Today’s newspapers have highlighted, if not given life to, an announced finding by NASA that liquid water has flown over the surface of Mars. For the moment, discount the fact that it is probably hard to get a second opinion on this one.
How much do programs leading to findings like these cost? Who should pay for them?
Some simple questions, with harder answers subject to disagreement and debate.
For the cost question, a starting point is the Financial Report of the U.S. Government. NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration) ranked 18th in “gross cost” among 38 government entities specifically identified in the U.S. Government’s “Statement of Net Cost” for 2014. This report listed $18 billion in gross cost for NASA in 2014. With relatively next-to-nothing for “earned revenue” in the program, general taxpayer resources are the main source of funding for NASA.
There may be some questions worth exploring about cost allocation in this area, e.g. historically, how much Defense Department spending has been "NASA" spending, and vice versa.
Some people think this is a good thing, that our government should seek out and explore space, for all of us. Other people are concerned that this is a way to carve out private gains at general public expense, including risky R&D expense.
What do you think? And how well does Congress, and/or its auditing arm the GAO, monitor NASA?
Here’s an interesting-looking website covering “Space News.”