NASA, DARPA, and Danny's Plans for the Future

While sitting in the coffee shop today, Danny, Chris and I were talking about the moon and the ridiculous space elevator they are trying to build. Of course, I got on my rant about NASA, and it was at this time when Danny released his hope to one day work for NASA... or DARPA.

DARPA is short for "Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency", a government organization under the Department of Defense that spends its time inventing prototypes for military use. If you've ever played the Playstation classic "Metal Gear Solid" you are quite familiar with DARPA and their mislead "Chief." I guess my last impression of this mysterious organization was their plans to build a gigantic blimp that would hover over battlefields. They were also partially responsible for that gas that would turn the opposing forces gay for a brief period of time. As you can tell, this is a very worthwhile and efficient organization.

I know this will spur some controversy, and there will be plenty of people telling me otherwise, but I just can't get behind NASA. I've always viewed it as a slight waste of money and an even bigger waste of time. Sure it helped us win the Cold War, and it has given us such great items as aluminum foil and mattress pads, but since when has sending satellites to distant planets helped a failing social security system? The economy hasn't gotten better because we now know that Jupiter is made up of gas. I guess knowing the moon isn't made out of cheese is always a plus.

The argument that we are giving too much money to NASA, unfortunately, does not hold up. During my visit to the Kennedy Space center last year, I discovered that the government gives NASA less than 1% of the national budget. That comes to around 500 million dollars, which is a pretty paltry sum. I mean, just look at how much money is shoveled into "the pit" that I call welfare... and we aren't getting anything from that either. This may sound like an ignorant rant, but I like to think of it as a complaint for practicality. I'm not the most scientific guy around, I leave the heavy lifting to Danny, but I know a monetary black hole when I see one.

I give Danny credit for wanting to work for these insane organizations (DARPA being far crazier than NASA). Perhaps he's just the right guy to turn things around. Slap some sense into NASA and say, "Stop being nerds and start being practical!" I could give a ton of "mad props" to NASA if they would just concentrate on making the Missile Defense System work, instead of sending more schmucks to the moon. DARPA... well I can't really think of how you would get props from me. Maybe make a Gundam or something, then I'll be impressed.