Forty years ago, the United States of America put a man on the moon. With his famous, albeit redundant words, Neil Armstrong proclaimed "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind" and instantly made it cool to be a space geek. Grown men wept. School children dreamed of extra-terrestrial futures. Buzz Aldrin cursed his bad luck.
Today, as the world celebrates this major accomplishment in human history, many countries are also announcing their plans for future outer space exploration. Billions of dollars are being spent to research and explore the frontiers of our existence that are yet to be understood, so that we might have a clearer sense of where we are going and where we came from... personally, I'm all for it.
To do its part, the Canadian Space Agency and the Federal government cashed in on the hype of the first moon landing and announced a 'significant' contribution to the globe's space exploration efforts. The total spend? Wait for it... wait for it... an additional $110 million over three years for space robotics and technology.
Step back, Canada.
Granted, I don't know much about this kind of stuff. I'm no astronaut. I don't know what space robotics actually entails, although I do have an iRobot kind of scenario playing out in my head when I think about it.
What I do know is that it costs roughly 5 times that investment to send a television satellite into orbit. And we've gotten pretty good at sending satellites into orbit, so I imagine that's as cheap as it gets.
So I ask: what good is $37 million extra per year really going to do to the Canadian Space Agency?
As a country, we are constantly falling short on our commitment to help fight AIDS in Africa. There's a global climate challenge taking place right now on this planet. Our public transportation programs around the country are in dire need of funding. Every mayor of every city in Canada is claiming they don't have enough to do what Canadians need today. And so on.
So, when it came down to it, we chose to give the Canadian Space Agency what amounts to petty cash to get some good publicity, instead of putting that $110 million dollars to good use.
To infinity and beyond!... on a budget, I guess.
I may not know what I want my Pea to become, but I hope she doesn't let a good PR opportunity cloud her judgment.
If they come to take you away for this mindset then they can take me with you. I'm renovating my cottage...one small project at a time before I put on the new addition and dig out a basement. This makes sense to me.
ReplyDeleteTo hell with space travel, we should be fixing the broken stuff first.