🚀 go-pugleaf

Mike Steele (msteele@freenet.niagara.com) wrote:
: : Days, not years.  The big economic benefits, the things which will affect
: : everybody to some extent in our lifetimes, will come about from activities
: : in Earth orbit, stable points (called libration points) between the Earth
: : and the Moon, and maybe on the Moon itself.  You can get to the Moon at a
: : leisurely cruise in a few days.

: 	When will I get to the moon in a few days?  How much $$$$$$ do I 
: need to spend before it's going to cost me a forutne to buy a ticket and 
: rent a room?

 How much might it cost your grandchild not to be able to get to the moon or
 beyond?

: :  
: : |> 	Oh, come on now!  How can it help Canada's situation?  Let see 
: : |> some facts, some sort of study!  All I can see is a programme to eat at 
: : |> our debt (anything that wastes the nation's money affects the debt.  
: : |> That's what the debt is), with NO ECONOMIC OR SOCIAL GAIN/BENEFITS for 
: : |> years to come.  With no gain, it certainly can't help the Canada's 
: : |> situation (and please don't explaing to me how a moon rock will solve the 
: : |> welfar problem).

: : Brave words, in caps yet!  Let's see ...  Canada, like Australia, has
: : a large land area with a relatively sparse population -  most people
: : live in cities, long distances between folks in the wilderness areas.
: : Both countries have major debt problems.

: : FACT: Australia spends about $700 million a year on space-related goods
: : and services.  Australia's population is pushing 18 million.  It's
: : likely the value of space business will scale up roughly with the
: : population because of the similarities between the two countries
: : (mostly to do with distance, resource management, mining activity,
: : a general need to know about the weather for agriculture, disaster
: : preparation, you name it ...)

: : That money winds up in foreign (American, Chinese, European) pockets.
: : Why? Because those places were smart enough to invest in space research,
: : which allowed these businesses to come into existence.  This means jobs
: : for their people, tax money for their treasuries.

: : Our country benefits as well.  People who work for the importing
: : companies pay taxes, as do those companies (to some extent!).  The
: : things those companies do make money (or they'd go out of business).
: : They spend this money on other goods and services, increasing the
: : general level of economic activity, and the government manages to
: : scoop off some at every turn.  We just lose out on the jobs, the
: : wholesale industries ...

: : The net result is that our society (both government and private) makes
: : money out of space activities.  The downside is that our balance of
: : payments is shot to hell.  If we did the research, owned the businesses,
: : that wouldn't be a problem; there'd be more jobs for our people, more
: : money all round.  The same applies to Canada.

: : That's just today's space business, from yesterday's space research
: : and development.  There's every reason to think that future space
: : research and development will create even more opportunities, make
: : us all richer, in terms of both money and quality of life.

: 	I believe in funding research for satelittes, space stations, manned 
: voyages to the moon, and unmanned voyages to planets in our solar system.  
: These missions are relatively cheap.  I can't understand why a country would 
: want to waste so much money, however, on manned voyages and the like to 
: placesother than the moon, when we can't feasibly produce a habitate 
: (other than a cramped space station) to begin with.

 There would be a big "yet" involved in your hypothesis. I am thankful
 you were not one of Isabella's or Ferdinand's advisors about 500 years
 ago. Else, you wouldn't be here expousing your opinion.

: 	Maybe this is the wrong thread for me to complain in.  Is Canada 
: talkng about  cutting back funding to deep space exploration, or the 
: smaller missions I mentioned above?

 Let's go forward, where we have the people who can do so. 

: 	I feel like an ass, I think I've beena arguing about the wrong 
: thing for a long time now.

Finally, you see the light.

Ken

: 	
: -- 
: Mike Steele			| St. Catharines -- Canada's Canal City
: msteele@freenet.niagara.com	|              Go Leafs!