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Funding Mars Exploration

Funding Mars Exploration. Can We Afford It?. Poverty. Homelessness. Unemployment. Gas Prices. America is spending billions of dollars exploring Mars. Thousands of man-hours have been put forth for this project. Is this expense worth it?. Where Is Our Time and Money Going?.

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Funding Mars Exploration

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  1. Funding Mars Exploration Can We Afford It?

  2. Poverty

  3. Homelessness

  4. Unemployment

  5. Gas Prices

  6. America is spending billions of dollars exploring Mars. Thousands of man-hours have been put forth for this project. Is this expense worth it? Where Is Our Time and Money Going?

  7. Should We Continue the Mars Exploration Program? In order to determine if exploration is worth the manpower or cost, we will consider the following questions: • What explorations have been conducted? • What is the cost? • What have we learned and what do we hope to learn? • What is the effect on Florida’s economy and job market?

  8. Mars Exploration and Cost

  9. Summary of Exploration and Cost • We see a mission failure rate of 50%, often for unknown reasons, at a cost of 4.2 billion dollars coupled with a falling need for personnel in the job market as evidence that we should not support continued missions to Mars.

  10. What Have We Learned? • Mars is the fourth planet from the sun, our neighboring planet. • It has a similar amount of land mass to Earth. • The length of a day on Mars is similar to Earth, while a year is twice as long.

  11. What Have We Learned?

  12. What Have We Learned? • The temperature differences on both planets are drastic (average temperature is -67 F on Mars). • There is no atmosphere on Mars. • The weather patterns on Mars are severe at times (wind storms, avalanches, etc.) • There is evidence of water having once been on Mars, but none found to date. • No life has been found on Mars. What have we learned that is of any benefit?

  13. What Do We Hope To Learn? • According to scientists at NASA, future Mars explorations are aimed at learning: • How the planets formed • Composition differences/similarities • Whether Mars has ever/could ever sustain life • Whether Earth could ever evolve into the type of planet that Mars has become? Will finding answers to these questions really help us as humans on this planet?

  14. Summary of What We’ve Learned or Hope to Learn • With initial explorations proving that there is no life, no way to support human life, and no water to support agriculture, we conclude that exploring Mars is not producing knowledge or opportunities that benefit Earth. • While scientific discovery is a worthy pursuit, using our science resources here on Earth to feed the hungry and cure disease has much greater benefit to mankind.

  15. What Does This Say About Us? "Our Mars program is the envy of the world." Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

  16. Is it really? Do these children envy our Mars program?

  17. Conclusion • We have outlined the costs and the lack of benefits that we feel make a compelling case for not supporting future missions to Mars. • Learning about our nearest planet neighbor may be interesting, but our own planet’s problems and needs are so great, our resources should be aimed there. Let’s be the envy of the world by solving problems here on Earth

  18. Resources • Mars Exploration – NASA • http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/ • Mars Rover Mission – NASA • http://marsrover.nasa.gov/home/index.html • Timeline of Mars Exploration • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploration_of_Mars#Timeline_of_Mars_exploration • Budget for Mars Exploration - NASA • www.nasa.gov/pdf/1991main_mars.pdf

  19. Resources, cont. • Mars Exploration Rover Mission, Press Release, February 2008 – NASA • http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20080215a.html • Future Missions – NASA • http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/future/futureMissions.html • Florida’s Economy and the Space Program • http://www.floridatrend.com/data_article.asp?cName=Florida%20Data&rName=Economic%20Yearbook&whatID=2&aID=42460518.5455171.601354.4549214.4908078.528&aID2=46249 • Cost of Mars Science Lab – Aviation Week • http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/mars022108.xml

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