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Comment by Errancer | Hacker News Reader

Genuine question but how is space travel self-evidently useful?

A couple non contestable points:

1. It has been useful so far as a challenge for technological development that finds other uses on the ground, and this is certainly not about to change;

2. It has been useful so far, in direct applications, and there are still direct uses to be covered (dangerous asteroid avoidance, as an example);

3. It tackles the SPOF we have as a species: living on a single planet;

But the more important one, for me, is one that is contestable. Space faring provides humans with an aspirational goal. Without a long term goal, we are reduced to either an hedonist life, or a never-ending struggle against entropy. We are better, as individuals and as a society, when there is something to long for in the horizon.

The first two points can be said about cryptography

"Space travel" not so much at present. But reduced cost access to space, for sure.

- geolocation (GPS, GLONASS, etc.) - communications (Starlink, Iridium, etc.) - earth sensing (weather, climate, etc.)

All of these are multibillion $ activities that benefit from lowered launch costs.

NASA Spinoff Technologies: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spinoff_technologies

20 Inventions We Wouldn't Have Without Space Travel (actual post from NASA themselves): https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/20-inventions-we-would...

Those are evidence that unrestrained spending on scientists will generate incidental, largely unrelated discoveries. If we had poured as much money over as much time into the study of ghosts and psychic phenomena, we'd be able to make a similar list.

Your statements do not follow, much less is your initial premise demonstrably true as a generalized statement about all scientists.

Preservation of species, provided you accept that as an axiom. Also more immediate benefits such as reusable rockets, affordable satellite Internet etc.

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