Curiosity: How NASA Got its Groove Back

If NASA were a prize fighter, few would have been lining up to place bets on it in recent years.  The American space agency suffered a metaphorical TKO in 2011 as its shuttle program came to an end.  From that point onward, in order to send American astronauts to the International Space Station, the US government would need to rent some seats aboard a Russian spacecraft.  This position of dependence that the one time unrivaled space faring nation found itself in seemed to indicate that NASA had lost its mojo.

Well, what a difference a year, and a trip to Mars, can make.  This week, NASA's one ton rover suitably named Curiosity began cruising around Mars following an eight month long voyage through the solar system.  As the first pictures of the red planet reached our blue one, it became clear immediately: NASA was back.

NASA vs. CSA

Nearly everyone on planet Earth has heard of the organization called NASA.  They may not know that NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration, but they do know that it runs the world’s most successful space program.  Though founded in 1958, NASA was immortalized in 1969, when it sent a man to the surface of the moon.  The event was the landmark of the twentieth century, and cemented the United States as the world leader in space exploration. 

The economic benefits that the United States reaped from its lunar landing cannot be overstated.  Leaders in aerospace are leaders in technology, and leaders in technology are economic superpowers.  If the American energy and auto industries matched the level of excellence of NASA, the United States would be technologically untouchable.

I would bet that the vast majority of Canadians haven’t a clue what CSA is.  The Canadian Space Agency is the Canadian equivalent of NASA, but the two organizations are hardly equivalent.  CSA is a fine organization.  They participate in the expensive practice of space exploration on a meagre budget; it is however the level of funding of national space organizations that determines the extent to which they may participate.

Here is an order of magnitude scale for the kind of aerospace related activity you can afford for a given amount of American dollars in 2011:

$100,000,000,000                 Manned interplanetary mission

$10,000,000,000                   Manned lunar mission

$1,000,000,000                     Unmanned rocket for satellite placement

$100,000,000                        Complete communications satellite or a 747 airplane

$10,000,000                         Space payload (eg, Satellite Antenna)

$1,000,000                           Basic helicopter

$100,000                              Half a tank of gas for a 747 airplane

$10,000                               One foot wide meteorite (collector’s item)

$1,000                                 Typical coach plane ticket with return

$100                                    Nike sneakers to jump as high as you can

$10                                      Movie ticket for Apollo 13

$1                                        Paper airplane