The Small Town Skeptic: NASA a Waste of Money? Bollocks.

In our current world where several industrialized and well developed countries are starting to dwindle in the gray area economically, it is fairly common to see governments make drastic cuts in spending. It makes obvious sense doesn't it? When you get into debt you make cuts in your personal spending to help pay the debt off. To the individual person, who averages $50,000 in debt, there may be some sort of silver lining or light at the end of the tunnel in their battle to pay it off. But from the perspective of a world super-power like say, the United States, the amount of debt is stupefyingly high.

Taken at 3:28PM

I just took this screen shot from, http://www.usdebtclock.org/. It is a real time clock that calculates the United States national debt. In case you forgot your glasses or are just regaining consciousness after seeing such a large number in person, the debt is $17 Trillion.

If you have recently turned on the news all you would have heard about two very important things: United States budget problems and some female sorority girl named Justin Bieber. I don't know a lot about Bieber or her rampages against society but I can tell you something I have learned about our national budget. There are a lot of cuts. Not only at the federal level, but at the state and local levels. I want to talk about a very small portion of the national budget that has seen hard cuts and little support, NASA.

Being a science geek as well as a science advocate in my community there is one phrase that is sure to force me to plunge my head straight into the ground. In general the phrase is, "We spend too much money on NASA, the money is better spent elsewhere". But usually the phrase is something like, "I don't see why we have to give those rocket people billions and billions of dollars to send metal junk into space". I cannot blame some of the people's ignorance who make remarks like that. A lot of people do not understand the benefits of having a powerhouse like NASA let alone the benefits of space exploration.

First, lets talk about the almighty dollar. Right now, for every dollar that you pay in taxes to uncle sam, half a cent goes to fund NASA. That is what funds the greatest space agency in the world, $0.005 on every dollar. The budget for NASA last year, 2013, was around $17.8 billion and it looks to be around the same for the 2014 fiscal year. Lets take a look at three agencies that received the most funding in 2013 and compare it to NASA's budget.

Top 3 Agencies of Spending in 2013

Department of Health and Human Services: $940.1 billion

Social Security Administration: $882.7 billion

Department of Defense: $672.9 billion

NASA: $17.8 billion

2013 Federal Budget Total: $3.8 trillion

We can see from the numbers that NASA makes up around 0.5% of the national budget, in front of the EPA (8.9 billion - 0.2%) and just behind the Department of Energy ($35 billion - 0.9%). To make matters more clear, the entire 50-year running budget of NASA is $790 billion (including inflation rates). When you look at our national budget we can conclude that NASA plays a very small role in our nation's debt.

Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech

So what does NASA do besides send super-sized remote control toys to Mars and send humans in big suits into space?

There are tons of items used in everyday human life that were the direct result of NASA funding. From the soles of your shoes and artificial limbs, to water filters and memory foam, there are many items that most people around the world take for granted. Items like water filters, smoke detectors, long-distance communications, and medical advances help man kind live better and longer.

You would not be able to enjoy an episode of Duck Dynasty or the Super Bowl without NASA's pioneering work with satellites. The internet would sure be a different place as well.NASA also gives money back to the communities and creates jobs for hundreds of thousands of people.

Courtesy of NASA

There are two very important things that NASA and space exploration can do for our country and the world.

The first is the idea of space exploration inspires the world. There is no doubt that the space race between the U.S.S.R. and the United States in the 1960s inspired our country to reach for the stars, literally. It sparked our imagination and the thoughts that humans could accomplish unthinkable things.

The second is probably the most important of all: answering life's biggest questions. Where did we come from? Is there life elsewhere in the universe? Humans have been pondering these questions since we first stepped out of our caves. We are natural explorers and we sometimes take for granted the ability to ask these tough questions in the first place.

NASA is man-kind's greatest accomplishments. As you read these words there are rovers riding around on Mars. As you finish this sentence there are satellites sending signals around the globe. NASA is apart of our lives and deserves most of all to be supported and funded. The next time you look at a full moon just remember that humans walked on its surface, thanks to NASA.

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Just for shiggles, I took a screenshot of the current national debt: