NASA - Unconstitutional

[BulletWounD]

The Congress shall have Power To lay and collect Taxes, Duties, Imposts and Excises, to pay the Debts and provide for the common Defence and general Welfare of the United States; but all Duties, Imposts and Excises shall be uniform throughout the United States;

To borrow money on the credit of the United States;

To regulate Commerce with foreign Nations, and among the several States, and with the Indian Tribes;

To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws on the subject of Bankruptcies throughout the United States;

To coin Money, regulate the Value thereof, and of foreign Coin, and fix the Standard of Weights and Measures;

To provide for the Punishment of counterfeiting the Securities and current Coin of the United States;

To establish Post Offices and Post Roads;

To promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts, by securing for limited Times to Authors and Inventors the exclusive Right to their respective Writings and Discoveries;

To constitute Tribunals inferior to the supreme Court;

To define and punish Piracies and Felonies committed on the high Seas, and Offenses against the Law of Nations;

To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;

To raise and support Armies, but no Appropriation of Money to that Use shall be for a longer Term than two Years;

To provide and maintain a Navy;

To make Rules for the Government and Regulation of the land and naval Forces;

To provide for calling forth the Militia to execute the Laws of the Union, suppress Insurrections and repel Invasions;

To provide for organizing, arming, and disciplining the Militia, and for governing such Part of them as may be employed in the Service of the United States, reserving to the States respectively, the Appointment of the Officers, and the Authority of training the Militia according to the discipline prescribed by Congress;

To exercise exclusive Legislation in all Cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of the Government of the United States, and to exercise like Authority over all Places purchased by the Consent of the Legislature of the State in which the Same shall be, for the Erection of Forts, Magazines, Arsenals, dock-Yards, and other needful Buildings; And

To make all Laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into Execution the foregoing Powers, and all other Powers vested by this Constitution in the Government of the United States, or in any Department or Officer thereof.

I love the space program, but for the sake of consistency I must ask the question: "Where is the space exploration clause?" I propose that we lobby our Congress to pass a Constitutional amendment legitimizing the Federal Government's unconstitutional forrays into space. This would be a great start to re-establishing the framework of the Constitution in the US.

 

[bilbus]

The first step toward a space navy?

 

[BulletWounD]

The first step toward a space navy?

Ha! There ya go. Or perhaps our very own Death Star?

 

[bilbus]

Just need to add a giant laser to the ISS and we should be good to go. As far as i know the ISS does not have a exhaust vent, so we are good to go.

 

[UtahBill]

Space exploration should be funded by geeks, and geeks alone...:2razz:

If the IRS gave a special box to check and we could donate to NASA wtih part of our tax refund, and those donations were its only funding, it would cease to exist in one year...

Scientists are all too eager to spend the publics money on the lamest of things....

 

[BulletWounD]

Space exploration should be funded by geeks, and geeks alone...:2razz:

If the IRS gave a special box to check and we could donate to NASA wtih part of our tax refund, and those donations were its only funding, it would cease to exist in one year...

Scientists are all too eager to spend the publics money on the lamest of things....

That's a good idea for a lot of things. I, for one, don't like paying tax dollars that are going to Israeli bombs that are being used against my own people in Palestine.

 

[Real Korimyr #9]

Scientists are all too eager to spend the publics money on the lamest of things....

Damn near every major technological development in the past 30 years has been an outgrowth of the Space Program in one form or another. Dollar for dollar, it's probably one of the most effective government programs that has ever been instituted.

It's certainly better than this $800b monstrosity that the Congress has passed to "fix" our economy. We'd have been better off spending that $800b on the Space Program... it would have created more jobs and it would have benefited us considerably more in the long run.

 

[Kernel Sanders]

Damn near every major technological development in the past 30 years has been an outgrowth of the Space Program in one form or another. Dollar for dollar, it's probably one of the most effective government programs that has ever been instituted.

It's certainly better than this $800b monstrosity that the Congress has passed to "fix" our economy. We'd have been better off spending that $800b on the Space Program... it would have created more jobs and it would have benefited us considerably more in the long run.

I agree completely. Since NASA doesn't produce any consumer products people often severely undervalue its contribution to technology and our economy. As I've said before, NASA is one of the few government programs that can actually be called an investment

NASA is one of the few government programs that can actually be considered an investment. The unique and extreme technological challenges that space poses give rise to R&D (usually done by private coorporations on behalf of the government) that provide indescribable benefit to private industry and the public alike. NASA's ROI has been estimated at $7 on the dollar. It does not directly generate consumer products, but its benefits are undeniable. Obama's commitment to technology and to NASA in particular made a big impact on me during the primaries, and I look forward to what the space program can accomplish when the White House is actually supporting it

For a more comprehensive list of NASA spinoffs you can peruse NASA's site, which has 100+ page pdfs for every year since 1976. Here are a few excerpts from the less comprehensive wikipedia page on the same topic

Light-Emitting Diodes (LEDs)
The Light-emitting diode technology used in NASA space shuttle plant growth experiments led to the development of a hand-held, high-intensity, LED unit developed by Quantum Devices Inc. The WARP 10 is said to relieve minor muscle and joint pain, stiffness,and increases local blood circulation. The WARP 10 is being used by the U.S. Department of Defense and U.S. Navy as a noninvasive “soldier self-care” device for minor injuries and pain. The next-generation WARP 75 has been used to relieve pain in bone marrow transplant patients, and will be used to combat the symptoms of bone atrophy, multiple sclerosis, diabetic complications, Parkinson’s disease, and in a variety of ocular applications.

Artificial Limbs
Advancements such as Environmental Robots Inc.’s development of artificial muscle systems[4] for use in NASA space robotic and extravehicular activities have been adapted to create more functionally dynamic artificial limbs. Other commercial uses of NASA’s temper foam include moldable materials offering the natural look and feel of flesh, as well as preventing friction between the skin and the prosthesis, and heat/moisture buildup

Improved Radial Tires
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company developed a fibrous material, five times stronger than steel, for NASA to use in parachute shrouds to soft-land the Vikings on the Martian surface. Recognizing the durability of the material, Goodyear expanded the technology and went on to produce a new radial tire with a tread life expected to be 10,000 miles greater than conventional radials.

Video Enhancing and Analysis Systems
Intergraph Government Solutions developed its Video Analyst System (VAS) by building on Video Image Stabilization and Registration (VISAR) technology created by NASA to help FBI agents analyze video footage. Originally used for enhancing video images from nighttime videotapes made with hand-held camcorders, VAS is a tool for video enhancement and analysis offering support of full-resolution digital video, stabilization, frame-by-frame analysis, conversion of analog video to digital storage formats, and increased visibility of filmed subjects without altering underlying footage. Aside from law enforcement and security applications, VAS has also been adapted to serve the military for reconnaissance, weapons deployment, damage assessment, training, and mission debriefing.

Firefighting Equipment
Firefighting equipment in the United States is based on lightweight materials developed for the U.S. Space Program. NASA and the National Bureau of Standards created a lightweight breathing system including face mask, frame, harness, and air bottle, using an aluminum composite material developed by NASA for use on rocket casings. The broadest fire-related technology transfer is the breathing apparatus for protection from smoke inhalation injury. Additionally, NASA’s inductorless electronic circuit technology led to lower-cost, more rugged, short-range two-way radio now used by firefighters. NASA also helped develop a specialized mask weighing less than 3 ounces to protect the physically impaired from injuries to the face and head, as well as flexible, heat-resistant materials—developed to protect the space shuttle on reentry—which are being used both by the military and commercially in suits for municipal and aircraft-rescue firefighters

Freeze Drying Technology
In planning for the long-duration Apollo missions, NASA conducted extensive research into space food. One of the techniques developed was freeze drying. Action Products commercialized this technique, concentrating on snack food. The foods are cooked, quickly frozen, and then slowly heated in a vacuum chamber to remove the ice crystals formed by the freezing process. The final product retains 98 percent of its nutrition and weighs only 20 percent of its original weight. Today, one of the benefits of this advancement in food preparation includes simple nutritious meals available to handicapped and otherwise homebound senior adults unable to take advantage of existing meal programs

Solar Energy
Homes across the country are now being outfitted with high-performance single crystal silicon solar power cells that allow them to reduce their traditional energy expenditures and reduce pollution. The advanced technology behind these solar devices—which provide up to 50 percent more power than conventional solar cells—originated with the efforts of a NASA-sponsored 28-member coalition forming the Environmental Research Aircraft and Sensor Technology (ERAST) Alliance. ERAST’s goal was to develop remotely piloted aircraft, intended to fly unmanned at high altitudes for days at a time and requiring advanced solar power sources that did not add weight. As a result, SunPower Corporation created advanced silicon-based cells for terrestrial or airborne applications

Structural analysis software

NASA software engineers have created thousands of computer programs over the decades equipped to design, test, and analyze stress, vibration, and acoustical properties of a broad assortment of aerospace parts and structures. The NASA Structural Analysis Program, or NASTRAN, is considered one of the most successful and widely-used NASA software programs. It has been used to design everything from Cadillacs to roller coaster rides. Originally created for spacecraft design, NASTRAN has been employed in a host of non-aerospace applications and is available to industry through NASA’s Computer Software Management and Information Center (COSMIC). COSMIC maintains a library of computer programs from NASA and other government agencies and sells them at a fraction of the cost of developing a new program.

