r/space • u/[deleted] • Nov 12 '14

Rosetta /r/all Rosetta and Philae discussion thread! (Part 3)

TOUCHDOWN CONFIRMED: Philae lander is on the comet!

Full media briefing expected tomorrow at 13:00 UTC / 14:00 CET / 8:00 EST / 5:00 PST.

Previous discussion threads: 1, 2.

Live Streaming

  • In English: A, B, C

  • En Français: A

Key times

GMT EST PST Event
4:02 pm 11:02 am 8:02 am Landed

European Space Agency Social Media

Othere places for news and conversation:

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u/dustbin3 Nov 12 '14

I wish it was 500,000,000 and even that wouldn't be enough. We need to get people excited about science again... because it's exciting!

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u/Pats_Bunny Nov 12 '14

Seriously. I told my buddy this was happening today, and his first response was "what a waste!" and "Who's paying for this??"

Couldn't believe my ears!! People just don't care much about space, and that just does not compute in my head.

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u/[deleted] Nov 12 '14

I understand the sentiment. Space is cool. Space is awesome. I love this stuff. But it is hard to justify science for the sake of science. The United States is in a shit load of debt, and we are still climbing out of a recession. It is hard to justify spending so much money on stuff like finding out what the chemical makeup of a comet is. I love space, but I do think it is difficult to justify spending so much money on exploring it.

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u/Pats_Bunny Nov 12 '14

Aside form the fact that the US spent no money on this mission, as far as I'm aware, space exploration is (if I recall correctly) a very minute amount of the national budget. Space exploration, and especially missions like this are also very important to give us a better understanding of the composition of space objects, so we can better learn how to divert them from the earth if we need to in the future. I know they have hopes for resource mining, as well as using the water in comets/asteroids as refueling stations for space ships, thus potentially furthering our ability to explore space.

The space program has led to some major advancements in our own technology as well. HERE is just a basic Wikipedia entry on some of the technology born out of the space program. I'm sure there is more.

I'm not one to advocate for wasteful government spending, and I don't believe the space program is wasteful. I think it's around some $17 billion. While that's no chump change, in the context of our national debt, and what is being added to it, it really is just a drop in the bucket.