Because Out There Is There
E., G.
Because Out There Is There Why not take all that space money, it’s often asked, and use it here on earth. to end poverty, intolerance. and crowded buses‘? Tke first answer is usually, “.411 that...
...So too G.th the planetary probes...
...But if you want new research products, nothing could be more circuitous than sending out for them by way of the moon...
...Because Out There Is There Why not take all that space money, it’s often asked, and use it here on earth...
...Yes, but one the shuttle project does not serve...
...n e shuttle simply can’t do anything the old rockets couldn’t do, won’t save money, and won’t help us learn anything we couldn’t learn with probes on the old rockets...
...has gotten hints on how to make things better, especialiy lightweight materials like Inxan...
...their exhaust is not noxious gases...
...They are light, small, highly efficient...
...We hid to know...
...but steam...
...The .4merican space program so far has cost Si00 billion...
...The itch to know is something we should always scratch...
...We can’t keep on using rockets that were designed 28 years ago,” A congressional aide and key shuttle proponent said to me in defense of the project...
...Meanwhile...
...Consider the space shuttle’s marvelous cryogenic engines...
...A probe to investigate the pohr regions of the sun---invisible from earth-has been shelved...
...Even part of that sum, farmed into pure research, would have returned many more usable products than space development has...
...Our desire for growth is a pure and positive aspect of man’s character...
...A probe to meet Halley’s Cornet has b t ~ cna nceied...
...Then is there is 2 cause for going to space...
...The next answer is usually, “Because of ail the wonderfttl spin-offs from space...
...Anything we need to know about things near earth where the shuttle can go, we can launch an oldfashioned rocket to discover...
...If you wanted to develop that pump-which surely offers important insights to industrial pump-makers-you didn’t need to surround i? wieh a space shuttle to do so...
...The pump is a breathtakingahnost beautiful-achievement of cngineering...
...The shuttle project does‘ not claim this article of faith...
...Draining noney into the shuttle has caused delays and downgrading for Project Galiieo, a complex probe that will orbit Jupiter, pull close to each of its 12 moons, then plunge into the planet’s seething atmosphere...
...True enough, SASA gets less than one per cent of the federal budget...
...not a reason...
...It claims to be fiscally and technically practicar, so it is open to a line of criticism from which the moon program was exempt...
...We need space money for Ihese projects, not to whiz around at Mach 25 trying to raise Vandenberg on the squawkbox...
...The air there is pink...
...Industry, more important...
...No it’s not...
...Since they burn liquid oxygen and hydrogen for fuel...
...Man must Constantly seek to expand his fieid of vision...
...True, everyday Iife has benefited from digital watches and Tang...
...we have no idea what’s going on out there...
...It wasn’t of much practical value...
...It’s sensible...
...It’s degrading...
...And that’s exactly why we have to go there...
...3ut that’s a refutation...
...Within this engine is a remarkabie device, 2 turbopump for pressurizing the propellants...
...But the whole damn engine and its wonderful pump are good for nothing but making 2 rocket fly...
...GX...
...The pump weighs 760 pounds and generates 75,000 horsepower- more than a thousand horsepower per p ~ i ~ n Yd o!u r car’s engine produces maybe half a horsepower per pound...
...Tke first answer is usually, “.411 that money isn’t all that much...
...and ~ O S pLeo ple understood zhat...
...The trip to the moon could be justified only by this reason, this article of faith...
...We have no idea what we’ll find...
...Who was not transfixed for an instant when Viking sent back the first pictures from Mars, and we all gasped...
Vol. 12 • April 1980 • No. 2
