return in terms of the commercial value of the technical developments is reckoned to earn the US economy 20 to 30 times that in tax receipts in the following 2 decades. Over the long term it's a nice little earner.

And then there is the moral and philosphical angle. If we as a senitient, intelligent specicies to not push the boundaries of knowledge and acheievement then our society will stagnate die, and probably fairly quickly at that. I was born in 1969, and while I don't have problem with that year I'm still very glad that socially, economocally and technologically society has moved forward in the intervening 52 years.
 
D

Deleted member 26715

Guest
$2.7 BILLION is a staggering cost.
it's a lot of money, but the Met Office new computer is going to cost at least £1.2 bn ($1.7 bn) I say at least as we know that any UK Government software program will always go over budget. Remember the last big one 7/8 years ago, costed at £6bn, abandoned when it got to £10bn, so $2.7bn on something that actually works is not too bad I don't think
 

Joffey

Big Dosser
Location
Yorkshire
Looking at the other thread running on this.
Let me say.......I am not knocking it, its an interesting thread so will not hijack it.......BUT
$2.7 BILLION is a staggering cost.
My opinion this......not suggesting I am automatically right but I feel the money could be better spent down here on planet earth.
I have always questioned WHY they spend vast fortunes on space exploration. How has mankind benefitted from any of it?
Quite happy to be proven wrong with facts though (aside from inventing Teflon etc).

Just a few things that have come from the Apollo missions:

Digital flight controls
Food safety
Space blankets
Quake proofing
Rechargable hearing aids

Here is a NASA website detailing spinoff technologies that have come from various space programmes:

https://spinoff.nasa.gov

And I'm sure all them employees are paying tax... :whistle:
 

Joey Shabadoo

My pronouns are "He", "Him" and "buggerlugs"
Years ago, on another forum (far, far away) I saw a scientist make a very convincing case. His post was littered with facts and figures which I obviously can't recall but the gist of it was:

All of humanity currently exists on one lump of rock. That lump of rock will be hit by a "dinosaur killer" asteroid at some point. No ifs or buts, it's just a matter of time. If we are all still here, our species ends. To ensure the survival of our species (one of the most primal instincts), we have to expand beyond this planet.

However, there is a window of opportunity. At the rate we currently consume resources, the materials needed to construct vessels capable of carrying us off the planet will not exist within 100 years or so - barring some unobtanium solution. On top of that there is always the possibility of catastrophic wars setting us back.

So, we either do it now or it will be too late and our species will be doomed.
 
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