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COURTESY ARTWORK
SPACE: The Final Frontier?
OPINION
The US.
space pro
gram provides
a wide range
ofbenefitsfor
everyone for a
very reason
able cost.
The United States is the world’s
leader in space exploration and
use. From civil space to national
security, U.S. programs have dom
inated the field. On Sept. 19,1996, Presi
dent Clinton announced a new space poli
cy that commits our nation to a strong and
stable space program in the coming years.
The policy is a valuable document for un
derstanding current space goals and activi
ties and their effect on national security,
foreign policy, economic growth, environ
mental, scientific and technical excellence.
Civil space activities include space sci
ence, earth observation with remote sens
ing, human space flight to conduct scientif
ic as well as exploratory activities and
space technology applications. National
Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) is the lead agency for research and
development in civil space activities.
Our nation’s achievements in civil space
have benefited the economy, the environ
ment, science and technology. These
achievements have and will continue to re
quire government funding. Sometimes it’s
hard to understand the benefits of a govern
ment program, and the taxpayers of our
country question the need for a space pro
gram.
Our outer space operations have ad
vanced mankind and changed our lives.
The space program is only three decades
old, but it has become a permanent entity
in our world. Almost S14 billion of the fed
eral budget will be used by the space pro
gram in fiscal year 1997. Do the benefits of
the civil space program justify the public
expense to conduct it?
An important area of the civil space pro
gram is space science, which includes ro
botic and human exploration to enhance
knowledge of our solar system, universe
and fundamental scientific and physical
sciences. Experimentation and observation
of the earth with satellites has revolution
ized geographic, atmospheric, ionospheric
and meteorological sciences.
Exploration of the solar system utilizes
deep-space probes and earth-orbiting satel
lites like the Hubble telescope. The Hubble
is an observatory orbiting the earth that has
clearer resolution than any earth-based
telescope because it doesn’t have to look
through the atmosphere. Recent Mars fossil
findings in rocks suggest the possibility of
life on the red planet. If we could find and
observe life on other planets, it would help
us better comprehend life here on earth
and how we came into existence.
Environmental monitoring from space is
important in helping us to understand our
planet and its natural processes better. Me
teorological satellites allow scientists to
view cloud patterns in a way that offers
new insight into the weather process.
Satellite remote sensing brings the weather
to your home every night on the evening
news.
Earth observation helps scientists better
understand the effects of both human and
natural influences on the environment. En
hanced satellite imagery helps the forest
service detect landslides after recent wide
spread flooding in the Pacific Northwest.
Satellites take enhanced digital pho
tographs of the flood areas, and when com
bined with geologic, soil information and
previous images, these can be used to as
sess flood damage.
Space communication satellite systems
have revolutionized communication, al
lowing everything from cellular phone
calls and precise global positioning data to
television and information transfer to be
come commonplace.
Without U.S. achievements in space, the
world would be a primitive place. A citi
zen of this country benefits from space
every time he or she turns on the television
set, uses a laptop, makes a phone call, uses
a product that contains Teflon, slaps to
gether velcro or uses a host of other prod
uct spin-offs. Space product spin-offs are
products originally designed for use in
space that have been found to have appli
cations here on earth as well.
In the end, the economic impacts and
advantages of the space program are nu
merous. The space program positively im
pacts the United States in four ways: 1)
Economically: It alters the sales and em
ployment levels in the space industry. 2)
Technologically: It changes the structure of
products, techniques and materials via ad
vancements and discoveries and promotes
progress. 3) Scientifically: It increases the
understanding of our earth and solar sys
tem, and fosters further investigation when
discoveries are made. 4) Socially: Influ
ences the quality of life by creating new
spin-off products.
Over its three-decade existence, the civil
space program has had many successes and
a few failures. It has been the catalyst for
many new discoveries about ourselves, our
planet and the universe. It is hard to imag
ine a world without a strong space program,
because it indirectly benefits us in so many
ways throughout the course of our lives.
When it is viewed in context of econom
ic and scientific value added to our soci
ety, the U.S. space program is definitely a
bargain worthy of continued taxpayer sup
port.
Chris Hutchinson, a sophomore majoring
in fine arts, is a guest columnist for the
Emerald. His news do not necessarily rep
resent those of the newspaper. E-mail:
chrhutch@gladstone.uoregon.edu
fifi
The space program
is only three
decades old, but it
has become a
permanent entity in
our world. Almost
$M billion of the
federal budget will
be used by the
space program in
fiscal year 1997.
Do the benefits of
the civil space
program justify the
public expense to
conduct it?
99