So while looking at my Facebook news feed, I came across a fan-made advertisement for NASA's Facebook page. The video is less than a minute and shows some shots of the space program to triumphant trumpet sounds. The video is less than a minute long.
http://www.wimp.com/nasaadvertisement/
The joke of the Facebook post was to illustrate the lack of effort NASA puts into public awareness when, as the video shows, NASA could put together a very attention-grabbing advertisement. This got me thinking that not only does the American public care much about the space program anymore, the federal government has made many large budget cuts to the program.
The concept of the American Frontier, popularized by Frederick Jackson Turner, was that America should expand its borders for the sake of democracy and for economic expansion. Geographically speaking, space is the last extension of the Frontier to be explored. What we have seen in recent years is a disinterest in supporting this Frontier expansion by both the American government and its citizens. Money that would have gone to NASA now goes to other other government funds to better the lives of those living in America. These observations lead me to believe America has reached an equilibrium with the rest of the world as far as land is concerned. Influence is something completely different, but we are no longer claiming ownership of land already occupied.
The budget for NASA has steadily been decreasing to the point where, if I remember correctly, the funding is .5% of the total budget ($18 billion). The problem with funding research developments like this is that the benefit won't be seen for a long time so its somewhat difficult to justify it.
ReplyDeleteNow even though the government has decreased funding, its still projected that the U.S. will land on asteroids by the late 2020s. And we have also entered a new "commercial space age" where private companies are funding projects for research and development. All of this leads into a new space race against China, who were denied participation in the International Space Station. China has been funding their research and development on a very high scale.
I think with a development of a new space race, between private companies and even possibly NASA if the government were to pull "We can't let China get ahead of us" racing with China, ideas from the frontier, American exceptionalism and the American empire will be reinforced
This is a great set of conversations! I think Bradley is right to note that the space program has a complicated relationship to American expansion (although I'd argue that we do vie for land already occupied, even/especially when it's absurdisms like New Gingrich planning a moon colony for when he's elected President). I aso really like Shervin's point that expansionism is still alive and well, it's just been routed through private companies, and still retains a nationalist tinge - like the space race in the 50s and 60s, when we were competing with Russia, competition between nations still holds a lot of sway.
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