Food Safety

Faced with the problem of how and what to feed an astronaut in a sealed capsule under weightless conditions while planning for human space flight, NASA enlisted the aid of The Pillsbury Company to address two principal concerns: eliminating crumbs of food that might contaminate the spacecraft’s atmosphere and sensitive instruments, and assuring absolute absence of disease-producing bacteria and toxins. Pillsbury developed the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) concept to address NASA’s second concern. HACCP is designed to prevent food safety problems rather than to catch them after they have occurred. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has applied HACCP guidelines for the handling of seafood, juice, and dairy products

You never hear NASA get credit for these things because they only spawn the initial research, which is only commercialized later by private coorporations. NASA's contribution to technology and industry, however, is immense. Other than the military NASA fosters more innovation than any government program, and does it with a comparatively miniscule budget.

 

[UtahBill]

Damn near every major technological development in the past 30 years has been an outgrowth of the Space Program in one form or another. Dollar for dollar, it's probably one of the most effective government programs that has ever been instituted.

It's certainly better than this $800b monstrosity that the Congress has passed to "fix" our economy. We'd have been better off spending that $800b on the Space Program... it would have created more jobs and it would have benefited us considerably more in the long run.

You are repeating an old wives tale....
Damn near every advance in technology attributed to NASA would have been discovered anyway. Sharing advances in technology is nothing new, and many times NASA took advantage of technology advanced in medical imaging...among other sources.
Where there is a need, someone will invent, and they don't have to go thru NASA to do it....
The space industry has reached the point of diminishing returns, and will resort to the kind of propaganda you are using to keep the money rolling in. Better that NASA put a large percentage of their engineers and scientists to work solving problems that exist now, not problems that will occur hundreds of years from now.
Does anyone really think that a manned trip to MARS makes sense?

 

[Real Korimyr #9]

Yes, I think a manned trip to Mars makes perfect sense. Especially if it leads to any progress whatsoever on terraforming.

 

[UtahBill]

Yes, I think a manned trip to Mars makes perfect sense. Especially if it leads to any progress whatsoever on terraforming.

Mars has insufficient gravity to retain an atmosphere, and less than 1% of the heat energy that earth gets. Life is not sustainable there.....

 

[BulletWounD]

I agree completely. Since NASA doesn't produce any consumer products people often severely undervalue its contribution to technology and our economy. As I've said before, NASA is one of the few government programs that can actually be called an investment

1) You don't know that these things would not have been developed without NASA
2) You don't know what technologies HAVE NOT been developed as a result of the tax burden and funding of NASA.

 

[Real Korimyr #9]

Mars has insufficient gravity to retain an atmosphere, and less than 1% of the heat energy that earth gets. Life is not sustainable there.....

Mars has an atmosphere. It's just thinner than ours. There's no reason that it is not entirely possible for it to carry an atmosphere more like ours-- after all, Venus has less gravity than Earth and its atmosphere is denser than the ocean.

As for heat... introducing more Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere would assist with that, and with three moons, Mars could easily support closed habitats with solar power.

 

[BulletWounD]

Mars has an atmosphere. It's just thinner than ours. There's no reason that it is not entirely possible for it to carry an atmosphere more like ours-- after all, Venus has less gravity than Earth and its atmosphere is denser than the ocean.

As for heat... introducing more Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere would assist with that, and with three moons, Mars could easily support closed habitats with solar power.

Terraforming is so far out there that its priority should be considered extremely low, as it is considered by the free market.

 

[UtahBill]

Mars has an atmosphere. It's just thinner than ours. There's no reason that it is not entirely possible for it to carry an atmosphere more like ours-- after all, Venus has less gravity than Earth and its atmosphere is denser than the ocean.

As for heat... introducing more Carbon Dioxide to the atmosphere would assist with that, and with three moons, Mars could easily support closed habitats with solar power.

Mars atmosphere consists of 95% carbon dioxide, It needs more water, so there can be water vapor, the best greenhouse gas there is....

Ever see the show , "what if there was no moon?", it explains how life here would not likely exist without the stabilizing effect of a moon that is just the right size, just the right distance from earth, etc. to cause tidal effects.
There are far too many varaibles to discuss here, but if you really want to know, google is the place to go...