this post was submitted on 25 Aug 2023
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[–] Lmaydev 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

It's very hard to put a price on scientific advancement like this.

It often involves development of new technologies, talent and facilities that can generate money for decades.

The actual profit generated can be insanely large. Like the original NASA missions. They gave us so much technology. They are likely responsible for billions of future profit derived from the tech.

Consumer products like wireless headsets, LED lighting, portable cordless vacuums, freeze-dried foods, memory foam, scratch-resistant eyeglass lenses and many other familiar products have all benefited from space technology research and development. Modern laptop computers are direct descendants of The Shuttle Portable Onboard Computer (SPOC), which was developed in the early 1980s for the space shuttle program.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Worth pointing out that the scientific advancement would generate billions that NASA will only see a fraction of.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago

Isn't NASA funded by tax payer's dollars? I guess you can look at it as a government funded non-profit research lab that it's mission statement is to generate technological advancements for the general public's benefit.

[–] Lmaydev 9 points 1 year ago

Indeed. As they are publicly funded that money comes back in the form a taxing the profits private companies make from the technology, rather than directly into their pockets.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

It's not an advancement if it's already been done multiple times, just that by other countries

[–] Lmaydev 3 points 1 year ago

But even training those personnel and building facilities can lead to more breakthroughs later. It's why it's so hard to put a price on scientific endeavours.