To infinity + beyond.... or closer to home?
Earth-Info.Net admits that it is interesting to see
what the surface of Mars looks like, but seriously questions the values of any country (or planet!) that ranks the acquisition of this sort of knowledge above tackling fundamental problems of
critical urgency +
great practical use to its own
safety + survival.
At the moment
millions of people die of
preventable diseases (either because they
drink dirty water or lack access to a decent toilet), while
overseas aid is dropping (despite commitments to the contrary), a great deal of
biodiversity is being lost without ever being named or studied,
many children don't have even a primary school education and other crucial work
relies on charity in order to get done...
Are we seriously saying that investigating + protecting our
farmlands, oceans or rainforests cannot be made as exciting as
panaromic pictures of Mars?
Or that the US spending
$15 billion on NASA in 2003, while the UK spent
£4 million on the study of global biodiversity, correctly reflects the
relative importance of scientific discoveries + knowledge about our
own planet versus what it would be nice to know about
outer space,
if time + money were limitless?
Personally, Earth-Info.Net thinks that we should spend the
$14-30 billion per annum needed to
provide over 1 billion people with clean water before we spend
$1,000,000,000,000 putting people on the Moon and then Mars... especially as the public became bored of travel to the Moon by the time
Apollo 12 came along, and the novelty of the
first landing had worn off!