Is Space Exploration Worth The Cost
Is space exploration worth the cost?
by David Livingston
Monday, January 21, 2008
Editor’s Note: On January 11, the New York Times blog “Freakonomics” published a lengthy post titled “Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost? A Freakonomics Quorum”. The post featured comments provided by a number of people, including David Livingston, in response to the question. The part attributed to Dr. Livingston was just a highly-edited version of what he originally submitted to the Times. What follows is the full article that Dr. Livingston submitted on December 31 in response to their invitation to answer the question, “Is manned space exploration worth the cost? Why or why not?”
As the host of a nearly seven-year-old radio talk show, The Space Show, …show more content…
When I did this study, it was 34 years after the last dime had been spent on Apollo, the last of the manned Moon programs. Thirty-four years later, when I would ask guests on The Space Show, students, and people I met who were involved in science, engineering, and space-related fields and businesses about what inspired or motivated them to start a space business or pursue their education, over 80% said they were inspired and motivated because of our having gone to the Moon. Businesses were started and are now meeting payrolls, paying taxes, and sustaining economic growth because the founder was inspired by the early days of the manned space program, often decades after the program ended! This type of inspiration and motivation seems unique to the manned space program and of late, to some of our robotic space missions. Interestingly, I found the same to be true when I asked the same question to Space Show guests from outside the United States. Thirty-four years after all funding had stopped for the Apollo program, investment and wealth building, both for our nation and others, was still going on as a result of our manned space exploration years earlier. This was a standout feature when comparing manned space exploration to other two types of government …show more content…
Some specific narrow segments such as medical and other technical fields have returns several hundred times the dollars invested. In fact, one bit of research I found said that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had to refute some of very high returns because at the time they could not do the computer work to determine an effective multiplier with so many variables leading to such high outcomes. Overall, the return was probably more modest, perhaps four to seven dollars returned to the taxpayers for each dollar invested. This return outperformed the other investments as well, though in many ways my project was like trying to compare apples and oranges. However, I can accurately report that manned space exploration has the potential to return to the taxpayer many times the dollars initially spent on the program. Since we spend this money right here, employing our own people to do cutting-edge as well as traditional workforce projects, our people and our nation benefits from the manned space program. This means we build wealth for our nation and our people. Equally important, we inspire millions of school children to do the hard schoolwork in math, business, science, engineering, and finance so they can work in space and related scientific and technical fields. This is important to us all as these disciplines are needed to lead
by David Livingston
Monday, January 21, 2008
Editor’s Note: On January 11, the New York Times blog “Freakonomics” published a lengthy post titled “Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost? A Freakonomics Quorum”. The post featured comments provided by a number of people, including David Livingston, in response to the question. The part attributed to Dr. Livingston was just a highly-edited version of what he originally submitted to the Times. What follows is the full article that Dr. Livingston submitted on December 31 in response to their invitation to answer the question, “Is manned space exploration worth the cost? Why or why not?”
As the host of a nearly seven-year-old radio talk show, The Space Show, …show more content…
When I did this study, it was 34 years after the last dime had been spent on Apollo, the last of the manned Moon programs. Thirty-four years later, when I would ask guests on The Space Show, students, and people I met who were involved in science, engineering, and space-related fields and businesses about what inspired or motivated them to start a space business or pursue their education, over 80% said they were inspired and motivated because of our having gone to the Moon. Businesses were started and are now meeting payrolls, paying taxes, and sustaining economic growth because the founder was inspired by the early days of the manned space program, often decades after the program ended! This type of inspiration and motivation seems unique to the manned space program and of late, to some of our robotic space missions. Interestingly, I found the same to be true when I asked the same question to Space Show guests from outside the United States. Thirty-four years after all funding had stopped for the Apollo program, investment and wealth building, both for our nation and others, was still going on as a result of our manned space exploration years earlier. This was a standout feature when comparing manned space exploration to other two types of government …show more content…
Some specific narrow segments such as medical and other technical fields have returns several hundred times the dollars invested. In fact, one bit of research I found said that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) had to refute some of very high returns because at the time they could not do the computer work to determine an effective multiplier with so many variables leading to such high outcomes. Overall, the return was probably more modest, perhaps four to seven dollars returned to the taxpayers for each dollar invested. This return outperformed the other investments as well, though in many ways my project was like trying to compare apples and oranges. However, I can accurately report that manned space exploration has the potential to return to the taxpayer many times the dollars initially spent on the program. Since we spend this money right here, employing our own people to do cutting-edge as well as traditional workforce projects, our people and our nation benefits from the manned space program. This means we build wealth for our nation and our people. Equally important, we inspire millions of school children to do the hard schoolwork in math, business, science, engineering, and finance so they can work in space and related scientific and technical fields. This is important to us all as these disciplines are needed to lead