Actually, there are quite a few reasons to be in space. In addition
to GPS, weather satellites, and warnings of solar flares [which, if
large enough, can fry your iPod, your computer, and the entire
electrical grid], the space program can warn about continent-killing
asteroids. And, if we do enough research NOW, we can deflect the
asteroid before it wipes out the entire eastern U.S. (or some other
unlucky region) and plunges the world into something resembling
nuclear winter.
For example, check out this zippy presentation about an asteroid
that's going to be very, VERY near earth in 2029 and 2036:
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/03/planetdefense/
For a more scientific treatment, try this webpage:
http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/apophis/
AFAIK, the only telescope that's capable of tracking near-earth
asteroids is the big one at Arecibo, and it's having trouble getting
funded.
This is just one example of congressmen who want brownie points for
cutting "unnecessary" spending, being penny-wise and pound
foolish. Here's another example: the space station, where not much
science is getting done by the three-person crew. And why only three
people? Because some congressman back in 2001 or so decided he would
save big bucks by cutting funding for the space lifeboat that would
carry a larger crew to safety, if anything went seriously wrong with
the space station. The only way to get the crew off now in an
emergency is by a Russian Soyuz capsule. Maximum capacity: three
people. So there is a skeleton crew of three on the space station,
and that's just about enough for basic maintenance and housekeeping.
A three-person crew is not, however, enough for doing a lot of
science, which was the basic reason for having the space station in
the first place.
I have family and friends working at NASA, and boy do I hear about
this kind of thing. When funding gets approved for a given project,
the scientists and technicians go at it hell-for-leather, in an
attempt to get the project off the ground--literally--before the
funding gets cut by some grandstanding congressman who's trying to
get reelected.
BOTTOM LINE: If you like your GPS or your weather forecasts, better
let your congressman and senators know. Otherwise, the GPS may go
bye-bye.
And if funding for tracking and for R & D to deflect near-earth
asteroids gets cut, YOU might not be around long enough to miss it.
P.S.: Spirit and Opportunity are not self-guiding, decision-making
robots. They are operated from earth. The next generation of
landers will have more advanced robotics on board--if the funding
doesn't get cut.
--Constance Warner
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