Astronomer Neil Tyson wrote a pretty good article for Parade magazine this week about why we explore space. He hits a lot of the right points, and he says something that I wind up hammering when I give public talks as well:
How many times have we heard the mantra: "Why are we spending billions of dollars up there in space when we have pressing problems down here on Earth?" Let's re-ask the question in an illuminating way: "What is the total cost in taxes of all spaceborne telescopes, planetary probes, the rovers on Mars, the space station and shuttle, telescopes yet to orbit and missions yet to fly?" Answer: less than 1% on the tax dollar -- 7/10ths of a penny, to be exact. [...] So, with 99 out of 100 cents going to fund the rest of our nation's priorities, the space program is not now (nor has ...
