Space has been a captivating and influential factor throughout much of human history. Early civilizations studied the stars and constellations and interpreted them as signs of faith or impending doom. In a more modern context, space helped develop an intricate understanding of the physical world, with a wealth of evidence for varying theories like gravitation, relativity, and string theory.
All of these advancements led to an incredible new vision for humanity—the prospect of one day venturing into the cosmos. With the help of NASA, the United States managed to beat the Soviet Union in a race to the moon, creating a rush of excitement for the future of space exploration.
Now, however, much of that excitement has fallen by the wayside.
NASA is, historically, one of the United States’ leading research agencies. Its popularity peaked during the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union. At that time, NASA was sometimes given over four percent of the US budget, which is equivalent to $32 billion in today’s dollars. Currently, NASA receives about $17 billion a year—significantly less than it did in its Cold War heyday.
With the weak economy and low revenues, many politicians suggest that NASA and other research and development agencies should have their funding cut or entirely eliminated. Following outcry from the scientific community, the question was posed: Should the government fund research agencies? Senior Jong Lim thinks the funding of research should be a larger priority for the government. “We are living in a world of technology and it’s only going to get bigger,” he says.
Many students agree that funding should be a compromise. Private companies like SpaceX have recently begun sending their own missions to space—something only governments were capable of before. Now that private companies are capable of funding their own missions, more critics are saying that space research should be left up to private enterprise. Junior Priyam Das notes, “The way it is now is fine, with private companies leading the way, because the government’s way is not necessarily the most efficient. The government should play a supporting role, but it clearly only does when it supports their interests like with the space race.”
NASA’s importance to high schools stems from its attempts to connect people in various engineering programs. In fact, NASA’s previous education budget of $137 million will be reduced by two-thirds to $94 million in the next year. “NASA helps robotics. They have outreach programs to support engineering programs like ours,” says Freshman Scott Liu, a member of the Aragon robotics team. However, Liu admits, “If they have the money to fund local robotics teams, they could just use that for their own research.”
A criticism of scientific research is often that billions of dollars can be spent on a single project, with very few applicable results. On this topic, Aragon students were divided. “The priority should be applicable research. Mars rover and things like that should be important too, but does that really help us right now?” says Sophomore Rachel Leung.
However, historically research has led to many unintentional developments. During the attempts to travel to the moon, NASA teams were met with numerous difficulties that the space frontier faced, and had to adapt inventions that they did not intend to create: CAT scanners, cordless tools, shoe insoles and modern water filters all nod to NASA research for their origins. These achievements aren’t just noteworthy based on what they’ve achieved for the world—what truly makes them remarkable is that they are the result of spontaneous discovery through NASA research. NASA’s research projects yield unforeseen—and often useful—results. As Das says, “One of the great things about research is figuring things out…I don’t think anything we learn is useless.”
The space program may be suffering at the moment, but as the United States draws down from military involvement in the world, it might stand out again. NASA was a major source of national pride during the Cold War, and as the country struggles to recover from a recession, compete with the economic rise of China, and find a new role in the world, NASA holds the potential to be at the forefront of the United State’s image again. If the United States wishes to maintain its status as an international leader of research and innovation, it faces many critical questions regarding the continued existence the agency that has come to represent the pinnacle of American research and development.
